My Dad and I went up to New York last spring and we were hunting on my dad’s friend’s property. The first day we set out to hunt this one hill that we thought would have a gobbler on it but we didn’t hear one. We heard a gobbler on another ridge and we knew that we should go after him tomorrow.
The next morning we got up early and headed down the road and got up on the hill on the edge of a field and it started raining. We sat there for a couple hours and didn’t hear him so we went to the camper and warmed up. We figured to give that gobbler a break for a day and try a different spot out at another farm but we didn’t have any luck there.
The following morning we got up on the hill and set up a decoy and called but still couldn’t get him to come in. He had some hens with him that took him right away from us and into a field. We made our way out to the edge of the field and we could see them out there about 50 yards away. My dad started calling and the gobbler would gobble but wouldn’t come in. One of the hens decided she would see if it was safe, so she made her way into about 20 yards and then walked back to the other hens and the gobbler, then they made their way out of the field.
We decided that the next morning we would sit on the edge of the field and wait for the hens to bring the gobbler to the field, but they never showed up. Then we heard them down where we had been just a couple days ago. We hurried as fast as we could and got as close as we could without spooking them (thanks to the QuikCamo gear!) I got set up and my dad got set up 30 yards behind me, so that when he called, the gobbler would be focused on his location. We heard them down the hill so my dad started calling and the gobbler started gobbling. He was getting closer.
I could see two hens run past the opening in the edge of the field so I motioned to my dad that I saw two hens going to the right. They ran past us at about 30 yards, but I just stayed still because I still heard the gobbler in front of me. He was getting closer.
Before I knew it, his head crested the hill. I was waiting for him to get his head up a little bit more, but he had a different plan. He started putting and going down the hill to the left, but then cut to the right and there was a small opening that I could get a shot through. Then I thought “This is my last chance!” I lined up the bead of my Benelli shotgun and BOOM!
I saw him start flopping, and my Dad said “Did you get him?”
I said, “Yeah he is flopping down here.”
And the rest is history!
Written for QuikCamo by Lucas Kincaid from Hunting On The Edge, Edited by Kyle Niedrich, QuikCamo Owner