# On the eighth day I rested. A Missouri Tale.



## zettler (Sep 7, 2002)

It was the last weekend of the 2006 spring turkey season in Missouri and it was windy and rainy&#8230;no, wait. That was what the weatherman said it would be. Actually, it was clear and no wind at 5 AM as I waited in the dark on the edge of some public land that served me so well just one week earlier. The forecast for the weekend was cloudy and rainy with the winds picking up both days later in the morning but here I was standing in the darkness with stars over my head and no wind at all - puurrfect for turkey hunting in my opinion!

That perfection was shattered a few minutes later when a Suburban slowed and pulled into the parking area just 50 yards away and turned off their engine. In the five or six years I had hunted this public ground I had only seen two other hunters and they were always parked down at the bottoms below. Well, I thought it best that everyone knew that someone else would be afield if for nothing else but safety sake, so I walked over to them.

You have to understand that I park at a local house several hundred yards away and they thought they were alone. So when I in all my leafy camo, camo face paint walk out of the darkness to say "good morning", well, it would be a safe bet that it was a sphincter factor of at least six or seven for the recently arrived. And it wasn't just one hunter but I discovered it was a father and his two teenage sons that were getting ready. We chatted for several minutes and I told them where I was headed and where I might head if I did not hear a bird and I learned they deer hunted the area so they were familiar with the terrain. I even offered them a pointer of a spot down in the bottoms at the corner of one field where there was a BAT (Big Azzed Tree) that has been known to produce a bird or two for anyone who is willing to sit and wait. I had seen it myself and heard it from a local who had connected and missed a couple there. But as it was nearing shooting time I said goodbye to the family and wished them luck and be safe as I disappeared to whence I came.

I was very surprised a few minutes later when I heard them start their engine and drive off so now I was alone in my area, something I like when I am hunting deer or turkey. Another couple of minutes go by and a bird sounds off down towards that field. I let him do it a couple more times and after hearing another one that sounded like he was in the woods two fields farther south of the first and no one else, I headed out and to what sounded like a younger bird - as if you could tell!

There is a fire trail that leads that way and I used it to get closer. He is real talkative so there isn't a problem of figuring out what direction to go. Then I see a truck on that road go by through the trees and hear him stop down in the bottoms by the bridge and a pull-off down there. Another hunter! He makes a great owl call and the turkey gobbles right back at him. He does this five or six more times and the turkey gobbles each time. I hear him start the truck up and expect to hear him pull in but he drives off! Either he didn't hear the bird which I could not believe or he felt one gobble wasn't enough to warrant his attention. Is my luck changing?

Anyway, I decide to get off the trail and head through the woods since he sounds like he is on the edge of a small clearing that leads down to the bottoms near where I had taken one the Saturday before. As it was pretty dark still, I soon discovered it was thick going and bumped a hen off the roost just before I was maybe 80 to 100 yards from the gobbler, so I decided to find a tree with a good view and sat myself down. Waited a few minutes for things to settle and gave a few quiet yelps to which Mr. Tom (or Jake) responded immediately!

This is a good sign!!!

I started recalling all the advice, counsel and stories I had gleamed over the last week on the Internet and decided to call sparingly and softly. He would respond each time though and I was getting pumped. This was going to be great!!!

After 15 to 20 minutes he flies down and I am ready. Then he gobbles. Damn! He flew the opposite direction!!! I listened to ensure he had gone the other way and wasn't simply muffled now due to being on the ground and decided he was headed away, possibly to the bottoms and the fields down there. So I get up and head to get in front of him since he is on the move.

As I fight my way through the brush and try to maintain some degree of stealth, I discover he has headed to that field where the BAT is situated&#8230;talk about irony!

