Brian Enoch, another Mossy Oak Pro Staffer, and I went to Ohio to hunt. Brian knew of a place that he had hunted before that he said was, “eaten up with turkeys.” On the morning of the hunt, we located two or three different groups of gobblers. We decided to go to a close-by clover field where we had heard one group of gobblers talking. The woods were thick around that clover field. As soon as we arrived at the field, we put out a hen and a jake decoy. We sat there a couple of hours before we spotted a gobbler. Finally, we saw two gobblers pop out of the woods and go into the field. We did a few purrs and a couple of light clucks to get the gobblers’ attention. As soon as those longbeards spotted the two decoys, they started coming to us, stopping about every three steps to strut.
When the turkeys were close enough, they broke out of their struts and both gobblers came running toward the jake decoy. Brian had received permission to hunt on this piece of property. So, I whispered, “This is your place. We’re going to get your turkey first. Then I’ll shoot, if I get a shot, but you're going to shoot first. I’ll count to three. When I say three, you take the shot, and I’ll try to bag the second bird when I say four.” Brian shot when his turkey was only about 18 steps from us. Once the tom went down, then he jumped, flopped and tried to go in about four different directions at the same time. The turkey I was planning to shoot started running like he had a fire lit to his tail. Finally, when he was at about 30 yards from me, I was able to shoot and take my bird.
Anytime you can hunt with a buddy and have an opportunity to double-down on gobblers, sitting side-by-side, I believe that’s a moment in your turkey-hunting history that will be hard to forget. Although my hunts with my son and daughter are some of my most memorable hunts, this hunt definitely takes third place.
Day 3: Turkeys Just Like We See Them on TV
Tomorrow: Setting Up on Two Turkeys
