The Glenmont turkey hunt brings a 20-pounder
- Bob Hanna: Someday
- June 17, 2018
- 1222
A few weeks ago I told you that I was right in the middle of writing a column when a friend called (pleasant distraction) and asked if I wanted to go turkey hunting with him the next morning.
Of course I said yes and scrambled to find my gear and order my licenses online, but I could only find three shotgun shells. But you only need one, right?
The last two times I hunted with him (name withheld), I took a jake and a nice 23-pound tom.
The stories and pictures I’ve seen of this year’s spring turkey season have been very encouraging. The biggest threat to this resurgence is predator control. I’ve talked to several groups that have taken quite a few coyotes in our area. There’s actually more of them than you might think. If you are a part of one of those hunting groups, call me sometime. I would like to come and observe a good hunt.
So I met my friend at 5:30 a.m., and we headed to the hills of Glenmont, where he has some property. As the light revealed the splendor of the morning woods, we stood at the crest of a ridge and listened for the cluck of a hen or the gobble of a tom. We sent out a few calls with a few responses but from pretty far away.
We set up in a blind at the edge of a field and waited until about 8:30 a.m. At that point we decided to try some stalking, calling as we went.
At one point he turned to me and asked, “How old are you?”
I said, “62. Why?”
He said, “You’re keeping up pretty good on these steep hills.”
I said, “I’m 62, not dead yet.”
Finally as we neared a clearing, we got a good response from the tom. We figured him to be at about 300 yards. To close the distance, we circled a good way around the field, coming up next to a clump of small trees with some cover at about 100 yards. While I started setting up a make-shift blind from branches, my buddy set up some decoys in the field.
When he joined me, he showed me the proper way to sit and wait in the open, back against a tree, knees up supporting the shotgun, no movement. He started scratching the slate, imitating the hens, and got immediate response. It wasn’t long before three hens came past us at about 25 feet. Perfect, as they also were clucking, trying to locate the other “birds.”
There were actually two toms together that came in. At first we couldn’t see them as they were just over a hump from us. Of course they too couldn’t see us and started away from us. We cranked hard on the slate, which really made ‘em mad and brought them in. There was a large tree with brush between us and the birds, but we could see their white heads through the brush. My buddy whispered, “When he clears the brush, shoot him.”
As he came past the tree, there was a small window before the brush, and his head was framed perfectly. Boom!
I had a nice 20-pound Glenmont turkey on the ground. I didn’t hunt turkeys when I was younger, but it sure is exciting. I want to thank my friend (you know who you are) for taking me and God for the bounty of the hunt and the beautiful morning we had.