A "Marx Bros." Turkey Hunt

[Old and Reliable]

And over so soon too. I have never hunted turkeys until today, when my 2 week private land license was legal. Seen them while waterfowling, hunting deer and squirrel, and especially on the many farms where I enjoy shooting woodchucks and barn pigeons off season.

One good farm in my Co., where I have had the privilege of hunting/shooting for nearly 25 years, spotted some in picked over corn fields that border a nice beaver pond, which is always good in the Fall for waterfowling. Lotsa Wood ducks, so lotsa oaks and heavy cover- also good for deer (but I hunt in Northern MI in the Club Counties) so I pass that, also it is shotgun zone for deer and I prefer the scoped 30-06!

So i bought a senior license ($6.00) and reloaded some older blue paper Peters pie crimped duck loads- No. 2 lead- stuffed them with 7 & 1/2 chilled Lawrence antimony shot, recrimped the pie crimps, and decided to see if i could "bushwhack" a Gobbler-

No calls, no decoys, just like most of my waterfowling, and all my deer and varmint hunting with rifles, pick a known spot and wait- and use Camo.
Someone once asked me how it was that I kill so many crows in the late winter and into spring- special calls? special choke or shot loads? No, my secret weapon is a full camo face net, plus I follow the sunglasses mantra taught by the late Gunny Long T'ran-- that being- NO diddy-bop shades- all black no glare frames. And if you wear prescription glasses, that also applies.

We had heavy frost Sun night, so I lingered over coffee with my farmer friend- discussed the coming Morel pickin' season, steelhead fishing- I got out to the brushy corner where the 88 acre picked corn field sits, took my seat- camo everything, gloves too- and like the frames of my Ray-Bans, the grommets on my Trish Setter boots were rubbed with a flat black Magic marker-

About 10:45- 5 mph NW breeze, some crows and woodies flying, I saw three black humpies over in the far corner, along the old rusty fence- and I guess the spot right, as they were headed for the seep creek about 40 yards from where I sat-like a rock--one of the black humpies had abig shiny red wrinkled head- the other two "ladies" wore drab-- Had to wait until the hen moved ahead of her Paramour- put the front bead on the ventilated rib on my personal "Bo-Whoopie" snicked the safety foreward, and touched the front trigger on the Big 12 2E 32" Nitro steel barreled double that was made in Fulton, NY- the Gobbler jumped up from the impact, and I gave him the second barrel- both a full choked and the gun has 3" chambers, but is NOT a Longrange-

End of story- beginner's luck? You betcha. I stopped at the Parnell Party Store for some Ice tea and decided to buy a Lottery ticket-Sorry it wasn't a Parker, my 12 30" F&F PH has Twist barrels and ain't no way I'm gonna shoot Express loads in that- at least for now. Come Fall, I might. Oh yeah- wasn't "Duck Soup" a Marx bros. movie???

[Autumn Daze]

Pictures?

[Opening Day]

What no Parker.... let's see some pictures... oh and congrats.

[Dean Romig]

Congratulations Francis!! I well remember my first Longbeard - What a sense of elated satisfaction...

[Old and Reliable]

I don't have a digital camera (yet)- so no fotos. Bird is/was a "Jake" about a 3" stubble beard, and the spurs the older Toms grow (similar to Rooster pheasants) are just small round nubs. I am going to have area butcher shop in Lowell smoke the bird, after it has hung a few days and I have dressed it out. Not much chance of damage to the meat, those "re-loaded" Peters Blues with the 7.5 shot in the head and neck did the trick.

Years ago, an old market hunter name of Delbert O'Grady shot nothing but 7.5 shot Express loads in his 12 gauge Model 1897 Pump. His theory was that head shots at closer range with that shot size were sure kills and less damage to the meat. He was not into the long range concept at all. Shells were part of his "overhead costs" and he liked to have his mallards in close. Worked today on this bird, but I might go another 5 spring seasons before I get another 'sucker shot" like that!

OT- but I'm going to bring the rest of those older paper 12 loads and the Big Elsie to the Yooper Shoot in June- should be fun at the big balloon shoot!