8 Gauge Studios: The Proverbial 'Now What"?

My limit maker

Had a fun hunt this morning, albeit a very quick one. It was truly the type of hunt that when it's over, you're actually left wanting more.

Making my usual listening spot, I waited almost 30 minutes and had yet to hear a gobbler sound off. Around 7 a.m. I decided to slip through some 12 year old pine timber, and set up on a plot to listen and wait. I knew a good bird was in the area, and figured I'd do as much good listening as I would anything else. While getting myself situated, getting the Therma-Cell turned on, and getting the calls chalked up, I thought I heard a bird in the distance. After roughly 5 minutes, I figured it was the wind or an old hound dog.

I first struck this bird around 730 using an Eddleman box call. The call will flat "get up and through" wind, and considering the windy conditions I was met with, I needed something that could cut through it. And, it did just that. The last yelp of the sequence was met with a gobble, some 200 yards down in a hollow.

The Eddleman call amidst some feathers and spurs

Knowing I couldn't get closer to the bird, I backed up in the pine timber. I have fooled with this turkey before, and knew that if I could get him to come up the hollow I'd have him, as I was finally on the right side of his comfort zone.

From the time I sat down, to the time I was standing over the bird took less than 15 minutes. I called a few times, and with each answering gobble, I could tell he was on the move having business at hand. The terrain didn't allow much vision outside of 30 yards, and I first saw his fan coming straight to me at around 50 yards. He stopped and strutted behind a pine tree, and then stepped out in full view...and, in full strut. A simple cluck/purr had him sticking his neck out to gobble. He was shot mid-gobble and the hunt was over...too fast, just too fast.