My younger brother and I went out for the first two days of the Indiana spring turkey season. Day one was a long day. We only saw one gobbler in the morning. He did not get anywhere near our setup. Later that evening I roosted three long beards that had eluded me during last year's spring season.
On the second day we set up to go after the three long beards. We were set up on a tree lined field edge in a steady rain. We had hens fly down to the middle of the field and had gobblers sounding off to our west. About an hour after day break we had the three long beards gobbling to our calls from about 300 yards away. We worked them for over an hour before they finally worked their way off to the north. They wound up fighting with some jakes instead of coming in to our calls and decoys.
After all that rain and frustration we decided to move to some blinds in a food plot on top of a hill. My blind was in a corner of the field we call Turkey Corner. It is the same spot that I called in a long beard for my brother's first kill last year. The rain finally stopped and I settled in to do some aggressive calling every fifteen minutes.
To kill time between calls I was on my smart phone reading forum post on the T&TH website. I glanced to my right and saw a long beard on the field edge about eighty yards away. I quickly put down my phone and picked up my Primo's Jackpot slate call. I started to purr steadily. The bird turned towards me and started to feed and meander right towards my blind. I continued to purr and started to prep my Mossberg 535 as the tom continued to walk towards me. I turned on the TruGlo Gobble-Stopper red dot scope and flipped off the safety. Now I just had to remind myself to breath, relax and make a good shot.
Finally the gobbler walked right in front of my blind on his way to my hen decoy. I put the red circle of the scope in the middle of his neck and squeezed off the round. The bird immediately dropped to the ground. The 3" Federal Mag-Shok Lead with Flightcontrol wad and #6 shot laid the bird out.
When I went to collect the bird I paced it off at 11 yards. It was a very easy shot, but no less satisfying then taking a deer at over 100 yards.
He was a two year old tom. He weighed 19 pounds, had an 8" beard and blunt spurs that measured ½". By no means was he a giant, but he is my first and I could not be happier.
Since Indiana is a one bird per season state, my season is over. The good news is that I can still go out to guide and call for my son and brother. We are now planning to go back out this Sunday to try and get them both a bird. Life is good!
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