Off the Roost

by Shane Hendershot
Ohio 2009

Ohio's youth season was over, and six days into the regular season, we were having a rough time of it. Only a handful of friends and fellow hunters I'd talked with had taken birds; however, my older brother, Jerry, had filled both of his tags in the first four days. Zink Calls to the rescue in his case!

Day number six was a different story. CJ White and I roosted a longbeard the evening before, and had decided to crowd the gobbler on the tree in hopes of being his first girlfriend of the morning. In the dark, however, I set our decoy just 10 steps from our location - and with the sun up and the tom gobbling not 90 yards away, we didn't have a choice but to leave it close. And I mean REAL close!

The old boy began gobbling right on cue, and I hit him with a series of soft tree yelps. He responded instantly, and then started gobbling at everything - crows, Canada geese, you name it. With his attention secure, I gave him a fly-down cackle; within minutes, he was on the ground and headed in our direction. Back and forth we went, but just as soon as he spied the decoy, he was ours. After taking it all in for a moment or two, I let the Beretta and Burris "Speed Bead" combo seal the deal. It was a textbook finish to what began as a very slow season.