Katie and Lee Howard Pull Off a Double Turkey Kill!

It was a slightly overcast morning on Saturday, April 28th.  Lee and I arrived at the Howard Farm hunting grounds around 5:45 am.   Together with our hen and jake decoys, Cody turkey call and Stoeger 12 gage shotgun we hiked our way across the fields and into the edge of the woods.  We set up our decoys just 15 feet from our small clearing under the hardwood trees.  As we reclined against the tree, Lee made several calls to the roosting gobblers.  They were quick to reply.  As it turns out, Lee can “talk turkey” quite fluently.  We were hearing gobblers all around us.  The turkey talk went on for about 10 minutes.  Once the sun came up the fellas were no longer as vocal.  Lee would make a few calling attempts over the next 20-30 minutes but we were met with silence.  Lee and I were joking around and messing with the video camera when Lee makes another plea to the gobblers.  This time he answered back and he was right behind us.  I mean 10 – 12 feet behind us!  His unexpected reply startled Lee and I.  I’m glad I’m wearing my camo face mask because my jaw dropped.  We could hear the turkey “drumming” and walking through the leaves.  Well, Lee could hear the “drumming” I could only hear my heart pounding in my ears.  Seconds pass by that feel like an hour as I wait for Mr. Gobbler to show his pretty red head.  Lee says, “I see them! There are two Toms!”  Whoa.  I watch them stroll into the danger zone.  One of the gobblers is in full strut.  His chest is out and his fan is on display for the decoys.  His friend makes a bee-line for the jake decoy.  Lee says, “Shoot the one in the back. He is the bigger one.”  I tried to take a deep breath as I lined the bead on my Stoeger 12 gage on his head and “boom”.  I hit Mr. Strut and he went down for a dirt nap.  The other bird starts to run away after the shot, but he makes the fatal error of turning around and returning to his fallen companion.  Lee takes this opportunity to dispatch this bird.  It all happened in seconds.  I don’t remember hearing the gun shots but when we emerged from the wood line; we recovered our twin turkeys.  It was close to 6:30 am and it was turning out to be a beautiful day.  Both turkeys had 9 inch beards and 1 inch spurs.  One was a couple pounds chunkier than the other but I know they will both be delicious.  Thank you God for the blessings of nature and thank you Lee for your patience and knowledge of the outdoors and turkey talking skills.

 

Katie Howard