A Turkey Looking Story About Persistence Paying Off
By Will Bowen | PUBLISHED April twenty seventh, 2023
As a hunter, I’ve made many errors. I’ve missed animals, made dangerous photographs, picked the unsuitable areas, used the unsuitable calls, the checklist may go on and on. If you’re a hunter, you realize precisely what I’m speaking about, and if you happen to don’t you should be new to this as a result of it occurs to all of us. One factor I’ve discovered by means of making all of those errors is that persistence is vital. Persistence is among the few issues that we as hunters can management. Climate, animals, and different hunters are all game-changing elements that go right into a hunt, however the one factor that may have an effect on your persistence and psychological toughness is your personal thoughts.
As I settled into the lengthy drive to Oklahoma all I may take into consideration was the failures of final yr’s turkey hunt. Looking stress, low chicken populations, and tough storms hindered the hunt. However one thing that stood out to me was the missed alternatives due to lack of effort. Calling it early, not scouting new spots, and never being affected person have been all signs of poor persistence. My father joined me on final yr’s hunt and we determined this yr can be completely different. Hunt tougher and keep after them, that’s the objective. My father-in-law and brother-in-law joined us this yr and would supply additional eyes and ears as nicely. I had a sense that with just a little luck, this yr can be completely different.
The primary day of the hunt was a tricky one. A protracted, uneventful morning hunt adopted by tedious scouting and glassing drained me. A chew to eat at lunch and a short snooze allowed us to dive again in for a day hunt (authorized to hunt all day in Oklahoma). Round 4:00 pm we glassed a gobbler on a public area. A protracted, brutal crawl into what I assumed was sufficient capturing vary resulted in catastrophe. After the shot rang out, all I may see was the sight of the massive Tom as he ran the opposite manner. No luck on this present day. Working exhausting doesn’t at all times pay, nicely not instantly.
On the second morning, the plan was to dive into the north boundary of public piece and hear for any birds south of us. Shortly after 6:00 am, the primary gobble of the morning sounded southeast of us. The chicken was a number of hundred yards away, however the thunderous gobble was positively owned by a giant turkey. My dad and I maneuvered into place and made an preliminary setup on the gobbler. My coronary heart pounded as gobble after gobble poured out of him, then we heard one of many single worst sounds you may hear as a turkey hunter, a residing, respiration hen.
To make an extended story brief, he flew down and began to comply with the hen. We adopted the chicken and arrange on him a number of extra occasions and felt like we had a number of shut calls, however we simply couldn’t pull him away from his hens. We lastly ended up on small woodline close to a public area bordered by a county highway. A textual content from my borther-in-law, who was driving roads glassing for birds, let me know that the chicken had made his manner down into the sphere. They snuck across the west facet of the sphere and ended up in the identical woodline as us. We met up and made a plan to make a transfer on this chicken.
They conceded the primary probability on the chicken to my dad and I, citing the trouble we had put in on him for the final three hours. They might keep again and glass the chicken as we snuck down a perpendicular treeline to shut a ways. We made it good methods down the treeline and even obtained eyes on the birds about 70 yards out after I obtained textual content from my father-in-law. “Two hunters simply stepped into prime facet of the sphere”. This was dangerous information and positive sufficient, for some unexpected causes the birds turned and sprinted in direction of the opposite hunters who gave the impression to be carrying a full strut decoy. The birds finally noticed them and dove into the highway ditch for canopy. We have been deflated.
The opposite hunters left as we stood round and contemplated our choices and extra so their choices. It was now 10:00 am and the chicken that we had been chasing all morning appeared like a misplaced trigger now. “Nicely, that basically sucked”. All of the sudden one thing caught my father-in-law’s eye. “Gobbler on the intersection crossing the county highway”. Positive sufficient there he and a single hen stood, proper within the tire tracks of the opposite hunters’ truck. Luckily for us they crossed onto one other piece of public land. Nothing left to do now however break up up and provides the gobbler one other go. We had a sighting and a potential line of journey. We felt like we might be capable of get out in entrance of him and make one thing occur, however within the turkey woods, nothing is a assure.
We switched up companions and my brother-in-law, Tucker, and I hopped within the truck and made the brief drive to the property south of the birds. We assumed the birds can be working their manner south by means of this explicit piece of public as a result of good combine of canopy and fields. We parked and studied the map completely but shortly earlier than we began making our method to the chicken. We eased our manner by means of two open fields with out recognizing the chicken. Lastly, we made it to the top-side of the property not removed from the place we noticed the chicken beforehand. If he was nonetheless on this property, he wouldn’t be too removed from us.
We stepped out of the sphere into an extended hole within the treeline. It was an attractive spot, in all probability 20 yards extensive, 75 yards lengthy, and had brief grass and deadfall. “Seems like a spot they’d name a gobbler up on TV”. Earlier than we determined to go any additional, I took out my slate name to try to strike the chicken. Two brief calling sequences have been met with a loud gobble. We scrambled to discover a good hiding spot and ended up establishing in some outdated lifeless cedar tree. It felt like the proper setup. I handed the slate name off to Tucker so I may give attention to the shot.
One other two brief calling sequences have been met by two even nearer gobbles. “He’s coming” I mentioned. Out of the nook of my eye I noticed Tucker set the decision on the bottom. We each thought the identical factor, “that is going to occur”. A pair minutes handed after which I noticed a purple head break the opening about 75 yards away. The massive gobbler bobbed his method to us, strutting and displaying his immense colour alongside the way in which. Tucker couldn’t see from his vantage level, so I had the privilege of narrating the encounter. “60 yards, 50 yards, 35 yards, as quickly as he steps round this lifeless tree, I’ll have him”. As if he was studying a script he stepped and caught his head up within the air making a straightforward goal. I fired my shot and the sport was over. “I can’t consider that simply occurred!”
There’s a ton of luck concerned with any profitable turkey harvest, however like I mentioned earlier, there may be one issue you may management that usually determines the success of the hunt. We may have simply packed it in after the opposite hunters spooked the chicken however we didn’t. We wager on our persistence and the payout on this present day is a fan on the wall and turkey nuggets within the fryer!
