Gobble - Gobble - BOOM !!!!

[rocksteady]

After 5 consecutive days chasing the same Tom, all the planets came into alignment this morning and I shot my FIRST Turkey EVER!!!:mrgreen::mrgreen:

Have not weighed him, as I can't find my scale...

He had an 8" beard.

I will be in meetings all morning, however will hopefully post the whole story and pics at lunch.....

[Jelvis]

Need pics .. gobble gobble .. bawk ..cluck cluck ..
jel ..

[OutWest]

Can't wait for the pics. Nice work!

[rocksteady]

Here is a teaser.....

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/002.jpg

[rocksteady]

Okay, so here goes the saga....

I took last Friday (Day 1) off to try to find a turkey....Up at about 4:30, parked the truck about 5:45, stepped out of the truck and the gobbler was already making noise, in a cutblock a couple hundred yards away......Try as I might, I could not catch a glimpse of him, tried doing big circles to try and get a head of him....No luck, got a whole pile of exercise though.....

Day 2, figured out a game plan that had to work...Get into the edge of the cutblock that he went through the day before, in the dark, and when he comes sashaying across the block, plink him with the .22. (The day before I was packing the 12 guage)....So I am up at 3:30, in the cutblock, leaned up against a big Fir Tree by 05:00...At 5:45, he starts gobbling....BEHIND ME !!!! So I do the superstalk think to where he was gobbling, there he is in a tree about 40 yards away. Down goes the shooting sticks, rifle up, scope on him....BANG !!!!! Clean Miss !!!!:mad: Note to self...Taking a head shot on a turkey with a .22...Not very productive....

He flew across the cutblock and I followed him around, catching gobbles, but not within 100 yards for the next couple hours....

Day 3 (Sunday) same game plan Packing the .22...In the block by 5:00, he starts gobbling about 6:00, but a ridge or so over...Do the superstalk, get into where I think he is...I am walking slow, nerves on high alert.....All of a sudden I hear "peep, peep"...There he is in a tree about 10 yards away, 20 feet up.....Up goes the gun, he took 2 steps and flew away...ARGH !!!!!!! Followed him around for another couple hours, hearing him but not seeing him....

Day 4 (Monday) Packing the 12...sitting on the ridge between the 2 ravines that I have run into him, lightly raining and the wind was blowing close to 60 k.....Sat there til 7:00, could not hear a thing cause of the wind, so went to work.......

[rocksteady]

Day 5 (today) starting to get tired of getting up at 03:30....

On the saddle by 05:00, no wind, no rain....SWEET !!!

5:30, he lets out his first gobble.....SWEETER !!! He is down in the bowl, where he was on Sunday that I did not get a shot.....So I have a real good idea where he is and how to get in there without sounding like a freight train. He is about 400 yards away (does not sound that far cause I am on a ridge and he is across the ravine, on another smal ridge....

I boogey along my ridge til I find the awesome elk trail, down the thill through the timber, skirt the edge of the cutblock in some regen and he is still yapping....I get to teh timber he is in, and go into ninja mode...Face mask etc, trying to walk as quiet as possible....Good luck on that in a trench Douglas Fir stand....I came to the bottom of a talus slope, knowing I was screwed for trying to walk quietly, so figured I would charge the bird and hope for the best....Still no visual, but he still gives me the odd gobble......

I take a deep breath and head up a sort of trail in the talus, eyes scanning everywhere....

Bingo !!! There he is, sitting on a branch about 5 feet off the ground, in a big Fir tree about 40 yards away...Already had the safety off, up goes the gun, sight picture lines up, drop the hammer on the 12.....He falls out of the tree, hits the ground and starts rolling......He rolled probably close to 100 yards down the slope, that tells you how steep it was.....

My first turkey !!!! SWEETEST !!!!!:mrgreen::mrgreen:

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/003.jpg

In 5 days, I never saw or heard a single hen...Don't know if this Tom was finished breedign the flock or if he was too old to reproduce, or if he got his arse kicked by the herd Tom.....

No idea.....

He was not responsive to calls.....Occasionally he would answer to hen talk, never to a Tom challenge or even an owl hoot.....Bought a crow call yesterday, but did not even pop it out of my hunting pants, cause I figured I should go in silent but deadly, rather than giving away my location.....

Took about 40 minutes to walk him to the truck....Bird like that gets heavy after packing it that far/long.....

I think I like this turkey hunting thing, almost as much fun as hunting bull elk, but a lot easier to get them out of the bush after one is down...

The picture was taken at the truck, using a lawnchair to help display his feathers etc....I did not pack the lawn chair in to hunt from...:-D

After work I will debone and get an official weight on him...

[stitch]

Awesome story and great pics! Congrats on a great hunt.

[stanway]

Congrats on your first turkey! Great story too!

Man, I really have to try that one of these years. Looks like too much fun.

[d6dan]

Congrats Rocksteady!. Thats a great first Turkey.:-D. And thanks for a great story and pics..

[Jelvis]

That's a huge turkey whoa good one ... Nice photo's .. Rocket sturdy ..
Jelly .. Let's talk turkey .. gobble gobble cluck cluck scratch screetch ...