I fight my way to the edge of the woods to a point about 60 or so yards from that BAT to discover he is already out there about 25 yards in front of that BAT - the place I had recommended to those other hunters who left. I sit down and watch him for awhile and see he has a couple of hens with him and he is strutting, drumming and spitting to display all he has to offer. He responds to my clucks and yelps but all he does is strut some more and doesn't get any closer, so I decide to close the gap and belly crawl through the thorns and marshy ground to where there is little mound between us. I can look through the grasses and brush but he is still 60 or more yards away and just continues his dance. Within the hour he has a harem of six hens in the field feeding back and forth all in that corner where that BAT is situated and I cannot get any closer than where I am. I can only hope they decide to head my way to the north end of the field (not more than 120 yards across at this end and not away towards the west end some 600 or 700 yards away.

It is now nearly 9 AM and the family entourage has moved more out in front of me, but no closer, and in fact over a 100 yards away where they are meandering back and forth and all over. I had even belly crawled again to get set up to where I thought they might go but they hadn't. He does respond to my calls giving me some hope the hens might soon take off to nest and he will start looking for that one hen who gave him the cold shoulder for so much of the morning&#8230;

Needless to say, they head out towards the middle of the field and away from me. I am amazed that no traffic from the road has spotted them. I am amazed that here it is mid-morning and for the first time in my life I am actually getting bored watching a Tom strut for over three-hours! He is a big bird, has a nice beard that hangs to the ground, and has managed to maintain a harem of six hens on public land right up into the last weekend of the season. Simply amazing.

As I cannot get any closer, I decide to break away around 9:30 AM and head towards the other bird I heard early on and give this guy a break. I had already decided where I would be that next day, the last day of the season, to wait for him but that I would still come back between 10 and 11 AM to see if he had been left by his girls and was looking for some strange.

It was about this time that the clouds started moving in and I felt my first wind. But I went on and after getting clear of them started sitting and calling at several locations to the south in the other fields where birds have been know to habit and where I took one two years before on the last day. Could lightening strike twice?

Anyway, I had no responses, and as it was getting to be 10:30 AM, I decided to head back to see what was happening. I mean after all, the hens should be gone and he should still be pumped from several hours of strutting - shouldn't he?

I get to that south edge and as I work my way to the far end he gobbles in response to my call! I am pumped and try and get as close as I can to where I heard him gobble. About 100 yards from the corner, I see him and he is out in the middle of the edge of the field and acting strange. It isn't strutting and it looks kinda like he is having a fit what with his tail quivering up in the air and wings down at his sides. And he isn't moving other than that Katherine Hepburn shimmy. What gives?

About three minutes later I see a hen run out from under him and I realize I just witnessed TURKEY SEX! He was doing the dirty! Making babies! Where is that Girls Gone Wild film crew when you need them!!! I am amazed, as here it is May 13 at 11:15 AM and he still has a harem of six hens with him and he is breeding them like it was Spanish Fly night at the drive-in.

I had already decided my calling wasn't going to drag him away from getting a little (or a lot in his case) and decide to watch where they go. After a while a couple of the hens decide to walk back along the opposite side of the field from where I am (of course) about 120 yards away and back towards that BAT - the same route they took earlier. Once I see him head that way with the remaining hens, I back off and make my way along the other side of the tree line hidden from them by a lot of dense brush and trees. I decide to cut in and then belly crawled my way through the brush and the creek only to discover that I popped in too far from the corner. After watching him and making sure they do not see or hear me (I am downwind), I crawl back and into the creek to use it to move another 40 yards closer towards that BAT. My first, second and third step into what looks like firm ground turns out to be a quicksand sort of material that swallows my leg up to near my knee. Am I having fun now!

I make it out of the trap and see that I have to belly crawl again to get through the briars and thorny bushes to where I am right at the edge of the field separated only by the wire fence and a little brush. And here come the Hens right at me with him about 70 yards back. Gun up and finger near the safety. Crap! Now they take a jog back towards the left and toward the spot I just vacated. More Dark Cloud luck?

Then it occurs to me, these birds have been following a similar pattern to how they moved this morning but only in reverse. And if they continue this trend, they should cut back and towards that BAT dragging lover boy (still strutting) behind them. And what do you know, they do and I have three hens walk right past me at about 10 to 15 yards with John Holmes dragging the ground and twirling his stuff all puffed up with deep red wattles and his white/blue head tucked down. Now I have to be very careful with all the birds so close - some just 15 yards away - and not being able to see all the Hens!

