Those of us who love spending time in the outdoors have learned that catching a big fish, bagging a trophy buck, shooting a limit of squirrels or capturing that perfect image on our camera doesn’t happen on every outing. Most of the time just having the privilege to breathe the fresh air and indulge ourselves in the natural world is reward enough.
But occasionally we experience those days when everything goes perfectly as planned. As any experienced outdoors person knows, we have to plan for success. Things might not unfold as scripted but if we aren’t prepared, we’re probably not going to be successful. If the stripers are biting on chartreuse slabs and once on the water we discover all we have onboard is plastic worms, we might be out of luck. Thinking ahead and preparation is the key to a successful outing.
This past week, I enjoyed a great day with a wonderful friend of the past forty years, Bill Carey who with his son Chris owns Striper Express on Lake Texoma. I detailed in a recent column how I hoped this turkey hunt with Bill would go which included a mid day pond fishing trip and shore lunch. From early morning when a Jake (year old gobbler) sounded off nearby with the shutting of the truck door to the harvest of one of the heaviest gobblers I’ve taken, the day will be forever etched into my memory bank. Let me tell you all about it!
For several years, Bill has invited me up to hunt a spring gobbler and this year, I decided to finally make it happen. Bill was a scout master and loves outdoor cooking. When I asked if he would like me to pack my little wood burning rocket cooking stove and everything for a tasty meal on the shore of his pond, he was all in. We were prepared for chicken fried very fresh turkey strips or blackened fish, what transpired during the morning hours would dictate what wound up in my cast iron skillet at noon.
Catching a few bass from the pond was pretty much a given but a bit of luck would come into play if we were to dine on turkey strips. This was to be a very lucky day!
I had a good idea of the lay of the land I would be hunting thanks to a hunting app I use, so when Bill walked me to the little meadow near the back of the property I checked the app and noted a deep creek a few yards to the west and on the other side, another meadow. This should be a perfect spot to set Henrietta, my old hen decoy out on a little ridge where she would be visible to gobblers approaching from the creek bottom.
Bill headed back toward the pond and I quickly made a make shift blind in a heavy stand of cedars. My decoy was out in front about 30 yards. I would be able to spot any gobbler coming up from the creek and make the shot through a small opening in the lower branches of the cedar.
After a few minutes of quietness, I struck a few plaintive hen yelps on the box call and immediately heard a gobbler sound off across the creek. It sounded as though it was coming from the direction of the meadow which I figured would be a prime spot for gobbler to strut and display while courting hens during breeding season which was approaching its peak.
I waited a couple minutes and then hammered down hard on the call, making a series of loud yelps that any turkey within a couple hundred yards could easily hear. This time the responding gobble was closer to me, somewhere down in the creek bottom.
During the first ten minutes of my hunt, it appeared I had a gobbler coming my way. Calling too much is a common mistake many novice turkey hunters make. Once a gobbler hears what he thinks is a receptive hen calling, he uses his built in GPS to mark the spot. He knows the hen’s location and the best route to get to her.
I quit calling. I knew the gobbler knew my location and guessed he was heading my way. With any luck, I would watch him coming from the creek bottom and, once he sighted my hen decoy, he would head straight to it. I would make an easy shot through the cedar and bag my gobbler.
What’s that they say about the best laid plans of mice and men?
With my Mossberg semi-auto shotgun pointed toward the decoy, I was focused on the clearing. I then heard something walking through the leaves, about 20 yards almost directly behind my set up.
Very slowly I turned my head to catch the movement of two gobblers moving through the heavy cover, one had a very long beard and was very heavy. The birds were headed directly toward me, toward the spot they just knew the hen they were pursuing would be waiting. I knew I would get busted if the birds continued walking toward me, so, while they were hidden from view, I quietly turned almost 180 degrees and pointed the shotgun in their direction. The big gobbler stepped out from behind a big oak and when his head and neck came into view I jerked the trigger. Within 30 minutes of setting out my decoy, I had one of the heaviest gobblers I’ve taken slung over my shoulder and was walking back to meet Bill at the pond.
Bill heard my shot and, when I arrived at the pond, he was readying a couple of spinning rods with inline spinnerbaits. We didn’t have scales but both Bill and I guessed the gobbler’s weight at around 24 pounds. He sported a thick 11-inch beard. A quick photo session and a little work with my skinning knife and we had some prime turkey meat on ice and photos and video to capture the moment.
After catching a couple of bass and losing that many, I asked Bill if he wanted chicken-fried turkey breast meat or fried fish for lunch. I was happy when he opted for fresh turkey. It’s hard to beat chicken-fried turkey “planks” fried in hot cooking oil over a wood-burning stove. Lunch was breast meat strips fried to a golden brown and a big skillet of camp beans, a meal fit for a king...or in this case, a couple of hungry old buddies that had just enjoyed a perfect morning in the outdoors that neither will soon forget.
Email outdoors writer Luke Clayton through his website www.catfishradio.org. Watch this hunt on the most current segment of ‘A Sportsmans Life” on Carbon TV www.carbontv.com or YouTube.
