Hello my Friends! My name is Randy and I'm happy to make your acquaintance. I can remember hunting with friends and family since my early childhood. In the last decade, I have become an avid turkey hunter who has always enjoyed sharing my experiences. I've hunted Turkeys in as many as 15 states and it's my goal to hunt successfully in 49 of them.
The Tom in the picture was taken near Pringle, SD. in 2004. I can remember this hunt like it was yesterday. It was 5:00 am in the morning and some friends of mine were headed out to one of my favorite spots. It was Alex, Jesse, and myself. We had action there the day before and we thought it would be a good idea to try our luck again.
We had positioned ourselves on opposite sides of a pretty good hill with a fairly steep incline. Two of us were on the top and Alex was on the bottom of the hill about 500 yards in the thick deep woods. We could hear gobbling in between us. Jesse and I both knew we were to close to the roosting birds. We were pretty sure they heard us. I could see three myself, two hens and a Tom. I watched them as they flew down and headed towards the bottom of the hill. Jesse went out to see if he could get a better view of the birds.
It seemed like forever until about 10:00 am when I started to follow a Tom I had heard all morning. I couldn't get him to come in for a clean shot so I followed him down the hill towards where Alex was hunting. I could hear thrashing and gobbling, I had no idea what was going on. The next thing I knew, the Tom was gone and I heard nothing.
I got up off my belly and went to talk with Alex to see if he saw anything. It turns out the thrashing and gobbling was another Tom fighting for the females that were with the Tom I was following. I was wondering why the Tom sounded weak and distraught. I couldn't believe it. I headed back to the same spot I was hunting that morning.
It must have been around 3:00 pm when I started to hear another Tom. My heart started to pound faster and faster. The next thing I knew his head was sticking out and I took the shot. He was a 10" Merriam that weighed about 22.5 pounds. He was a beautiful bird and I will never forget that day. Who knew Alex had been following the Tom up the hill trying to get a shot off. What a hunt!