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Howdy all, tis the season for Turkeys! I was just day dreaming about my upcoming hunt and re-watched my video from last year. Even tho it wasn't a text book Turkey hunt it still gets me excited re-living it and figured I'd share it here again. I was by myself and video taped the whole hunt with a GoPro cam so it's not very good. I had the second hunt last year which was very tough and the birds were quiet or non responsive most of the time but it was still a blast! The bird at the end appears to be WAY out there when in actuality he was less than 15 yards! The very wide angle lens on the GoPro makes it deceiving but it's really cool none the less. Also, I didn't realize how tight the choke was on the borrowed gun, hence the first 2 missed head shots, but thankfully that Benelli shoots fast! Good luck to all the tag holders this season, I look forward to the posts and pics! JIM>

My hunt last week was a grind! From 4:00 AM till dang near midnight, hiking, driving and calling all day, with dang near zero action can start to wear on ya! I covered both sides of my unit, back and forth, checking for tracks and callin with very little to show for my efforts. The tracks were scarce and the gobbles were almost non-existent! I only heard 2 toms gobble during the whole hunt! 1 was on the first morning and he would only gobble once every 15-20 minutes and seemed like he was running as fast as I was! I accidentally ended up right on top of that bird and bumped him out of there. The second gobble I heard was yet again, another bird that I didn't know was there until he shock gobbled at me, basically just lettin' me know the game's over! I finally found a tank that had a few tracks on it and decided I would just set up there and call very sparingly with my decoy out and hope for the best. After about an hour I could hear cluckin' and puttin' from down in the canyon behind the dam of the tank. I hit the box call a few times and could hear them coming faster. Finally I see three birds top out and come in to my decoy! I knew right away that none of them were the long beard gobbler I had dreamed about, but at that point, being burned out and not wanting to spend another night in back of my truck, all I needed was a visible beard and lead was gonna fly! The birds came in and started pecking and posturing around my decoy which was very cool to watch and the biggest one actually did a semi-strut as he was coming in so that got me a little more excited. After getting bored with the decoy, the birds lined out broadside in front of me at 12 yards. The one in the middle had the longest beard, which isn't sayin' much, but it was plenty long enough for me at that point, so, I decided he was going home with me! I had the GoPro camera mounted on the barrel and it slightly obstructs the sights making it difficult to be pin point accurate. I didn't think I'd be shooting this close so didn't worry about it, but now, with a 12 yard moving shot and an extra full choke, I learned very quick that this bird might not be going home with me after all! I missed the first two shots before realizing what was going on so I made the last round count and pounded him on the run. So, all in all i had a blast as usual. It's always a thrill hearing gobbles, even if it's just a couple, and having any turkey up close is always exciting as well. I found some sheds and also snuck up to a bear and got some great video of him on my big camera but I ended up breaking that camera and can't upload the video yet, I'll post it up when I can! Thanks if you read through this, if not, then enjoy the video! JIM> Check out the short video I put together, still trying to figure out the GoPro cam! [media=] [/media]