Within view more than 300 yards away, two mature missouri gobblers came into sight. Some-times you just have to be in the right place at the right time, and thats exactly what I was thinking to myself as I saw the gobblers appear across the field. I still do not l know what made them react the way they did – wether it was the 5 plus inches of rain that had been pounding central missouri during our hunt or the high winds that moved in the area that afternoon – I figure a mixture of the two was a safe bet, but with a single call from my Primos wet box call I had put both of the gobblers on alert. Neither bird showed any interest in strutting nor gobbling for that matter.
Andy (A good friend of mine) had his gun raised to my right as I could see its True Glo sight system lit up and ready for action. He and I were tucked into a brushy/slightly timbered fence line that divided two adjacent agricultural fields that were filled with turkey great sign, leaving us to believe this was a spot which was frequently visited! When I gave that single yelp to make sure both gobblers were looking our way – hoping at the least they would be able to hear me allowing them to catch a glimpse of the single hen decoy that we had placed at 15 yards. Seeing the decoy as I had hoped, both gobblers turned our direction and continued slowly towards the both of us from the opposite end of the field we overlooked.
Both Toms marched simultaneously in stride pausing every few seconds on full alert before continuing any further. Slowly I pivoted my head to the direction Andy was sitting, leaving my mossburg shotgun where it lay, muzzle pointing towards the field. Using some sort of hand signal I was able to get his attention, and making sure I was on what we thought was the bigger bird of the two. Shaking his head with approval, I raised slowly as I turned back to my left, watching as the show continued on.
Almost on cue, still walking slowly the two birds closed the distance the once huge distance to 70 yards. Leaving me with thoughts of how turkeys often force us hunters into a cat-and-mouse game that requires strategy and stealth to successfully fill a tag. But not these two gobblers!
I sat, waited, waited some more and couldn’t help but to chuckle as the two gobblers serenaded each other all the way into the hen decoy we had placed a while earlier, Calling only once. They turned out to be a two and three year old birds. Both carbon copies of each other in terms of behavior and sported beards of 9 and 10 inches. “Shoot him”, Andy said quickly, but I was waiting for the second bird to step a little bit closer giving us an opportunity at a double! “Shoot now!” Andy said again, this time with a little more enthusiasm as the birds were now only 5 steps from the decoy. Holding dead on, I squeezed off and anchored my shot to the head and neck to the larger tom from a distance of about 30 yards – An the double was complete!!!
Our group had left for missouri in a rain storm and battled rain everyday during our five day hunt on public ground which proved to be a huge challenge.. We had to adjustments, read what the birds were doing and cut back our calling efforts to match their behavior. It was with a little bit of luck and a hole lot of persistence that two Non resident turkey tags got filled. I left Missouri with memories of a hunt that will never be forgotten!
