Second Chance at Turkey

Saturday April 24th, 2010, I had another opportunity to go turkey hunting and was accompanied by another of my grandson's ( Codey Botkin ). We got up at 4:00 a.m., had our morning coffee and loaded up the truck with our gear then headed down the road in the nights darkness to our honey hole. We arrived just as the dawn was breaking across the sky with a severe tornado watch for our area. Although the weather was to be bad we both agreed that a little rain never hurt anybody and that we would give it a try anyway. As we began grabbing our gear we noticed several birds in two adjoining fields. We grabbed out our blind material and headed out across the field to a small group of trees at the edge of the property line and set up underneath the trees where we were able to see the toms strutting in the field to our right with a few hens. I told Codey the birds in the left field would come around the point of the trees just out of range but should come in to our calls without any problems. Just then a weary single young tom came from out of nowhere and just out of gun range then quickly returned to the flock in the left field. We sat there calling to both groups of birds but then noticed the owner standing by his shop watching us and the birds. Figuring the birds had seen the owner and wasn't about to come in any closer, we decided to go over and talk with the owner awhile and figure out our next game plan for the birds. While talking to the owner, a young tom popped out of the brush across the creek bank ambled around the edge of the field then off into the trees and brush as I headed across the creek with a plan to cut him off on the other side of the trees before he got out into the plowed field. There again this plan didn't work either. For some reason the toms just weren't gobbling much at all. I returned back to the shop and noticed the turkeys in the right field were heading for the gap joining the to fields which was where the hens were waiting in the left field. Codey and I decided we would try to sneak along the creek bank to the edge of the property line and wait and call softly to the toms coming into the left field. By the time we had got set up in a sage patch with briar bushes the toms had already joined the hens and began heading down field in our direction. I told Codey not to move any at all as the turkeys could already see us if we moved. The hens feed down field with the toms strutting all the way to within gun range. I told Codey I would take the second tom and he would take which ever tom was closest to him. When I shot the toms scattered with one of them running straight toward Codey which was when he shot and we had two toms on the ground. We retrieved our toms and headed to the shop just as the owner came out to meet us pulling up by the side of his house. He ask if we were giving up for the day and we told him we had already taken our birds and was ready to travel to the check-in station. Codey's bird went home with him and my bird went to the landowner with a great big thank you and a few words of our returning to his farm. Pictures of our birds are above but the landowner's name is still to remain a secret unless you know the man from his photo.