2024 Turkey Season - Last Day Hunt Drama

Last Day of Turkey Season Success

Who has ever said I have all the time I need in the Spring to hunt wild turkeys? Not hardly anyone, and I joined that club in 2024 with work conflicts, family commitments, and rainy / windy days all adding up to zero turkeys harvested with one day in the '24 hunt season left. I did have time to scout some along the second half of April, enough to know the whereabouts of some turkeys, and to have heard a few gobbles in the early morning. The hunting gear was dusted off and ready to go at a moments notice, but mostly it was just in the way on the back of a chair throughout April. However, there was never a panic or a shrug about a lost season either. It was just a period of time when I was not in the woods at dawn very much. 

The plan for April 30 was to clear the schedule so that I could hit the woods at dawn, and then hunt as long as needed in hopes of tagging a gobbler. At 6 a.m. I was on a creek bottom where turkeys had frequented in the past, but this year it had been wet late in the season, and as day broke I was nowhere near a turkey, but I did hear a mature tom in the distance and a young tom a bit nearer. No need to pursue a young tom, even if it is the Final Day, so I loaded my gear and began to rummage my way though the woods to strike a gobbler. Nothing. Wildlife was spotted, but the turkeys were invisible. It was 9:30 when I heard a tom gobble loud and clear, and I knew this was it, and suddenly the gear that had been heavy over 3.5-hours of prospecting felt just fine, and I crept slowly and silently towards the gobbler.

Mid-morning Set up April 30

I set up in a spot in the woods where a thicket was on my right and the gobbler was 100-yards ahead of me. I needed the gobbler to approach me satellite-style in order for me to have a shot. He would not budge, so I made a move a bit closer, and then it was on. He came towards me gobbling and strutting, and I could hear ever puff when his feathers blowing up. To be sure, he slowed down and started looking for the hen that my calls told him was nearby. This only served to increase the chance I would be detected, and that I should remain as still as a statue. I listened as the gobbler circled me, not daring a glimpse. As my limbs began to tighten up from the pressure, I never forgot this hunt would come down to my ability to aim the shotgun when the time was right. With only one shotgun shell in my gun, I swung my gun to the left and drew a bead on the head of the gobbler and squeezed the trigger with confidence.

To view blog entries on past turkey hunts click 2019 - 2016- 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2010 - 2009