Crazy awesome morning. Nothing to show for it. Had them gobbling on roost within 50-100yds. Had multiple gobbling on roost several hundred yards south of me. I sat quiet. Thought they had all pitched down and gone quiet so I let out a few yelps and went quiet. More gobbles. Next thing I know a hen pitched down over my left shoulder with a tom behind her. Guess they hadn't all pitched down yet. haha
Let the O/U bark at 72 paces. Dropped the bird. Text Bigslam a pic of my OU broken open with a shell ejected. He called and we chatted. I look over several minutes later and the bird was gone. Lessons learned? Go fetch your bird immediately. Screw Chad. He is bad mojo. lmao FWIW, I did find 2 small feathers and a few drops of blood at impact location. Followed tracks off the field to jump the bird and he takes off running.
I searched the area high and low with no luck at all. At that distance I must have just knocked the bird out or something. Unbelievable. After searching I figured I had the area all buggered up. Walked to another section of the property. It was the only way I felt the turkey might have gone if he wasn't dead. Sat down to think about things. An hour had passed since I had shot the bird and searched. Sitting in the new location, I said a prayer. Asked for some sign of what to do. Before I had raised my head I hear a gobble within 100yds. I heard gobble after gobble and decided to let out some soft purrs. Then I went quiet again. He worked a semi circle around me for about an hour. Got within 50yds but it was a different bird. After my first encounter, I didn't want to take a risky shot through the trees. Once he was gone, I backtracked all the areas again to look for the bird I had shot. There was zero sign of the bird anywhere. I don't see how he survived, but I don't know where else to look. I have to believe he is alive.
Very exciting morning even if I came home empty handed.