Gun up, safety off now, and he steps into a spot right in front of me just like this. Come on, get your head and neck up! Much to my delight he does so and I place the sight plain at the base of his neck and pull the trigger. Click!

Oh yeah - BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He goes down and the hens take off like Keystone Cops at a bank robbery. At first he doesn't move but then starts to flop. As I try to get over the fence to prevent a Houdini, I discover it's one of those that will not bend and I have to find another spot to climb over to make my way to his side. After ripping my leafy pants for the umpteenth time and almost my own jewels, I make it through the briars and am able to grab one leg and while it is flaccid, the other starts pumping away and catches me a couple of times but I am not concerned as it is 12:05 PM and I am D-O-N-E!!!

I tag him and take in all that has happened that morning as I stuff him into my vest and retrieve my empty shell.

To some, turkey hunting is all about the calling and I appreciate that. I had tried it but there was no dragging him away from those Hens who stayed together ALL morning long. To others it is roosting birds the night before. I can seldom do that as I have to drive so far and have family I have to provide for. To others it is scouting. I have scouted this area and have walked many a mile in this specific area to get familiar with it. I even have satellite imagery to assist and use a compass and the local landowners for their input. For some it is being aggressive and that I am. I am very aggressive when chasing turkeys and try and get as close as I can without bumping them. I think getting to within less than 80 yards most times is close - don't you? And then I will move when it looks like it will help. This turkey took all I had thrown at him - calling, setting up, scratching leaves earlier, patience and getting aggressive but then I resorted to something I hadn't used too often in the past 20+ years - I set up an intercept and ambushed him!

Maybe Ben Rogers Lee or Knight & Hale could have eventually broken him away from those Hens but I doubt it. And with the weather changing with only 25 hours to go in the season, I made a decision that paid off. It kills me that I set up on him at least eight different times that morning - sometimes just 60 yards away - and was never spotted. In fact, in several spots I would raise my head up and watch him and the hens from less than 100 yards away with just my face mask and camo paint on. And I saw TURKEY SEX!!!

I went through all this as I walked the ¼ mile back uphill and up and down ridges with this trophy Tom on my back. It took the better part of 45 minutes to do so and then as I drove home I saw that Suburban with the Father and two sons drive past me from where ever they ended up and wondered how they would feel if I told them my story and how they had passed on it&#8230;


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## zettler (Sep 7, 2002)

POSTSCRIPT

I live off my Cell and began to call friends on the way home. While many were not home or available, my friend Dan Downard was and he listened to my tale and shared it with his wife who congratulated me from the other end. Dan and I had gone the first weekend in MO to his relative's farms but never had any luck. And then Dan went several times in the last week to a great spot in Illinois but didn't connect - I will let him tell his story. I felt a little remorse for sharing my success with him each time knowing he hadn't been successful and as good friend would do, Dan was supportive again. And once I had exhausted my enthusiasm and delight over the turn of the day's events, he let me know before I hung up that a fellow volunteer fireman had been killed the night before and even cautioned me before telling me his story so as not to cast a shadow on my joy. He is friend who cares enough to allow me to express my joy all the while having conflicting issues running through his life. He is a good friend and part of my family.

Statistics:

Weight - 20.8 pounds
Beard - 10+ inches and very full
Spurs - A little over an inch on one and 1 1/8 inch the other
Memories - enough for a lifetime!


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## DuckerIL (Dec 9, 2005)

Congrats again, sounds like you had a great season in Il and Mo.......nothing wrong with aggressive hunting, especially late in the season.... sometimes that is the only way to fil your tag.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Congrats on the bird and great story......I have had to do the same many a times.....it is great when you see them do thier "thing" (strut, breed, parad infront of hens,etc.) and it is even better when it mets the business end of you weapon. Again congrats...... :beer:


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

Great story.


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## zettler (Sep 7, 2002)

Here is a picture of this bird but it doesn't do justice to the 6 hours and 35 minutes I was around him on Saturday!


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