When It All Goes Right!

by Clint Roby
Zink Calls Pro Staff
5 May 2009

After several days of tough hunting in Kansas I jumped back in the truck for the 4.5 hour trip to meet up with Rusty Burnam and our IA hunting buddy, Kip Strickland. The 3 of us have traded waterfowl and turkey hunts over the past 2 seasons and Kip has been extremely gracious in inviting us into their turkey camp for the second year in a row. I showed up a couple hours ahead of Rusty so Kip and I jumped in the truck to make one last scouting round before dark. We saw a few birds but nothing like either of us were expecting. We both we confident the birds were there no doubt but most of our conversation revolved around the weather forecasted for the next couple days. The rain was just starting to roll in around dark and was expected to continue throughout most of the next day. Needless to say we weren't exactly looking forward to the first day of our trip being rainy!

Day one...the alarm goes off and we walk outside to check the weather, and yes, the weatherman was right. 38 degrees and light rain. We flipped on the tv to check the radar and it becomes very apparent that we weren't going to get a break for most of the day. We decided to scrap our original plans and instead head to the back of one of the pastures Kip had had success at in the past and set up the pop-up blind and B-Mobile. As daylight broke we heard a few gobbles but not much, as expected. After about an hour of sitting in the blind Kip and I thought we could hear that infamous sound of drumming. We peaked out the back of the blind and there was ole Mr. Silent. He had himself a small harem of hens and was strutting behind them as they picked their way through the timber behind us. I got the Silver slid out the window undetected even thought we had 2 hens within 5 yds of the blind. I got on the bird, yelped a couple times and after he responded with a gobble I gave that joker the slickest hair cut I'm sure he's ever had. Needless to say I was livid! Considering the tough hunting the past few days I felt like the preverbal "monkey on my back" had become a freaking gorilla! Anyway, time goes on and we sat there for awhile before we decided to head back and meet the rest of the group for breakfast. By the time we got back to camp the light rain had changed over to a steady rain and then to an all out snow shower! Snow during turkey season...that's a first for me.

After breakfast a couple of the guys decided to run into town to pick up some supplies. I was right along with them until we could hear a bird gobble from camp. With it still raining and spitting snow I couldn't help but jump back into my wet camo and try to settle the score from the mornings debacle.

This is where things finally start working out...While trying to find one of the birds we had heard from camp I started moving around the farm cutting every little bit. Finally about 4:00pm I struck a bird that couldn't have been 100 yds when he answered the first time. Immediately I backed out and looked for a good tree. Well...there wasn't one! In my turkey hunting experiences over the years I've learned a few lessons the hard way and I had no choice but to put myself in a bad position again on this bird. I picked the only tree possible but it was brushy in front of me, there was a fence along the edge of the pasture, and I was basically at the bottom of a hill down about 50 yds from the crown of the ridge. Yes I know...this is not ideal but it's all I could do.

While settling in the bird answers again a couple of times but he hasn't really moved much. I decide to get him fired up which wasn't any problem and then decided to go silent. Well, it sort of worked. I could hear him drumming back and forth. I was quite confident that he was within 60 yds but I never could see him for the brush in front of me. This bird would work front to back and right to left but I never could get a glimpse of him. Let me tell you, it was intense. Just when I had decided he was going to break down and come slipping through the buckbrush I would hear him across the fence in the edge of the pasture. I tried everything I could but I knew what I really needed to do was move. I contemplated it multiple times but really didn't want to screw this up. Considering the weather, now 34 deg and spitting rain, I was extremely surprised in how vocal this bird was. I could fire him up having him gobble multiple times or I could call every 5-10 min and he would stay right with me but just wouldn't give it up.

After we had dueled for well over an hour, this bird gobbled about 9 o'clock to my left and a few seconds later about 7 o'clock. He had finally broken out into the pasture but was still out of sight just over the crest of the ridge. I got spun around the tree enough to keep up with the sound of his drumming. He began working back and forth on the ridge and I knew then that it was just a matter of time. If I could ever get him to go back to where he started I could back out and slide around to the top of the ridge. The chances would be really good that I could get him to come back along his strutting zone.

Just as I finished making plans for backing out, I noticed that red and white head peeking over the crest of the ridge. He had finally gotten within seeing distance and shooting distance! After deciding that he wasn't going to come off the ridge I ended the dual. When he piled up I had to sit there and enjoy the moment, despite the fact I was as wet and cold as I think I have ever been, especially turkey hunting. This ended up being a nice IA longbeard, 27 lbs, 1.25" spurs, and 10.75" beard. I have pictures but I'll spare everyone...damp hunters and turkeys just don't make very impressive hero shots.

Day 2...The weather was much improved but still a little chilly. Rusty and I headed back to the farm we had started on the morning before. We made our way through the pastures and fingers of timber to where we were going to split off from Kip. We hadn't gotten more than 25 yds from each other when the first birds gobbled. Rusty and I knew we had our work cut out to get around the pasture in order to get to where we needed to be to work these birds. With light fast approaching we beat feet to the back of the pasture next to the timber and eased our way up just past a fallen tree top in the edge of the field. I crawled out and set up the strutter decoy while Rusty found a good tree to shoot from. I no more than got to my tree when the pair of hot toms light up the woods and it was apparent that they had already pitched out and were on the way out of the timber and headed to the field. In classic fashion this pair strutted and gobbled all the way to within 30 yds before Rusty crumpled the first bird that presented a clear shot. Another nice longbeard, 23.5 lbs, 1" spurs, and 10" beard.

So here it is 6:20 and we've had this pair stroll up to the set and now Rusty's tagged out. While we're discussing how cool things turn out and taking pictures Kip comes over to see how we faired. During the story we can hear another bird or two hitting it while they're moving through the farm. So we get everything gathered up and make a game plan for how we're going to fill this last tag. We work around a couple points of timber until we finally strike one of the birds. In nothing flat we're set up with the decoy out in the pasture and each pick a tree for concealment. In less than 15 min this 2 year old breaks off from a group of birds down in the timber and makes his way toward our calling. As he works up the draw strutting through the oaks Kip gives a couple putts and delivers the shot. 21.5 lbs, 1" spurs, and 10.5" beard.

What a trip, it's barely after 8:00 on the second day and the three of us have tagged out and headed back to camp just in time to catch biscuits and gravy. It sure is nice when it all works out! Thanks again to Kip for having us up and we'll catch you this fall!