Persistence Pays Off

I am not sure of the best way to begin this post, but I love the way my hunting buddy Regis ended his season today – May 18 and the story he shared with me.    Regis and I hunted first day without success and I wrote about his morning because, unlike my morning, it was full of action and he had a great time.  Here is that blog - http://storytrax.com/node/705  Read this if you want some background.   Since that hunt, I had two great Monday hunts and they are noted at the bottom of this post.   Regis on the other hand came to Huntingdon County the first Saturday and left empty handed again.  He then went home to Cambria County and hunted everyday before his work day started at 7 a.m. During his nightly phone calls he and I would discuss his hunts.   He reported jakes galore!  He called in hens that came in with the intention of kicking his butt!  He had turkeys roosting in the tree he was sitting beneath, but he would never shoot a bird on the roost.  He had a string of silent gobblers roost near by, fly down and walk past his location within range, but he wanted to call one to the gun and not go the “bush whacker” route just yet.  Most were jakes, but he said that one looked like it had an 8” beard.  I may have toasted that one!   Anyway, he began to focus on one big turkey that was close to work and gobbling good.  On Tuesday, he worked the bird, but a hen and the gobbler’s reluctance to move forced his to leave the gobbling bird and go to work.   Wednesday morning he moved closer to the place where the bird seemed to hang up and he found a field, set a decoy, but old tom stayed across the field, gobbled at his decoy and stayed put.  Again he left for work.   Thursday morning, he moved across the field to the gobbler’s side and set his decoy, but old tom entered the field on the opposite side gobbled at this decoy and stayed put – on to work.   Now this is what separates good turkey hunters from great ones!    Today, Friday, he got up extra early, got to the field when it was still dark and set his decoy in the field.  Then he crossed the field to the opposite side to wait for daybreak. It was 4 a.m. and he was ready.  Not a sound for over two hours.  Then true to form, tom entered the field across from the decoy and stood there gobbling at the plastic lady.  That gobbler was totally unaware that Regis was 15 yards from him nestled in the grapevines on tom’s side.  The shot was true and a smart turkey got dusted by a smarter hunter!   Game over.  10” beard, 1” inch plus spurs.  Sorry no pictures and no weight report.  He gathered up tom and left for work!   Congratulations Regis.   If you missed my previous post and want to hear the “tail” of how I scored on two special Mondays here are the links: http://storytrax.com/node/713  http://storytrax.com/node/729   Hope you have a safe and successful season!