Just when I thought my season couldn’t get any worse, the Gobblinator shows up to prove me wrong.

It was last Thursday, and I had decided to sleep in after working late on some pictures and then hit the woods midday. I had run into a couple of big gobblers right near the gate, but usually later in the day, so that was my plan. I got to my spot at noon and quietly set up on the edge of a burn right by the property line. This was also the same spot that I passed on a jake a week earlier while trying to get a loudmouth older one to come in, so I knew if I just sat tight, a bird would show up eventually.

I did a series of soft yelps every twenty minutes or so, and waited. And waited. I had been there about 2 hours and was just about to run through another set of calls when I noticed a red head bobbing along about 70 yards out in the burn to my left. I eased my Winchester 1400 up and tried to figure out what my bird was going to do. I could see that he was looking for me, however he was going to pass on by since he couldn’t see my decoys in the fire break due to a row of brush. I quickly picked out two openings through the row of brush as well as through the planted pines out in the burn and got ready. He was at 30 yards when I let off a load of #6 heavyshot as he hit the second opening.

He immediately went down, but I knew better than to count on it. And sure enough, we both got up to run about the same time. I could see that he was going to try and sprint by me, so I took a few steps, jerked the gun up just as he took off and tried to get my barrel out in front of him. However I only managed to find his back as I pulled the trigger on my 35 year old gun. The shot knocked him out of the sky, but he was up and running again as soon as he hit the ground. He was now heading towards the corner of the burn right where it gets thick, so I started running parallel to him in an effort to head him off. When I was about 30 yards from the corner I slammed on the breaks, shouldered my gun and got ready for my last chance to remove the gobblinator from the flock.

As soon as he hit the road, he turned and tried to take off again, however my third and last shot knocked him back out of the air. The big gobbler rolled and flopped around for 2 seconds, just long enough for me to make it within 5 yards, when the old bird regained his composure and started up the road at a good but wobbly trot. I threw my empty gun down in one last ditch effort to catch him, turned on the afterburners (at least that is what I needed in my Rocky snake boots), and stayed close for about 100 yards. But then I started to lose ground as he continued to pick up speed. However since I just knew he was going to run out of gas at any moment and drop dead, I kept running so that I didn’t lose sight of him before he did.

However he never ran out of gas. I did! I finally pulled up at about the 200 yards mark and just stood in complete disbelief as the toughest longbeard I had ever seen did his best Carl Lewis impersenation. He never left the logging road, and I could still see him hauling ass at about the 400 yard mark when he finally rounded a curve to disappear!

Still in complete disbelief about what just happened, I backtracked to my gun, then retrieved my vest that had two more shells in it and followed up my turkey’s trail. I looked and looked, but to no avail… My season-saving limbhanger, the Gobblinator, was gone.

I hate to even tell this story since, while entertaining, is so at my and the turkey’s expense. I hate looking like a kook, and I hate even more that I lost an injured bird. However both things occasionally happen in life. Fortunately, looking like a kook happens much more than losing a turkey. As a matter of fact, until this one, I had never lost one that I hit. Sure, I have missed one or two, but I had never knocked one down and not been able to get another shot or my hands on him before he escaped. In retrospect, I should have clucked hard one time as he hit the opening to make him pick his head up more. Then I would have had more pellets hit him in the kill zone. Instead, with him walking with his head kind of tucked in, he took a lot of it in the upper shoulder/wing. I also may have to break down and buy one of those 3.5 inch mags along with a scope since I believe more power and a better aiming device could have helped even with his head tucked in. And a gun that holds FIVE shells would have allowed me to hit him one more time as he flopped around that last time. As usual, there are always lessons to be learned in the outdoors.

So, where does that leave me? At the second to last day of the season without a turkey! I am finishing this post and then I hitting the woods for the day to try and remedy that. I was hoping to give it hell yesterday, but bad weather and work projects put an end to that. I also had to stay close to my rat terrier who became deathly ill on Saturday and required an emergency room visit on Sunday as well as an overnight stay for observation. It turned out to be a intestinal virus that mimicked parvo symptoms. But $200 later he is doing much better.

However while my dog had made it, my toyota’s AC didn’t. I was on the way to pick him up from the vet Monday afternoon when smoke started pouring from under the hood – it had seized up. The mechanic down the street from the vet said that it would be $800! And since I had to replace it a few years ago and it was exactly $800, I definitely believe him.

So my bad luck just keeps on coming. First I was having a tough time finding time to hunt with our busy spring workload, then I hit the neighbor’s cat, followed by the deer. Next my wife and kids left me home alone for a month to care for the dog, who immediately got deathly ill and cost me $200 dollars. Now the AC goes out too! I just can’t seem to catch a break.

But what can I do? Sit here and ramble on, or suck it up and hit the woods in an effort to salvage my season and my credibility. Luckily I know from past experiences that I can sometimes do amazing things when I have to, like kill a turkey on the last day of the season. And since I started turkey hunting 10 years ago, I have only gotten to the end of a season twice without my bird.

One of those two times I managed to come through at the very last moment. That is my next post!

Jeff

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!