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The Gobbler With White Wings

It was April 28, 2009, second morning of the 2009 West Virginia turkey season. We arrived at Wallback at 5:36 a.m. Dad and I started up a 250 yard long steep hill.

About 20 minutes later we finally made it to the top. By this time the sun was on its way, and the birds were singing. We walked on out the ridge and owl hooted, but we heard nothing. We did this same thing about 3 more times. We made it to another small grade, dad hooted.

That’s when when I heard a gobble. Dad did the same thing again. We heard the same result. We walked closer, dad hen called and the turkey gobbled. He saw a turkey on the roost. We set up and called, but they never came in. We think we got too close and bumped them.

So, we went out on a point about 100 yards back from where we were. Dad called, and about 60 yards below us a tom gobbled. We hurried and set up. I heard the leaves moving, and then they quit all of a sudden. I heard BOOM!

My dad jumped up, we ran over and saw the turkey. Dad flipped it over, it was a jake! Later my dad said when we ran up to the turkey the gobbler flew off. When he shot the turkey he could only see its head. The turkey was looking right at him, and he knew it would probably run.

We started walking again, this time I knew I would be shooting. We made it to an old road, went about 60 more yards, called. We could hear one on the other ridge, then we heard a hen in the middle. Dad said he didn’t have a very good chance at killing this bird.

We waited a little and called again. He sounded closer, so we set up. Dad set up a little way over the hill, and I set up by the road. It took us an hour to call him in. He gobbled close to 60 times. He stayed right over the hill for a long time.

Finally, a red head appeared. He saw there was no hen and started to leave. I took the shot. I smoked him!!!

I was very surprised at what I saw next, an 11-inch beard, 1 1/2″ spurs, and awesome white feathers. My trophy bird was about 21 pounds, and Dad thinks he was about a 4 year old.

What a way to end a turkey hunt! Two turkeys before 9:00 a.m. Well, that’s how I spent April 28, 2009.

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