THE BAG HAD A HOLE IN IT.
It is easy to write about a successful hunt. It is hard to admit you screwed up but that is what I did. Had two birds, and saved the last for a Parker 10 Lifter. Had gobblers fired up at daylight, two of them. Double and triple gobbling. Could not be better. Coaxed them down the hill straight to me and knew I had the final bird.
Now when you think you know what you are doing and get a big head, that is when you screw up. Brain quit. Had the bird at thirty yards and he was five steps from being in the field and seeing my decoy and moving in closer. But I had a good shot at thirty or less at his head. You’ll notice the sound of the shell. Rolled him over, loaded 2s in the left barrel and he went under some mountain laurel. Instead of shooting him in it, I stood there and he walked away. Looked for hours but no luck. Went back this morning, having put the Lifter away and only one bird gobbling. Called him in and with game-ears in, one cannot tell direction. Held the gun up ready to shoot and he walked right through an opening thirty yards away I was not looking in, and after he was 75 yards away he gobbled goodbye.
Season could have had a good ending, but… I gave him a headache I am sure and now he is probably buzzard meat. The Lifter, having rolled two birds in two years, is now named Roll-Over and has been retired from turkey hunting.
THIS VIDEO IS RATED G FOR GENERAL AUDIENCES. ALL OF THE PROFANITY AT THE END HAS BEEN DELETED. Lots of gobbling if you like to hear it at the start but you know where you'll find the disappointing results, near the end.
https://youtu.be/0HocQsDXjPA
3RD GOBBLER IN THE BAG, BUT...
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