Beasley Brothers 2007 Hunts are brought to you by: |
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A Silent Tom -- By Kevin Beasley -- With one tag left, Kevin was determined to end his season on Saturday. He hunted hard until noon before he finished off with this tom that came in completely silent. |
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After killing my first bird of the year, I now felt a little less pressure and decided that I would not go out in the mornings before work the next week. I decided to go out after work and do more scouting than anything. As the week went on we received an invite to go up to Tillsonburg for a hunt. Keith and Paul took advantage of the invitation and headed up on the Thursday night, but I was unable to go because of work. I would have really liked to have gone with them but I knew that with the scouting I had been doing, I would have a good chance to get into some birds near home too. On the Friday night, I had set it up with a friend that we would go out together, but when I got to his house, the lights were all off. I waited about 10 minutes and then figured that his alarm must not have went off so I headed out myself. I was planning on going to a property a little further away, but after waiting at my friend's house for those extra 10 minutes, I decided I better go to a closer property so I would still get there before light. The closer property just so happened to be the property where Paul and I had earlier shot our double. Having just put my decoys out, I got back to my spot and just sat down when I heard my first gobble. Then right after the first gobble, I heard another, and then another and then another. There were four of them, going off, every 30 seconds or so. They all sounded like they were in the same proximity so I was pretty confident it was the same group of birds we'd worked earlier in the season. I was sitting on the edge of a field, with my back to the woods and these birds sounded like they were about 100 yards away in the bush. They were going crazy! When one bird would gobble all of the others would gobble right after. I was really getting excited thinking that all of these birds were around me and thought that I should be able to call them in. Since they were still in the roost, I gave just a couple of calls to let them know I was in the area and right after I did they answered right back. After about thirty minutes, from the first gobble, they came down off the roost. When they were down they were still gobbling every 30 seconds. I was really starting to feel good because they sounded like they were getting closer and closer. After about 5 minutes, they sounded like they were only 50 yards away, but they were still in the woods so I could not see them. They stayed in the same area for about 10 minutes and every time I called they would gobble back; all four of them at the same time. I then remembered that there was a stream in the woods and I realized that they were hung up and would not cross it. They finally got sick of my hen not moving towards them and left. After half an hour I decided that I would go and check the property that I was originally going to go to. When I got there I went and set up in two different locations and had no luck, not even a gobble. Now this property was about thirty minutes away from the property I started the morning on, so I decided to drive by that property again. It was just before noon as I drove around the property and I was coming to the last field and noticed four red heads in it. I pulled over and got my binoculars on the birds. Having good quality binoculars is so important on our hunts so we can identify the birds to confirm that they were worth going after. Now these birds were out in the field about fifty yards off the tree line. I knew that there was an old logging road that ran through the woods and I figured that if I followed it past the birds I would come to the edge of the field a couple hundred yards away. As I approached the field I set my decoy up 20 yards away from an opening in the fence, so that the birds would see it as they came by. I then set myself up 20 yards past the fence opening. It was a windy afternoon, and I could not quite see the birds when I got to the fence, so I hoped the birds were still there and that they would be able to hear me call. I sat there for about 20 minutes, and I did not see or hear a thing. Just as I was about to get up and leave, I saw one tom step out of the woods about 125 yards away. I made a couple calls and I then realized that the bird could not hear me because of the wind. I sat there and watched him move around in the field looking for food for about 10 minutes and then he moved about 50 yards closer to me. When he did that, I gave a couple of calls from my diaphragm call and it got his attention right away and he started to work towards me. As he was gaining ground, I made a couple more calls from my slate. This tom was coming to me like he was on a rope but not once did he give me a single gobble. I think he was likely a subordinate bird that had broken away from the other toms and was hoping to sneak in and steal this hen without his buddies knowing. These silent toms are the hardest birds to hunt when you're so used to them letting you know where they are but lucky for me I spotted him well in advance. His route of approach kept a small tree between him and I so I could not get a shot at him until he came through an opening in the fence. As soon as he came through he saw my decoy and started to run straight for her. I gave a sharp cluck and stopped him with his head stretched high. He was no more than 15 yards away with nothing between us so folded him up on the spot. He carried an 8 ½ inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs and weighed 20 pounds. Turkey season was now over for me, but what an exciting season it was. |
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| Kevin pulled the trigger around noon on this 20 lb tom with an 8 1/2 inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs to finish off his season. |
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