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If you've ever observed wild turkeys up close from a blind, then you know that one of two things is getting ready to happen when a gobbler fans out and bows up like this. A Jake is seconds away from getting some serious behind kickin' and/or a hen is seconds away from the least romantic and most one-sided proposition on Earth. Either way the dust is about to fly.
My son Nixon and I have a few turkey hunting stories that we will always share and cherish like the one of him shooting his first gobbler as he sat between my legs barely able to hold up his .410 to make the shot. The story of the one that got away will always be the most memorable, however, as it taught him that turkey hunting like most things in life ain't easy and that disappointment can beat you or be used to learn something and be better prepared for the next day.
Last year we were set up in an old ditch between two fields that border Chowatic Branch in Indian Woods, NC. With a Jake and hen decoy very close by, we were able to draw in two hens almost immediately, but they were not what we wanted as they can ruin a hunt if they see the hunter and run off - signaling danger to other turkeys not far off with their panic cluck. Moments later, the biggest red white and blue headed gobbler that both of us had ever seen walked out of the woods and fired off a gobble that rang our ears. As Dynamite Ambrose so eloquently described one his gobblers last night, this one had a radiator hose (the gobbler's beard) hanging from his chest and when he saw our Jake decoy, he came barreling towards us in full sprint ready to tear this disrespectful underling to shreds.
When he arrived within a few feet of he decoy he stopped and bowed up and fanned out ready for battle. This was Nixon's first year without his .410 as he was lugging a heavier 20 gauge now, and since we had to be frozen still for the prior hens, he was not in the best shooting position, but the gobbler was so close to us that the shot had to be made right then or he was going to see us and run away. In retrospect, I should have had him in a better position, but I signaled to him to shoot nonetheless. As the bang of the gun went off, this monster jumped in the air and ran off. It was a miss. No one can demonstrate true disappointment like an 11 year old who just missed a trophy turkey. As tears ran down his face, the gobbler miraculously reappeared minutes later out of thin air just like a ghost and the hunt was back on!
Nixon's first Gobbler
2009
Having not seen us nor our gun when Nixon shot, the gobbler, now known as the The Ghost, most have thought the Jake that he was taunting earlier must have "gobbled" that thunderous bang, and he wasn't about to come within fifty yards of this new king of the hill. Nixon never got a second chance that day, but we wrote it off as a great learning experience and vowed to continue on after him.
We never saw the Ghost again after that day, yet we think he still lurks in Chowatic Branch as we have heard gobble after gobble similar to his this year - yet we are unable to lay eyes on him. When we think he is only yards from us, he is gobbling way off in the swamp, When we move toward him, he is behind us and so on - just like a ghost.
Yesterday, I asked Chip Warren, who knows a lot more about turkey hunting than me, to take Nixon in there to finally get the Ghost. As they hunted, I began painting the elusive monster thinking that instead of "build it and they will come" I was going to paint it and he will come. No sale as the Ghost still roams the swamp bottom haunting and taunting us with the echo of his gobble.
