gobbler two

[charlie cleveland]

got up at 4.00 am looked outside stars a shineing little cool so put on a little more clothes...got into the woods a little early but thats all rite better than being late...had my decoys out and setting in the blind before daylight..i blew my locater call at daybreak but not a gobbler was heard i hunted this spot till 11.00 and pulled up stakes went home and eat a bite the rested up till 1.00 pm then went back to a large soybean field...got all my hunting gear together and got to the edge of the field there was 5 turkeys feeding now i was in a bind4 to 5 hundred yards to them turkeys and not a bush to hide behind...i backed up and trying to decide what to do..i started to just go somewhere else and come back in the morning and be there before daylight..then decided i would try a differant plan....there was a large drainage ditch that circled this field so i decided to stay out of site behind some large pine trees and the ditchthis was not a good plan in about 5 minutes of walking the briars got rough and were the skidders had dragged the pines they had cut and dragged was a mess all growed up and them skidders had left places were they had got stuck them holes were waist deep.luckily i did not fall in one.. finally i got two were i could cross this ditch and get into the field but i still had them turkeys to worry about...i eased over to look thru the brush was i lucky them turkey were feeding and leaving the field this took about 30minutes for them to leave the field..i knew two of those turkeys were large gobblers did not know about the other 3....i went accross that field fast as i could but every step i would bog down half way to my knees s finallyout of the muddy field ...i new this area well so i knew were to set up at..i got every thing sqared away got out the call gave 2 yelps and i had 2 gobblers answer me both within 200 yards or less one gobbler only answered me once but this other gobbler was ready..i gave him my best calls it took him 30 minutes for him to come to the dummy hens..meanwhile this gobbler to my back side was trying and wanting to cross a creek i was setting on but the gobbler to my left beat him there...the gobbler came to my left and i was sitting just right no left hand shot today..i let the bird come to within 25 steps but i actully thought he was a little further out any way i used the left barrel that had a load of 2 ounces of no 2 lead shot....put it on his head and the rest is history...the turkey weighed 19 1/4 lbs and had 9 inch beard and 7/8 spurs that were razor sharp...took this bird with the heavy field ithaca i got from russ jackson...was gona take the lite 8 ga but it was just to far to have to carry the 8 so the ithaca was the gun chosen..i got that bird at 3.15 time i got home and took some pictures and showed it to my dad and got him dressed and cleaned it it was 6.30 i m going back after that other gobbler in the morning.....charlie