This spring provided me with an unforgettable outdoor experience while I was turkey hunting. I went out to one of my favorite hunting spots by Tuttle Cr. Reservoir. This area is typical of the Flint Hills region with open pastures on top of the hills and plenty of oaks in the gullies and creek bottoms and crop fields on the bottom ground. This particular area has produced several huge 25+ pound birds for me in the past.

I got there early and set up along the edge of the pasture, hoping to entice some birds right off the roost. I was setting there listening to the cardinals, waiting for something to happen and something interesting almost did. I kept hearing a spitting type sound like a gobbler makes but it was way too early to hear that yet. I kept remembering an experience I had last year when I heard a sound like that and it turned out to be a skunk at close range sniffing out bugs. I thought not again, but sure enough a skunk walks from behind a cedar tree next to me, walks up and sniffs my boot.

I'm in a major panic trying to figure out what to do, I figure my only chance is to just not move which amazingly enough worked he eventually moved away up the creek and my heart started calming down a little bit. I seem to attract other animals when I'm turkey hunting. Last year, I was calmly taking an early morning nap at the base of a big oak when a raccoon came down the tree and on top of my head. I'm not sure which one of us was more scared from that little scuffle. All I know is I didn't get a good night's sleep for the next 2 months!

With the skunk finally gone, I then turned my mind back to the possibility of turkeys. I gave a fly down cackle which didn't bring any response. I hadn't heard any gobbling at daybreak but it was really windy and cold so I didn't expect much. I still hadn't seen or more importantly heard any turkeys fly down and it was definitely light enough for them to be on the ground. I waited awhile after the cackle and did some soft yelping. I then followed that up about 10 minutes later with some real aggressive cuts and yelps. I finally got some good gobble responses but they were way up the creek in the pasture I was hunting and I also heard some gobbles up and over the hill behind me.

I was concentrating my attention on the gobblers up the creek in front of me and didn't really see a group of 7 jakes and 3 hens come in behind me from the right. I turned and watched as the leader of the jake gang got really close to me, about 8 feet away, and then moved back with the others in the flock about 10 yards from me up this fence line. That jake was one of the biggest I have ever seen with a huge head and big wattles like a mature bird.

While I'm watching the jake show, 3 deer were coming from my left, walking a trail that goes by about 5 feet away. I was really afraid they would smell me and spook all of the turkeys which was really getting serious now because as I turned away from the jakes I had just seen the fans of 3 big gobblers as they strutted down from up in the pasture.

So here I was with 3 deer now about 20 feet away to my left, 10 turkeys about 10 yards away to my right, and the turkeys I want to get a shot at about 55 yards away in front of me and closing fast, strutting for all they're worth. I'm just barely recovered from the skunk incident and to make it worse there is no way I can make a move on the longbeards because of all the other close-range wildlife.

Then I got really lucky. The longbeards took notice of the birds to my right and moved about 15 yards away behind a cedar. The deer had stopped to eat and I was able to ease my gun up just in time to see the 1 boss tom and his double-bearded buddy start strutting to my decoys. I was watching them move in front of me and they broke strut and stuck their heads up right next to each other. I thought this is probably a pretty rare chance so I shot them both with one shot at a range of about 12 yards.

They both dropped without flopping a bit and then the third bird that was with them came out and started whaling on the double-bearded bird. I'm walking out to the birds and he isn't paying attention to me at all. I stop and watch him and eventually he wanders off but he never did really spook which was strange to say the least. I had read stories about turkeys getting in some final licks and seem some videos but this was the first time I'd witnessed it first hand.

After a closer look at the birds, not only was one of the birds double-bearded but they are also different subspecies. One was an Eastern and the other is more of a Rio/Eastern hybrid bird. Incredible!!