Found a group of 3 toms that wanted to play the game Saturday morning. I was back home in NC for supper. Story below for those that like to read!

Friday I left work early and headed up to Delaware. I had been lucky enough to draw a public land tag in their lottery application process for Segment C of the season (4/25-5/1). I wasn't too sure what to expect, but I took Monday off work and planned on hunting Saturday, Sunday and Monday and then coming home. I got up there Friday evening about 7 pm and pulled into the gate at one of the access points of the WMA to listen for gobbles. Didn't hear anything or see any habitat that I much liked at the first stop, so I went to another spot down the road. At that spot I found more of the same: thick underbrush and small trees. Generally flat land with no open areas. I let out some owl hoots and heard no gobbles, but I happened to look down and see two little piles of gobbler scat.

That night it rained a little bit, so I figured I'd start out the next morning across the way from where I found the gobbler scat where the public land backed up to some private fields. Saturday morning comes and I get to the gate at about 5:45 AM. I hadn't much paid attention to the sunrise times, but turns out the turkeys are about 30 minutes ahead of schedule from what they've been doing here in NC when it comes to gobbling and fly down times. I have about a 3/4 mile walk to get where I want to go, so I start walking down the road. I hadn't made it 200 yards from the truck and I hear what sounds like a gobble. Surely it can't be? It's not even 6AM yet?

I stop to listen and sure enough, a few minutes later gobbles ring out. It's definitely multiple birds. The problem is between me and them is a body of water you can't cross on foot. I race back to the truck, make a big loop around, and get back to hunting. By the time I get close to where I had heard them gobble it's after fly down time. I sit down and let out a few calls and get no response. After 10 minutes I decide to slide down a little further towards where I heard them.

Sure enough, they gobble about 100 yards from me. It's important to note here that the habitat completely changed when I got to the area these turkeys were in. It went from thick underbrush to a stand of planted pines. The pine trees weren't that big, but the understory was much easier for a turkey to move through. I get set up and I put my back to an old fire break on the edge of the pines. There's an old overgrown logging road in front of me that looks like an easy path for a gobbler to slip down.

We play the game for 30 minutes. I would call and all 3 birds would gobble. I was within 100 yards so I was just calling on the trumpet very lightly to let them know where I was. They weren't moving. Seemed like they were glued in that spot.

Finally, I decided to change my approach. I quit the quiet, non-aggressive calling, and got really aggressive on the trumpet with a series of cutts and yelps. All 3 of the birds double and triple gobbled themselves silly. I put the trumpet down and got the gun up.

A couple minutes later I hear them gobble, and it's the unmistakable sound of an Eastern turkey inside of 50-60 yards. That gobble that just sends chills down your spine. I can tell they are in fact not coming down this old overgrown logging road, they are on top of the fire break.

I make a slight adjustment to turn that direction and I see the top of a fan coming down the fire break. They gobble again and I can see one of their necks stick out when they gobble. They stand in that spot on top of the fire break for a second, looking for that hen. I've got no shot where they're at.

The lead bird finally commits and takes another 8 or 10 steps into a window I have to shoot through. I put the red dot on him and let it fly. I had myself a fine Delaware gobbler at 30 steps. My total hunting time in Delaware was less than an hour. I took some time to enjoy it, got breakfast, cleaned him up, and came on home. I was back home by 7pm Saturday.

Congratulations on a good hunt and nice bird.

Got some hooks on that guy congrats

Beautiful turkey, way to go!!!

Dandy spurs!!
Delaware huh? Not well known as a turkey hunting location, but sounds like you got er figured out!!

Great bird !

Nice spurs. Length?

The left spur was 1-3/16" and the right was dead on 1-1/4"

You have to call your turkeys in there like you would a deer for harvest reporting. I had to measure beard and spurs while on the phone with a very nice lady. You aren't allowed to move the bird from the place of the kill without it being recorded.


I typically stay away from the places that are popular, lol

Got him pinned out to dry. Will add this one to the pile for some poor kid to inherit one day

That dude had some hooks. Really nice bird. Congratulations

Congrats

Nice job dagger. You got a MD bird yet?

PM me , could check that one off your list

You're over your PM limit sir

Is that two diff turkey calls or two strikers you use on the same slate? Nice bird. Neat story. Good write up.

My son and I drew a goose hunt last fall and drove across the state to meet each other and all there was were the geese in the parking lot and I couldn't bring myself to shoot one of them and am convinced those are the geese they had the draw for.

The call on the right is a trumpet call, not a striker. The stick in the middle is the striker. JLH frogwood striker. It makes that aluminum pot call sing