Later that morning, I was calling back to five or six toms
that were out of site, they were hung up and not moving to me so I decided to
go to them. I exited the blind and moved
east down the sendaro towards the ruckus, calling periodically to vector in on
their location. Eventually I had to get
down in the brush and crawl along the game trails. I never saw them and they exited the
property. Just then, all hell broke
loose as it sounded like a huge fight broke out as I have never heard anything
like it in the woods! Out of sight it
lasted for a good five minutes and then just stopped. I continued calling with my Jake call, but
there were no responses. Three minutes
later I noticed several Jakes to the North heading uphill and winding back
around to Gurra the property. This time
I started to get some responses off in the distance.
After five minutes I decided to make a move down the
property line to the north, where I incidentally have a trailcam. It’s about 70 yards down to that spot so I
got up crept out into the opening and when I didn’t see anything down the draw,
I stood up and that’s when three Jakes spotted me naked. I was definitely a bust! I kept my cool, froze in my tracks and they
did the same - craning and straining. I
knew I had to get small, very small in a hurry or I was going to blow this stalk. I managed to get small and back out of the
open, I got back to my hide, which is an understatement, and reset moving the
safety to the fire position. I decided
to give a few calls and listen. No response.
I tried once more, no response. I
leaned over to the left to start recording and get my pump back up on my knee
when I looked up and there were the three Jakes just 21 feet away. I was busted again and I wasn’t able to begin
the camera recording!
This being only the third time I intentionally was in a
position to take a turkey, this didn’t even come close to being “ill prepared;”
this was a hilarious catastrophe. By the time I was able to mentally process
how deep I was in the stuff and the steps I needed to get a shot off in just a
few seconds, more turkeys had arrived and the pressure was on – I was going to
get my turkey, I would outsmart and out maneuver these tricky birds and triumph
as a predator in the top of the food chain should! Where it became hysterical was all the time I
was trying to get into position, more and more turkeys kept showing up and
pushing forward on the leader as if trying to see how many turkeys would fit in
a phone booth!
I finally got my shotgun to my knee and pointed at the throng
of turkeys trying to line up on the leader who was weaving and bobbing because
he knew I was there, but stayed to try to figure me out. The planets aligned, I had my shot, I
squeezed the trigger and nothing happened!
Safety? My trigger hand moved
ever so slightly felt along the trigger housing for the safety; safety was off.
?? Finger back on trigger, lined up
perfect shot again, squeezed trigger – nada!
Another safety check, in the “Fire” position! ??
Totally baffled I continued to line up another shot. What could be wrong? What am I missing? Then it hit me like “Homey D Clown,” the
slide was not fully forward; it must have moved back battling the
brush? I knew what I had to do now, but
also knew moving it forward would give off a metallic “click” and I had to be
ready to shoot. Now or never I waited
again for the shot, 15-20 turkeys all piling up not wanting to cross some
imaginary line on the path – CLICK – BAM!
Never before have I had so much confusion, torment and
exhilaration on a hunt. The whole
encounter lasted 6-7 minutes, 15+ Jakes staring me down just 20 feet away and
now I had two wild turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner, did I mention I only
used one shell?
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