Free New Hampshire Blog

I went to my new spot this morning. Since my last attempt the other day at calling didn’t get me anywhere, I opted not to use calls at all. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

When I got there, I got out of the car and started getting my gear on. What do I hear? A gobbler quite close to me. Down a hill actually.

I get all my camo on and move quietly in his direction. I go around the side of the hill as quietly as I can. I hear him again.

I look down carefully and see him and a hen. They are too far away to take a shot at. They slowly walk off, not having seen or heard me.

I move farther down the hill and set my self up in an ambush position. PLEASE NOTE THAT I WAS NOT STALKING THE TURKEYS! STALKING TURKEYS IS DANGEROUS AND STUPID!

So I wait there about 20 minutes, then he comes back around in another loop. Yes, there he is! Right down the hill from me! OMFG! I have him now! Soon I will be eating turkey legs!!!

Well not quite…

I see him at the bottom of the hill. I quietly raise my shotgun and aim it in his direction…my heart is pounding now, my pulse is racing, I’ve got more freaking adrenaline shooting through my veins than you can possible imagine…I’ve got him now…so I pull the trigger…

…and I miss…

When my shot went off he flopped his wings wildly and I thought I’d hit him. But then he turned tail and ran toward the woods. No, he didn’t try to fly…he…just…ran. I took another shot at him but didn’t hit him with that one either (I didn’t expect to but what the hell at that point).

I saw him go into the woods.

By this point, I’d gone down the hill the rest of the way and so I walked toward the woods where he ran in. Although this wasn’t deer hunting, I looked for some sort of blood trail but I couldn’t find anything.

I missed him.

I could not believe it but I know it’s true. I did not line up my sights when I shot at him. I did not take the extra few seconds to make sure I had it completely perfect and lined up.

I missed him.

I sat on the ground for a few minutes. Then I got up to move back up the hill. I waited there, dumbfounded for a little while. I couldn’t believe that I’d blown it.

I consoled myself by reminding myself that I’d come a LONG way as a hunter and that this was my first season hunting turkey. And I remembered that I’d had the smarts to change my tactics in response to the turkey’s behavior and put myself in a good ambush position. Small comfort perhaps but it was better than nothing in a situation like that.

Couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes later…I hear him in the woods.

GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE!!!!

He is alive and well. And not bright enough to leave the area although he was smart enough not to come back to where I was.

So he’s still out there and I will be too tomorrow.

You may have won today’s battle, turkey! But the war isn’t over until May 30th!

I SHALL RETURN!!!!!!!!!! DAMN YOU!!!!!!

Okay…now I’m going to take a hot shower and/or a bath. It was freaking freezing out there and I’m chilled.

Wish me luck tomorrow…

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Related posts:

1. Turkey Hunting Day 3: One Bird and a New Spot
2. Turkey Hunting Day 9: No Turkey, a Red Squirrel and a Very Large, Hungry Hawk!
3. Turkey Hunting Day 8: The Disappearing Turkey and the Clogged Shotgun
4. Turkey Hunting Day 2: Right Gun, No Birds
5. Turkey Hunting Day 4: Nothing Interesting to Report