[One Shot]

Congrats, good hunting. Thanks for sharing. I've got to get out that way or central WA and go get myself a bird too.

[Caribou_lou]

Good looking Bird. nice when you get rewarded for you hard work!

[eastkoot]

You'll really get hooked after you call one in, just as much fun as calling in an elk. Nice bird..

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Excellent, RS!!
But next yr could you do your day-by-day journal...just like you do for elk??? One of my favorite yearly reads on HBC! Makes the excitement last longer and keeps us rooting for you.

Congrats!!

SSS

[Phil]

Great story, congrats on the turkey!

[Ddog]

its about time you caught up to the rest of the EK boys that have taken "our birds down"
now you are among the ranks of successful turkey hunters.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB, i have been waiting to say that for a while now:)

[J_T]

I'm still working on mine. Just got home from a long stint away. Have to practise with the bow the next couple of days and will get out starting Thursday through Sunday.

Congrats Mike. Nice beard on that Tom.

[rocksteady]

Just got home and put him on the fish scale....Around 19.5 lb mark....

Ddog is gonna come over and mentor me on how to butcher this big pigeon, as well as how to properly harvest the beard, tail fan and who knows what else:mrgreen::mrgreen:

[brandonhunter]

Congratulations on your first ever turkey!!!

[rifleman]

exciting hunt . nice tom ya got there.

[shaner338]

Congrats on the bird!!
Looks like a good one!!

[leadpillproductions]

nice bird congrads

[rocksteady]

Couple more pics....

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/011.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/rocksteadyrifle/010.jpg

[huntwriter]

Congratulations. Good looking tom and great story. Interesting observation about him being alone. The breeding season is still in full swing and with some hens sitting already on their eggs he should have been searching hard for the remaining hens. That he didn't suggests that he was a boss gobbler that had been replaced by another tom.

Next time try calling a tom in rather then shoot it out of a tree, it's much more fun.:mrgreen:

[rocksteady]

Interesting observation about him being alone. The breeding season is still in full swing and with some hens sitting already on their eggs he should have been searching hard for the remaining hens. That he didn't suggests that he was a boss gobbler that had been replaced by another tom.

Rocksteady replied "I think he may have been Ghey (liked the boys, not the girls:wink:), as he would not come to any hen calls....:-D:-D"

Next time try calling a tom in rather then shoot it out of a tree, it's much more fun.:mrgreen:

Oh, I sure tried, but he would not co-operate....I would love to call one in and take it but on the other hand the one on one stalk/chase/trying to outsmart something that has a brain the size of a pea was also fun.....Now that I have my first, I can be more selective/patient/versatile...


Now that he is in the freezer I can dedicate my free time to gopher shooting and fly fishin for rainbows :-D

[landphil]

Nice turkey. was hoping to try for one this year too, but maybe the fall or next year. Thanks for posting the story and pics!

[Kody94]

WTG Rocky! Nice bird!

[weatherby_man]

Great bird! Love the pic with the cat watchin and thinkin..

[Centerfire]

Sorry, I don't buy that story. Here's why:

You said that you shot him out of a tree; however, it's quite clear from one of your photos that you shot him out of a lawn chair while he was just chillin' out! :-D:-D

All kidding aside, nice job on the turk! I bet he will taste great.

-Centerfire

[GoatGuy]

Nice job.....

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Looks like Tom has you in the beard department by a couple of inches:wink:.

SSS

[303Brit]

Nice gobbler, good work and thanks for sharing.

303

[Mik]

Nice Tom, great story,Congrats

[Muleycatcher]

Nice Tom, sounds like it was a fun hunt1

[proguide66]

too cool , know what that adrenaline is about!!

[Jelvis]

One of the hardest most challenging thing to do for a hunter is to get a big tom gobble gobble ..
Probably one of the top three in the world is to call a wise tommy into range for a shoot gunner ..
Jel .. Tom with long beard is a challenge and a half .. I don't have what it takes ..
Excellent trophy and tender vitals .. Con Grats Turkey hunter ..

[rocksteady]

Looks like Tom has you in the beard department by a couple of inches:wink:.

SSS

I am growing mine out for the ZZ Top concert in June, figure if I pop on some sunglasses, a tea cozy on my head, that security may think I am part of the band:mrgreen::mrgreen:

[rocksteady]

Finally got around to eating some of this bird, been working/travelling for work/working around home.....You know the old work/life balance thing....

Took the breasts, made them into cutlets, whacked them a bunch with a meat hammer, wife dipped them in milk, rolled them in flour with a little Montreal Steak Spice......3 minutes or so per side on a hot griddle......

Survey says " AWESOME"......

Thanks to Ddog for the recipe and guidance on cooking them.....

Not too sure what I am gonna do to cook the legs, teh tendons in those things are like 8" long shards of fibreglass:confused:.....Thinking maybe the old crock pot for the legs...:mrgreen:

[hunter1947]

Thats a dandy bird you got Mike to bad I was not there to have a taste of it http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon9.gif.

Maybe you can put a small piece of it in the freezer for when I come up ???.

Congrats on getting your first beard turkey http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon6.gif..