Been bringing the sun up a few mornings over the past week and a half chasing turkeys.
First exciting experience was last week when this coyote nearly plowed us over. Buddy’s slate call was cast aside and a fine running shot ended this turkey hunter’s days.
Monday morning was eventful in the respect that the birds were gobbling their fool heads off, but not too productive because they didn’t want to work very well. We could hear hens seemingly in every direction and it’s tough when they can walk right up Mr. Tom but we can’t. Needless to say – even though you can hear 6 or 8 different birds gobbling – there is not guarantee of success in the turkey woods.
However, this morning was a totally different situation. Very little gobbling, but the gobblers were willing to work. We located a pair of gobblers with a single gobble at 7:45 a.m. about 3/4 mile away. After cutting the distance to 400-500 yards, we managed to eek one last gobble out of them before they shut up. As we walked closer to their location, we spotted a coyote on a long right-of-way and sat down to try and call him up for a shot. Apparently, the 2 birds had already decided they were coming our way to investigate. 2 series of mouth yelps later (maybe 90 seconds from the time we sat down), we got stampeded by the 2 gobblers. No warning whatsoever, no gobbling, no strutting, couldn’t even hear them in the leaves and pine straw. Just a sudden 20 yard appearance during which one of the birds got suddenly dead. It all happened so quick that there wasn’t time to try for a double, but that was okay with me. Just being out there in the turkey woods is awesome, let alone watching a buddy get a good bird.
Not to say I don’t want my own though. Going after mine in the morning. 
