Ohio Tom Down

Well I had a great time hunting turkeys in South Eastern Ohio this past weekend and probably the toughest turkey hunt I have ever been on due to the terrible weather but also one of the most enjoyable. Got to hunt camp Thursday evening and met up with my outfitter Shane Montgomery and the news wasn't all that promising from the get go. Bad weather had shut the birds down pretty much and my three day hunt had a forecast of rain and thunder storms so I was prepared for a tough hunt. Well after talking to Shane I got settled in at the farmhouse I was staying at and after a very fine dinner delivered to me at the house I talked about Friday's morning hunt with Shane's 16 year old son Kyle who would be guiding me. We decided to hunt a power line cut the following morning and Kyle has seen several toms previously there strutting around mid morning. Well 5:15 am Kyle picks me up and after a short drive to our hunting area we set up a ground blind on the power line cut and get ready. Well it starts pouring rain for the next 3 hours straight and no gobbles are heard or turkeys seen. Right at 9:00 am the rain slows down to a steady drizzle and after I do some soft clucks a hen walks out into the cut and I call her to within 30 yards but no tom was with her. Exactly at 9:30 am I take out my box call and really let it rip with some loud yelps and we hear a gobble about 300 yards away. I wait 5 minutes and call again with the box call and now we see him about 200 yards down the power line cut in full strut. I have Kyle pull out his slate call and he starts clucking and purring softly and this tom is coming to us on a dime gobbling and strutting the whole way. Talk about exciting and I am sitting in this blind pumped beyond belief watching this awesome tom put on a show for us. Well he closes the distance to about 50 yards and all I need for him to do is take a few more steps towards us and he is toast. Well as most smart birds do he gets nervous because he can't see a hen (damn we should have put a decoy out when he first gobbled) and he turns away and walks into the woods behind some thick brush and now I have no shot. Well we work him for another 5 minutes double calling and he is hot and gobbles but won't come out of those woods back into the power line cut. We hear him start to walk away and about 10 minutes later he is back in the power line cut about 200 yards down from our blind. We do some soft calling to him and he is still gobbling but walking away from us and turns around a bend in the power line cut and we can't see him anymore. Me and Kyle jump out of the blind and come up with a plan to go into the woods, downhill and work our way along a ravine to get in front of the tom. So we beat feet through the woods and after 15 minutes of working our way quietly through this ravine we come up to the power line cut about 500 yards down from our blind in the same direction the tom was traveling. I peek out into the power line cut and can't see the tom so I pull out my box call and do a loud yelp. WOW!! Did he ever sound off with a thunder gobble and he is just about 100 yards on the opposite side of the power line cut in the thick woods. I quickly crawl out into the open and set up a decoy and then get ready as Kyle sets up behind me and starts to purr soft. He thunder gobbles again and I motion to Kyle to stop calling he is no doubt coming in. Within 30 seconds he steps out into the power line cut 50 yards in front of me, comes to full strut and walks towards the decoy. I have my red dot on his head and when he hits 40 yards I send a full load of 3 inch #5 shot into his head and he drops. What an amazing and exciting hunt and it is now 10:20 am and we worked this great tom for almost an hour and called him in twice before I put the smackdown!! on him. He weighed 18 pounds, had a 10 inch beard and my personal best for spur length, 1 1/2 inches on both spurs. Even though the weather was horrible with hard rain, lightning and high winds I managed to take this fine tom during my three day hunt and definitely one of my best turkey hunts ever.

Youth Day Tom

What a great youth day for me as I had the great pleasure to call in a beautiful tom turkey for my buddy Joey. This was a tough hunt with the wind/rain and to be honest I was a bit worried we might not get a shot at a bird. Me and Joey hung tough in the nasty weather (being in a pop up blind helped for sure) and at 11:00 I got out the trusty box call and really let it rip loud hoping a cruising tom would hear my call over the wind/rain. Well as most smart birds do in bad weather this big boy came in totally silent but I saw him coming to my lone hen decoy and had Joey gun up ready to shoot. Well did he ever make a great shot at 30 yards with his 20 gauge and he just hammered this great tom. What a great bird and he weighed 24 pounds, 10 inch beard and 1 1/4 inch spurs. Man what a great hunt for me and if you hunt hard good things happen. Serious I think I'm starting to like watching my friends get it done in the woods more than myself and on Monday opening day I will taking the wife out and man I want to see her get her first tom turkey, hope so.

Hunter