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« Last post by tattoo dave on May 16, 2024, 10:16:52 pm »
Great stories JW, as usual! Good to hear I'm not the only one who's not eating wild turkey this season. Tried a new state land spot this year and found plenty of birds, and worked the calls enough to call in another hunter, but the birds didn't seem to interested in coming to visit. Had a bearded hen within longbow range, but passed cause I'm not into shooting a hen walking around making babies. Bearded hens are legal to shoot here in Michigan. These damn turkeys out maneuvered me all week, to the point where I got busted on the move on 4 different occasions, somehow just a little too far out of range for my 410, but still close enough for me to hear them laughing at me. On the 410 topic, biggest bird I ever shot was with a 410. Triple bearded monster of a bird that had the nerve to wake me up from a nap around 1:00 in the afternoon at about 10 yards. That was long before those way over priced TSS shells were around.
Anyway back to this season. Decided to switch to the 12 gauge for a little more distance capabilities, and that didn't work either. Gave up on that spot, drove about 10 minutes to different location, and heard a gobble not 2 minutes after exiting the car. Quickly found a not so great spot to sit cause he was already heading in my direction and I hadn't even takin my call outta my pocket. Got settle and prepped as fast as possible, gave him some soft purring and I could hear him now running in my direction up a hill. He crested the hill as I was putting down the call and busted me. Considering my gun was already up and pointed in his general direction, I attempted a shot, but at that point he already decided his choice to come say hi was a bad one and was promptly retreating. It was a clean a miss, didn't even so much put a feather outta place. That was the end of my season. At that point I also opted for breakfast instead. Mine was some asiago sourdough toast with, plenty of marinated goat cheese and a fried egg on top. Got a little over a week now to apply for one of those Michigan bear tags. That'll be my next adventure