A Backwoods Life/Hunt Strong Pose
The Backwoods of Georgia: My father, the person solely responsible for introducing me to the outdoors at a young age, scores on an ole Eastern Gobbler. Anytime we get the opportunity to head to our property in Georgia, we take advantage of it and bond as we enjoy what we love best, hunting together. We had high hopes of being successful on this trip just like any other. That’s one characteristic both outdoors men and women portray, optimism. On each hunting or fishing trip, we hope to harvest the biggest game animal to walk the land or swim the waters.
This was our first time turkey hunting on this newly acquired property and we thought we knew exactly where to start calling. It’s 4:30 a.m., my “eye of the tiger” alarms sounds off to get up and get ready for our morning hunt. We headed to a portion of the property where we both had seen multiple turkeys including some big gobblers during last year’s deer season. We arrived at our destination about thirty minutes before the sun began to rise and waited for the sound of a nearby gobble. First, whipper wills start up, then some song birds, and then multiple owls. Typically when the owls start hooting, then the gobblers start gobbling giving away their location. We hear no gobbles! Now what? This is where Training To Hunt pays off! Time to start covering some ground. We walked up and down some ravines calling here and there waiting for a gobble. As we approach our west property line, we run into a pack of hogs that were bedded down just off the beaten path. As we watched the hogs drift into the mature pines, we hear a distant gobble. Game on, that’s exactly what we are thinking. We start our approach towards the Eastern Gobbler to find out he is now beyond our north property line. He is still several hundred yards away and is not committing to us, but he is responding to our calls. We are ethical hunters and dare not to cross the adjacent property therefore sending us on our way to find another gobbler.
On our way back to our hunt camp, dad spots some turkey tracks along a logging road. It had just rained the day prior so we knew they were fairly recent tracks. As we traveled to our designated hunt area that afternoon, 4 hens and a red headed gobbler cross in front of the truck, hmmmm, a possible spot to try in the morning. As we post up in the previously found area that afternoon, I yelped here and there hoping to disrupt the journey of a nearby gobbler as it heads to the roost.
We never heard a gobble or answer back, but at about dusk, we heard what we thought was the sound of a turkey roosting up in a nearby bottom. So we knew at that point there was a turkey in the area. Guess where we intended to try in the morning? We sat there until we could not see anymore admiring the sun as it went below the tree line and the quieting of the birds and squirrels as they went to their nests. The turkey’s won that day, but tomorrow will present another opportunity. Hunting can change in just a matter of seconds and that’s what brings us back every time.
There were a couple of areas we wanted to try before we made it to the location where we heard the turkey roost. The first area was in a mature pine setting and it was just a hit or miss. I called a few times and no answer. Now, we were off to the spot where the turkeys crossed the road the previous day since it was on our way. We stopped and called, same response, no gobble. Third time is the charm right? As I get out of the truck and get my turkey vest on, gun, and decoys, I call. Just what we were hoping, a gobbler responds! Man, I love that sound. He was still a good ways ahead of us and we knew exactly where we wanted to set up. We walked quickly down the logging road to where there was a T in the road, stopping and calling to make sure he was still interested. I set the decoys up in the middle of the T so when he came to the road he could see them. Dad set up at the base of a pine tree 20 yards from the decoys with his Mossberg propped on his knee. I was sitting about 10 yards away from him ready to work some magic on a Holland Custom slate call. Not only did we have one gobbler interested, we had two of them gobbling. You know what I am thinking……..”Could we get a Double”?
I patiently called just to make sure the two birds were approaching and to see what direction they were coming from. The gobbles were getting louder and louder and the adrenaline was flowing. My dad, still as a rock, waited for one to show his red head. I was sitting on a mound slightly higher than dad so I could see when and where they were going to appear. I slowly turned my head to see a large full mature fan making his way down the logging road to the decoys. I quietly whispered to dad, “here he comes”. Dad sat still as the gobbler walked ten yards from his left and into view of his Mossberg sight strutting showing his dominance. As soon as I saw dad dial in, I made two cuts on the slate to get him to raise his head. Boom! The gobbler dropped motionless without even a flip of the wings. We were super pumped clinching our fists like champions. I continued to call for about 5 minutes hoping the other gobbler may come in. No Gobble or bird! We got up and like many times before high fived and bear hugged each other. There is nothing like that feeling of success in the backwoods! Thank you God for such an awesome experience with my best hunting buddy, my dad!
Check out some of these photos!
This is a picture of the gobbler’s tracks along with where his wings dragged in full strut through the sand as he approached his final resting place.
Dad and I with Holland Custom Call’s slate call.
A six mile trail run back to camp after our Father/Son Successful Turkey Hunt! As always, Hunt Strong, Train To Hunt!