Mr Hollywood's Last Show

Date: May 4, 2004
Sunrise: 6:23 am
Weather: 54 F, SSW 7 mph, clear
Pressure: 29.88 steady
Humidity: 77%
Moon: 100% waxing - rise 7:18 pm set at 5:43 am

We went out to our favorite hunting area and set up on the edge of a cornfield which ran along a creek bottom which had a huge ridge on the other side. It was the preferred roosting ridge for turkeys in this area and the birds usually came down through the field before taking off for other areas.

I set out 1 hen and 1 breeding pair with a hen staked to the ground and a jake standing behind it. It was kind of cloudy and we didn't hear any early gobbling at all. Finally, a lone gobbler opened up on the ridge across the creek from us. I hadn't heard any hens with him so I called to him with my Cut N Paddle box. He really liked this call a lot. I tried a couple of different slates and he didn't respond to them at all. I did a flydown cackle on the paddle box and he gobbled again. I waited until I knew he was on the ground and gave another series of yelps on the box and he gobbled right back.

I stopped calling for awhile and I could hear him gobble as he worked his way down the ridge until he was right above us across the creek. He then came down to the creek and flew across. I froze then since I knew he was within 20 yards or so right behind us. He eventually worked out into the field on our left side and strutted out to the decoys. I got my gun raised on him and then I let him strut around since we were trying to film this hunt.

He started coming right to us and then something must have spooked him since he bolted. I shot him on about his third get-away step. We got this hunt on video and I can't wait to look at the footage. This hunt showed that if a turkey is hot and doesn't have any hens he'll come right in no matter what the obstacles.

This turkey came down a very steep ridge, flew across a creek and came through some thick brush to get to the field and our decoys. Awesome hunt.