Bedded at 12 Yards!

[John146]

Haven't done much hunting this year (and no deer to show for it) compared to years past but this past weekend I had somehting happen that has never happen to me before.I was hunting a small piece of property that my brother (lil bobby) leases in MS. First afternoon I have an encounter with a deer that came into 15 yards after I made a call with "the can" but it was too dark. Could only see white throat patch and ears but a cool encounter on the ground! Next afternoon I am in a different spot, next to a fork in a slough and here comes 11 hen turkeys feeding. They came within 35 yards of me and they were all 4 wheel drive hens. Big suckers! I was again on the ground so I moved a little so they would notice something and go on their way before good shooting time came, in case a deer came by. Another great experience! No deer though. Sunday morning I am near the river that runs by this property and I am at the edage of the river trees and a big pine tree flat. About 11 am I look to my left and another 4 wheel drive hen turkey is coming my way. I grabbed my bow just to see if I could get drawn without getting caught, which I did. I put my bow against my leg and just sat there to see what would happen. 4 other hens joined this one and they kept feeding toward me. Two hens came in front of me and gave me the stare down. After about 60 seconds of that they both laid down and "bedded" right in front of me 12 yards away! It was wild! I could not believe these turkeys were this close to me on the ground. Each turkey laid down in a sunny spot in the pine needles. They would lay there and take turns stretching each wing out in the sun - like they were sun- bathing or something. You could just tell that they were so content. It was cool. I heard what sounded like a deer stomp his foot once off to the right and they stood up,looked in that direction, started making putts and eased off onto the pine flat. When they were out of sight I check the wind direction with my puffer and sure enough the wind was blowing in that direction where the "stomp" came from. No deer but man what a weekend in the woods. After 2 weeks of solid rain in LA and MS the beautiful weather this weekend was awesome and another first for me in God's great outdoors. My apologies to those who thought the title meant deer at 12 yards.

[Lefty]

Cool experience for sure!!

[Timberking]

Cool story  

[Altiman94]

The experieces are the best part of the hunt.  I consider a trip successful if I see animals.  The size of the trophy is the sum of the effort that went into the harvest.  That prevents me from only thinking a big rack'd animal is the only trophy to be had.

[limbolt]

Great story,nature at it's finest,up close and personal.      

[ISP 5353]

Very cool!  

[maineac]

That is great.  I think it was more unlikely to have hens lay down that close than a deer.  Nice job on your ground blind building skills.

[Possum Head]

It was a beautiful weekend and I'm glad you got to get out. Sounds like my kinda hunt.

[creekwood]

OK, I'll bite... what is a "4 wheel drive hen turkey" ?

[BOHO]

awesome story.  what part of MS?

That lil bobby dude is OK! I just met him this month at the Solana hunt. Thats a neat experience to have turkeys bed down in front of you. You don't see that very often.

Bisch

[fmscan]

John, You must be hunting right, those turkeys can are hard to fool for so long. Good job.

[Bill Turner]

Great experience. Thanks for sharing. I to have never heard the term "4 Wheel Drive Hen Turkeys".  

[John146]

MAINEAC - I was just sitting in natural cover. It was pretty thick though. I would have to agree that a deer would more likely do that than turkeys.

CREEKWOOD - 4 wheel drive is an expression me and some friends have for something that's big. You got your regular 110 lb. doe's and then you have your above 130 lb. "4 wheel drive" doe's!! These turkey hens were huge!

BOHO - Near Meadville, MS

BISCH - Lil Bobby is a great guy.

FMSCAN - Sure gives you some confidence about deer coming close when turkeys do that in front of you. You start to wonder if your doing something wrong after not seeing deer but after this I know I am just not hunting in the right spot. I love ground hunting.

[Josh Perdue]

I bet that was cool.