With a 9 month pregnant wife going into the season I knew I would be lucky to kill one turkey much less any more than that. With only limited hunting time the good lord has blessed me with a great season and here's a few pictures recapping it.

On opening day I had to work in the morning but was able to slip into the woods by about 11, As soon as I got out of the truck I heard gobbling on his own. I got close and made a few yelps and shut up. He did not answer but heard him drumming about 10 minutes later. It was a nice 3 year old to start the year off right.


Saturday after opening day I got on a pretty hot bird that I messed with the afternoon before and he hung up about 80 yards out and I could not move on him without spooking him. So I left him and started glassing and listening for another bird. I glassed down a long road through a section of burned pines and saw several birds strutting with a hen. I was able to crawl into some thick pines and get set up. The hen came to the calling and the gobblers strutted and drummed the whole way in.

Bird number 2 was a 2 year old.


My wife was scheduled to be induced on March 25th so I had made my mind up that I was going to hang up the gear for a few weeks and get ready for arrival of my son. Well on March 22nd my good friend Will Dixon called me and told me that he was going to be working that morning up my way and wanted to see if I would be interested in hunting my place before work. Well that was all the excuse I need to get the vest back out and we went after them. We decided to listen at a spot I had been seeing some turkeys and had one burning it up in the dark. We made a move and got set up. It turned out to be one of those mornings where every turkey in the county seemed to be gobbling, it was amazing. We ended up working this bird and we were set up on opposite sides of a big pine because we were not sure which direction the turkey was going to come. I could hear drumming on Will's side and a few second later the gobbler came out spitting and drumming and had a buddy in tote. For the next 5 minutes I listened to those turkeys gobble in our faces and drum right into range but never got to see any of it because of the way I was facing. Will ended up shooting the strutter at about 20 yards and after he shot I swung around the tree and whiffed my shot at the other gobbler as he was running off. Although I missed, Will had shot a fine gobbler. Will then informed me that it was his daddy's birthday, the late Bob Dixon, and that his dad had never shot a gobbler on his birthday and that this was a first for him or his dad. It was a pretty special moment to say the least.



After that hunt I did put everything up for a while and my son was born on March 25th and was a healthy baby boy weighing 7 lb. 10 oz. It was an amazing experience and my wife and I are so thankful for the blessing that he is. After helping my wife with the baby for the first week or so she let me slip away for an afternoon hunt. After sneaking around for a couple hours I located a lone gobbler strutting with a hen. I was able to get close to him and I pulled my fan out of my vest and worked him right to the gun barrel. Gobbler number 3 was a fine double bearded 3 year old.



I went the next morning a hunted an area that I hadn't hunted all year. I heard a bird gobbling in the dark and set up on him where I thought he may come. The turkey gobbled good but stayed up in the tree for nearly 2.5 hours. I figured this turkey was up there so long because he had been messed with before so I just clucked and purred very softly at him every so often and pulled out my trumpet and yelped a few times. He cut me off every time. When he got quiet I put the calls up and got my gun up with the thought he was either coming or going. Well luckily he was coming and about 15 minutes later I saw him easing down the road and I had turkey number 4.


Last week I was able to shoot turkey number 5. I went on a flash hunt before work and a turkey gobbled pretty close to where I was listening. I got set up had a text book hunt on a lonely gobbler. Did some tree yelping and clucking and purring and then got the wing out and flew down. I heard the gobbler pitch out and I cut and yelped at him really hard and he gobbled and strutted the whole way in. Turkey was dead at 6:15.



It has been a great season and I am very grateful for all the memories and experiences. I am guiding a wounded warrior to close out the season so hopefully I can cap this year off with a bird for him. Also, as a side note, all turkeys kills I've been a part of this year have been with 20 ga. tss #9's. That shot is some bad stuff and has not let me down in 2 years of shooting it.