These two Toms were all henned up across two BIG canyons! But it was a day when they gobbled late into the morning so I went for the hike! They got pretty quiet by the time I got overe there and it took an extra hour and a couple more miles of zigzaging to find them again. After moving in close to their ocasional gobbles I circled them and got in front of them on the edge of a ridge to intercept them. But after they didn't show up I started sneaking forward. I finally got them to gobble one more time and realized they had gone down a split in the ridge that led down into the big canyon. I knew by then that calling from any angle wasn't going to work on these birds and decided to put the stalk on em!
I eased over the ridge a couple steps at a time while glassing ahead through the open ponderosas. I spotted a red head about 150 yards out and then the other. The two toms had one hen with them and were just feeding their way around the corner. I begain the stalk using the ponderosas to cover me the best I could. They were moving away and I was trying to keep up and close the distance while avoiding being seen! Its not easy to stalk a flock of turkeys but it sure is fun! When I got about 80 yards from them they went around a sharp corner in the ridge. This aloud me to hurry forward out of sight! I rounded the corner on a fast quiet walk with the gun to my shoulder and ready for action!
After a few more yards I heard a PUTT! One of the toms stepped through a gap in the trees and stopped behind another to look back for me. I could see his tail and knew he was stopped and looking back for what had startled him.
He was only about 40 yards so I heled my gun on the tree just waiting for him to step out. After a few seconds he begain to walk out but mostly away so to his surprize I side stepped the tree and hammered him down! BOOM! I automatically jacked another round into my pump while looking for the second bird! Right away and in a big hurry the second tom and the hen took flight out across the big steep canyon! Flying brodside from my left to right they were zipping through the tops of the trees about 60-70 yards out and getting away fast!!!! It was an opportunity I had dreamed about many times and wasn't about to let it slip by! A big smile lit up my face as I led the bird, picked a small gap between the trees and touched it off!! BOOM!! The tom took the full load and folded hard in mid air!!! His hight and momentum over the big canyon took him on a looong fall way down and almost out of sight. It was an AWESOME thing to watch!!! He hit the ground and begain to flop down the steep slope and out of view so I ran to collect my first bird so I could get down there!
As I neared my first tom he lifted his head and looked at me as if he still had a lot of fight in him. I didnt have time for that cause my second bird was still flopping his way down the canyon! So without breaking stride I pulled up and let him have another load of 3" T shot from 20 yards! BOOM! The shot scooted him back a foot but by the time I finnished running up to him he wasn't moving and that's just what I wanted. I scooped him up and headed down the canyon for the second! By the time I got down there he was all tangled up in a bush and not goin anywhere. I took some pictures and packed up my two birds and gun and headed back across the canyons to my truck. It took about an hour and a half to hike with the two toms back to the truck. I reached my truck about 12:30. It was the funest turkey shot I'd ever made and by far the longest turkey pack out I've done and well worth every minute of it! Just too much fun!!
Lance Crowther
Timberland Outfitters
New Mexico offers the opportunity to buy 2 Over The Counter Spring Turkey tags!
