On that Sunday, my hunter was Dick Jones. Dick had a stroke. He can see and hear, but the rest of his body is immobile. Dick’s helper, Ryan Elis, would be the shooter for Dick on that day. The spot we hunted that day was the same spot that Brian Woodward bagged his turkey, the day before. Shortly after daylight a turkey gobbled to the south east of us. After sitting quiet for a while, I started to call on a glass call, and then I switched to a box call. The Tom that gobbled previously cut right into it, this time much closer than before. He gobbled on his own a few times, as he got closer to us each time. Then we caught sight of two jakes and an adult coming to us along a food plot at about 50 yards away. The jakes moved to the center of the plot, within 30 yards of the blind, but the adult stayed in the woods. All of a sudden the jake got nervous and started to walk away. As the jake was 35 yards away from the blind, I told Ryan to shoot. The jake folded and just like that, Ryan and Dick had bagged their first turkey.
After the Wheeling Team 457 dinner that afternoon, I said my goodbyes and headed home. As I drove home, I wondered how this season could get any better. The next day was Mike Lenard’s turn. I met Mike at the Wheeling Team hunt back in 2008. Mike is in his early forties. Mike was paralyzed from the ribs down after he fell from a tree stand. Mike and I hunted a few times out at a place near my house, in a field where the wood line runs north and south for about a half a mile. The turkeys would roost to the north, fly down and move to the south and strut and dust in an area near some pines and manure piles. I had set the blind up close to the patch of pine trees.
They followed the route that morning, but as turkeys normally do, they came to the side of the blind where Mike couldn’t turn and shoot. I tried to turn Mike around in the blind as quickly and quietly as possible. By the time I had gotten him turned around and positioned, the birds had moved out of shooting range. Even though he did not get the chance to harvest a turkey, Mike still had an awesome time. That hunt was the first time Mike had turkeys strutting and gobbling that close to him. The biggest thing I noticed about hunting with these guys, is that it is not just about killing a turkey, it is about getting the chance to get out and go.
Mike couldn’t go that following Tuesday, so I took upon myself to get out and see if I could harvest a turkey. I hunted about three miles east of where Mike and I hunted. There is a 15 acre, U shaped pasture on the west side of a corn field. There are woods on the north, south and west sides, with a tree line along the east side, between the pasture and the corn field. Before daylight, I set the tent blind up, facing west, in the middle of the tree line. It was there where I bagged a nice adult, in 2008.
At about 5:30, turkeys began gobbling to the south, to the west and then to the north. Turkeys were gobbling in every direction. I sat in the blind for ten minutes or so, just listening, because no matter how many times I do this, listening to turkeys gobble at dawn is the coolest thing In the world to me.
At first light, I began calling softly on a glass call and the birds to the south cut right into it. I did not call again. It wasn’t long before three jakes and two adults entered the field in the southwest corner, at about 70 yards away. I called softly again. They gobbled and began moving towards the blind. Suddenly one gobbled towards the northwest. I peeked out the window and two more jakes and one adult entered the field from that corner. They began chasing each other around. It wasn’t long before the jakes and adults that came from the south went back in to the woods to the south. Meanwhile, the two jakes and adult that came from the north saw the decoy and began moving towards it. When the adult got within forty yards of me, I let him have it, with the three and half five shot out of my super X two shotgun. This turkey turned out to be one of the nicest ones I have ever bagged. He weighed in at 22 pounds and his spurs were one and a quarter inches long and were razor sharp, almost like a bear’s claw. Now, I wasn’t waiting for just this tom, I am not that fussy. If they have an even fan and beard, I shoot. This one just happened to be the only adult that came that close to the blind that morning.
On Wednesday, it was Mike’s turn again. This time I set the blind up a little differently. I set it up, facing more northwest, behind the manure piles. The turkeys followed the same route again. They flew down to the north and moved south, towards the blind. I did not take into account that the manure piles would be so tall, that Mike would not be able to see the turkeys over them. He could only see the tops of their heads and fans. After several anxious moments, a hen walked up on one of the piles, yelping and cutting and the closest torn followed her. As soon as Mike could see the bird had a beard, he pulled the trigger on the old single shot his dad had killed his first turkey with and bagged his first gobbler, a nice two year old tom.
What an incredible season. Seven hunters, myself included, bagged seven turkeys in eight days. This was truly my season of a lifetime.
The year 2009 was a real banner season for Brian Woodward. He bagged a nice torn in the fall and he also bagged three deer in one day, on a hunt near Ann Arbor.
Now if I said all of this success was because of my expert calling and hunting abilities, I would be lying. For every one of these hunts, the land owners and I had scouted the birds. We knew where the turkeys were going and when they would be there. My thanks goes out to the landowners and organizers of the Wheeling Team 457 hunts, that make these opportunities for people less fortunate then myself, possible.
Rod Little
