You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Some stories you just can't make up. Like the one about my three turkey hunting clients who all shot turkeys at the same time. Or better yet, my client Brantly seeking redemption after a disappointing miss on a beautiful mature longbeard. I guide Brantly and his wife Vero on a regular basis. They hire me to guide them ice fishing, deer hunting, and turkey hunting every year. Early in the first week of the New Hampshire spring turkey season I took Brantly out for his turkey hunt. I called in a beautiful longbeard and unfortunately Brantly missed. The next day it was Vero's turn and after a close encounter with a mature longbeard, we ran out of time and had to walk away from him, heads down, tail between our legs. Brantly scheduled another hunt for just over a week later in hopes of a little redemption.

Mornings in the turkey woods are often the best part

When I picked Brantly up for his hunt I told him he had two choices. He could hunt three mature longbeards I had found in different area, or he could head back to the spot where he missed his bird in hopes of redemption. He chose redemption. We arrived at our hunting location and headed out to the exact same place we were set up the week prior, with only a minor adjustment to blind placement. I set up two hen decoys and the wait began. We sat and watched the sun light up the sky in hopes that we would hear tree gobbles at any minute, but nothing. A little later Brantly told me he heard a gobble, but I hadn't heard it. We continued to wait, making a few yelps every 20-30 minutes. Then we both heard a gobble, but it was too far away to tell where it had come from. As the dew began to dry from the grass we heard another distant gobble. Again we discussed how we couldn't tell where it was coming from, only a general direction. Then, at about 6:55am I saw movement through some brush in the distance. I was pretty sure it was a turkey based on the speed, color, and size. Within seconds Brantly spotted a huge tom working his way down the hedge row of the field we were in. Then I saw him, a huge tom in full strut, working his way along the far edge of the field. I remarked that if I could coax the big boy into stepping off the tote road and into the field, we had a shot. Otherwise he would likely hang up and walk away when his prospective hens (my decoys) refused to close the gap.

We sat and watched in anticipation as the big tom strutted back and forth. Would he break and come our way, or would we be disappointing having had a look at such a nice turkey? He was huge! Then, as if we were being rewarded for our efforts, he stepped off the tote road and began making his way across the field. He was headed straight at us. I knew that if we could sit still and not get busted, he would come right to our decoys, especially since he was all alone...or so we thought. The bird made his way toward us and into shooting range, but we decided to let him get even closer. Brantly didn't want to miss again and I had the video camera running. Just then I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye to our left. To my shock, another mature tom was headed right for the other one! They headed toward one another and the fight was on. Seconds later the bigger of the two was chasing the smaller tom away. When I refer to him as smaller, I don't mean by much. Luckily, the big boy turned around and headed back toward the decoy setup, but the smaller bird was persistent and kept the bigger one distracted. Finally, the big tom made his way back toward us and I told Brantly to take the shot. He made a great shot and the bird toppled over. Our troubles were not over though. The other tom decided he wasn't finished and wanted a little payback. He proceeded to pummel the dead bird, ripping out feathers and getting a little redemption of his own. I had to run over and shoo him off...three times!


Brantly and I high-fived and had our celebration, but our living feathered friend wasn't finished. He wanted what he came for...what he thought were the two hens looking poised and ready. I decided to take a chance and called Brantly's wife Vero. I told her to get her hunting clothes on, grab her license, and meet us at our hunting location. We tagged Brantly's bird and headed out to my truck to wait for Vero. She arrived about fifteen minutes later. Brantly handed her the shotgun and decided that he would stay behind.

As Vero and I made our way back down the edge of the field I spotted the turkey. He was in the middle of the field, about 60 yards from our blind. We backed out and headed down the opposite side of the field through some glossy buckthorn hoping we could get to the blind without him seeing us. About halfway to the blind I spotted the tom, snood raised, he was on high alert. We were busted! We attempted to wait him out, but he wasn't moving. I had to make a decision. I decided we were going to walk to the blind and hope that, with some of my most enticing calling, he would come back after we ran him off. We got in the blind and once we were both settled I made a few yelps followed by a couple of purrs. We had been in the blind for about 3 minutes when I leaned back to get a look out one of the rear side windows of the blind. To my amazement the other mature tom had returned and was crouched in the grass just 20 yards from us! Once Vero had a chance to see him I started the video camera and told her to take her shot and, BOOM! She made a great shot. We called Brantly, who was sittng in the car, and told him to come back into the field for photos. We tagged Vero's turkey, took photos and video comentary, and headed to the registration station. Like I said, you just can't make this stuff up! Be sure to watch my YouTube channel (and subscribe) for the turkey hunting episode in the coming week or so.

Here are the stats.

Brantly's Turkey:
24 pounds, 10 1/4" beard, 1" spurs

Vero's Turkey:
19 3/4 pounds, 10" beard, 3/4" spurs