Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk ALTurkey Talk -- Beards and Spurs #2 was henned up but,....

This was the hardest I’ve ever had to work for a bird. Spotted him strutting in a field at 11:30. I didn’t initially see hens but he was strutting to hard to not have them. So I crawled on hands and knees to within 20 yards of the field and he was about 100 yards out in it. Called to him a few times and he would gobble and go into strut but wouldn’t budge. Then I saw his 5 hens. There was a creek still between me and the field that has shallow water but 8-10 ft shear banks. So I had to jump down in the creek and use roots to climb my way out. Got right to the edge of the field a shot aggressive calling trying to get when fired up and I’ve my way with no luck. After about an hour of watching this I decided to try and crawl on him. They got to a good spot where I could crawl through some thick sage and dog fennel to where I thought I’d be about 75 yards of him hoping I’d be in his “bubble” then. No such luck. It looked like his hens were beginning to move off down a road towards another small food plot so I crawled back out ran down the creek 200 yards and got set up on the road I figured they were heading down. Sat and called and he never gobbled for 30 minutes and he had been hitting about every other call I made so I figured they never left the original field. So I crept down the road I thought they were heading down back towards the original field and got within 100 yards and saw him still out there strutting, but at this point I was on his side of the field and felt like I was back in the game. So the belly crawling started again. The wind was very helpful for movement and noise concealment when crawling. When the wind picked up and crawl about 5 feet and then wait when it died. I was able to once again get to within about 20 yds of the field with him and the hens less than 100 yds from me. Once I got set up I tried calling again with similar results as before gobble and strut but wouldn’t come. So I got silent and waited for him to get behind a cedar tree and I started scratching in the leaves, and that finally broke him. When he cleared the cedar we was slowly angling towards me. 70, 60, 50, oh hell this is about to happen, 40. I clucked to get him to stick his head up to clear some brush for a clean shot and dropped him at 37 steps. I pretty much collapsed after the shot and adrenaline dump, and just laid there for 5 minutes. After a total of about 400 yards of either hands and knees or belly crawling I was exhausted. As you can tell from the way I look in the picture. That’s one I’ll never forget!

Congrats!

Congrats, you earned that one. I'm too old for that and just not that mad at them any more. Back in the day, I've belly crawled through cow chit to get close enough, not any more. At 74, I'm happy that I chase them, killing one is not quite as important as it used to be

Enjoyed the story, congrats

Congrats

Awesome

👍 good job!

Congrats!!

Thanks for sharing that great hunt.Congrats

thats never givin UP!

Congrats!!

Congrats!

Congrats. You might could pass as Tim Tebow btw

Congrats