Smoked turkey...tagged out!!

So last night I battled the decision to even set the alarm...I have like 6 or 7 more days off...I really wanted to fill my last day with the flintlock..it was supposed to be windy, rainy and a cold front...good recipe for a lousy day of Turkey hunting.. And I was pretty dang tired..

I decided to set the alarm know the forecast has been pretty "off" lately....


I woke up...no wind..no rain...radar was clear for a good bit...I'm goin hunting! That's the recipe for a very good morning in the turkey woods!


I went to a spot that has been good in the past...but the birds don't always roost where I need them to...





I was surprised I was actually early..that rarely happens because I'm always burning the candle at both ends in spring gobbler season...

"Red Sky's at night, sailors delight...red Sky's in the morning sailors take warning". I wasn't sailing... But I've found the ole saying to usually hold true...


I got to my listening point and waited...0537hrs a bird sounded off...sounded like he was on the point I needed them to be!

I wait and there a fee birds just going bonkers...

I know where I'm heading so I slip in under the darkness..

Wait......those birds aren't where I thought!

Turns out they were on the other hill and way up the hollow...no way to do anything...


I beat feet for the truck...

I looked at the radar again and it's close...ugh! I'm already up and geared up...might as well go try something till I get real wet...

I headed to my buddies stand of pines...its been a good week or so since I've seen birds in that field..but another buddy killed a longbeard there yesterday and said he saw 6 in total..

Figured the pines might provide shelter for me...and turkeys like fields and pines when the weather gets rough...

I park the truck and sneak up the wet weather ditch in the field...


Get to the corner of the pines where I wanted to setup...gobble-obble-obble!!! Gobble-obble-obble!!!

A bird starts going bonkers!

He was close...100yds..just over a bump in the field..


I threw up the decoys and nestled in...called a little...nothing...

Waited...called a little...nothing..

I hear a hen yelp a little bit behind me in the field on the edge of the pines...not good...I'm setup for him to come from my right... That's where I heard him...


Nothing shows...

The sky's open up and wind kicks up...it was raining steady...I grab the blasted aluminum and cutt and yelp to try to fire him up...nothing..

Put the call away to keep it dry...lock is covered with my "cows knee" (a piece of leather to keep the lock dry..).

Gun is balanced on a log in front of me...figured I'd signs little longer..

I hear a steady walk behind me in the pines..2 footed critter and loud...uht oh...that's gotta be a hunter and ichave a jake decoy out...

I knew odds were high the hunter I could hear would spot the decoy and blast it...I hunkered down and didn't move a muscle..


The noise stops so I slowly turn my head to look left so I can see him before he shoots..

Not long after I turned my head I see black out of the corner of my eye..betcha that hen is coming...

It works closer...red head!!!

It comes into view...longbeard!!! 25yds away!!!

He is skylines with houses and roads...no shot yet...

He looks around...shakes like a wet dog..moves s few yards closer...

My heart is racing... My mind is racing... Gun is still balanced on the log..lock cover on...he's in a wide open field...I did NOT expect this!!!


He sees the decoys and gets unsure..he inched toward them then got real unsure...he turned around...

Ugh!!! So close!!!


Wait!! He turned back around...now bee-lining right for the Jake!!


He gets behind the only tree between me and him..he's 20yds..


I ease my hands onto the flinter..I knew he was likely to see me...I decided to go for it...it'll either work or it won't but I have no other option...

I cock the flint back and pull the lock cover off...shoulder the gun and lean out around the tree...he saw that!

He starts to waddle dear away from me briskly...

Too slow!



Kaboom!!!!



The wind was whipping...no smoke to blind me....I did it!!! I rolled a longbeard with the flintlock!!!






There's my setup...he was to the left of the pic when he gobbled...he came through the pines and down the edge of the pines...hard to see but there's a small pine in the center of the pic..I was hunkered behind/right of it...I shot him when he was just to the right of my Jake..















The pics he looks nice and dry in....he was...lol...I literally took a blow dryer to him and went back out to take pics after the rain lol...



He had a 10.5" beard and 1" spurs.


I still can't believe it...I didn't expect anything.. Butni was off and figured I'd better hunt...raining..windy...there I am with a flintlock lol...


First bird I've ever shot over decoys and by his mannerisms I'm confident he wouldn't have came down where I needed him to without the decoys being there...

He was smart and tried the back for trick...if he didn't sound like an elephant he would have really caught me over there..likely would have busted me before I knew he was there...


I fell in love with flintlock hunting when i was 16...anyone that reads my posts knows I love the flintlock season and have taken a fair number of doe and 2 bucks now with the flinter...

It's literally been a dream of mine to spring gobbler hunt with a flintlock since then.... Thanx to Matt/PA for pointing me in the right direction and a gun builder in Tennessee it became a reality this season...

I had the mishap earlier in the season..but that's part of hunting with a flintlock...if it was easy and 100% reliable we wouldn't have centerfire guns...but I love it..and getting redemption this season is awesome...


He's not the biggest bird I've ever shot.. But he leaves me tagged out...and a flintlock spring gobbler in the rain...he's a bird I will never forget...