Doubling Up On Dandy Gobblers

Tom LounsburyHunting Stories & Adventures, Spring Fling

Nothing is quite like an early morning in a spring “turkey woods”. It

starts out pretty quiet, except for the occasional chorus of frogs trilling

away. Then, as the woods begin to take shape as darkness begins easing

into the gray light of dawn, songbirds begin chirping away, just a few at first,

then all the rest soon join in to create a unique woodland symphony,

something I have always enjoyed.

This is exactly what we were experiencing from our newly erected

ground blind. It wasn’t long when a great-horned owl hooted, quickly

followed by several turkey gobblers sounding off in unison not all that far

away. Yep, folks, hearing gobblers waking up at first light is a sound which

always thrills the dickens out me to this day, despite after 5 decades of avid

spring turkey hunting. We were definitely setup on some “good ground”.

My two companions in the blind with me were Michigan hunting

guides Gary Morgan and John Jones, both of Atlanta, MI, and we were, in

part, celebrating a 10-year reunion. In 2015, I was spring turkey hunting

with Gary Morgan (wildgamedynasty.com) in the rolling hills of Atlanta, and

we were out “roosting” gobblers at a likely site during nightfall. This was

when we bumped into a total stranger, John Jones

(superiorgameservices@yahoo.com), who was doing his best to look like a

morel hunter and no doubt was out and about to roost the same gobblers

as we were. Roosting gobblers often typically requires simulated owl-

hooting to get them to automatically respond and give away their location,

which could determine where we would hunt the following morning. John’s

GSP hunting dog, Joe, settled the matter when he spotted us and began

barking, which triggered a whole bunch of gobblers to light up at the top of

a very steep hill that I would later dub “Heartbreak Hill” (it could qualify for a

ski jump, and is a tad stressful for someone with bad knees to traverse).

I’ve discovered hunting is a great way to meet and make new friends

with folks of a like mind, and that is what happened when John walked over

and shook hands with us. John originally was planning on taking his sister

hunting at that location, but she had been a no-show, and he asked if he

could join us and assist Gary in calling and I would be the shooter. Well,

folks, the following morning turned out to be a slam-dunk affair in my

getting a gobbler, and 3 of us have been very good friends ever since and

continue to share hunting adventures at every opportunity.

In this instance, we were getting together in the Standish area to give

me a helping hand in bagging a gobbler. I am presently recovering from

recent knee-replacement surgery and had been using a walker until a

couple weeks before the hunt and would be using trekking poles to get

matters done. Also in the picture was my son, Jake, who would be hunting

with turkey calling champion, Rodd Little of Standish. Rodd is a regular

“Pied Piper” and brought in a large gobbler for me in short order two years

ago. He and Jake would be doing a “run and gun” hunting technique, which

I enjoy, but am presently not wired for. Rodd had requested a U.S. military

veteran for the hunt, and Jake qualified, having been an Army Light Cavalry

Scout in Afghanistan.

The first thing to happen near our blind right at daybreak, was a

territorial hen showing up and was none too pleased with John Jones’

calling and was looking for the “interloping hussy”. She would soon settle

down and be joined by at least a dozen more hens, and they would remain

close to the blind, which isn’t a bad situation, but care must be taken in the

blind so as not to alert them. Some hens came close enough to almost look

into the blind. Six gobblers then showed up as a tightly clustered group and

remained that way as they completely circled the blind only 20 yards away.

They were too tight together for me to get a clear shot without hitting other

gobblers, but eventually one of the gobblers, a real dandy long beard,

moved away just enough to puff up and strut, and I was ready and waiting

on shooting sticks with my 20 ga Remington Model 870 pump shotgun. At

the shot, the gobbler went up in air and flipped over backwards and was

down for the count, with turkeys flying or running all over the place. Yep,

folks, it was a fine moment shared with good friends!

left to right: Rodd Little, Jacob Lounsbury.

 

The hefty gobbler featured an 11-inch beard,

and a single 1 ¼ – inch spur, the other spur

had probably been recently torn off while

fighting for dominance and was only a sore-

looking nub.  We then took a brunch break and

relaxed a bit while waiting to hear from Rodd

and Jake. We eventually got a text from them

stating that after covering over five miles of

calling and moving in on gobblers, which

ended up staying out of range and in one case, the gobbler was spooked by deer

before a shot could be taken. We let them know to come our way, because

the blind was still in place, and we were sure the turkeys had settled down

a bit, because we could hear gobblers frequently sounding off. Yep, folks, it

sure was good ground.  Rodd and Jake were soon in the blind, while we relaxed and

stayed back and waited to hear a shot, which happened about an hour later. Rodd

had brought in a dandy gobbler to 31 yards, which Jake dropped using his

20 ga Winchester “Long beard” pump shotgun (we were both using very

efficient 3-inch Winchester XR Long beard loads in number five shot).

Jake’s big gobbler featured an 11 ½ inch beard, 1 ½ inch spurs and

would tip the scale at 27.1 pounds. Thanks to the skilled efforts and generosity of good

friends, Jake and I had a very memorable father and son spring turkey hunt in doubling

up on dandy Michigan gobblers.

Tom Lounsbury
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