Old South Guided Hunt -
Americas Outdoorsman
By: Jeff Lee
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I called John Coit of Old South Outdoors in the middle of the month to see if we could hunt together. I am very timid in my turkey calling and know that John had good places to hunt and the proper calls to bring them in. He said he would be happy to take me but he had used all of his tags and I would have to do all of the shooting. (imagine that - reached a five bird limit in less that half the season). |
Sounded good to me so we went. I had to leave my home in Sumter at 3:15am in order to reach him at 4:15 am so we could be hunting by 5:00am. I was very excited at the prospect of hunting with John after the tales he had shared. Something like a "Gobbler in every tree ; we all have seen birds here; this is the best time of the season to hunt ; and the weather is perfect" I had already counted this day a success before the sun came up.
When we reached the woods, John said we need to be very quiet
and walk in with no lights because we may be right under the birds. Huh? we
walked into their roost ? What kind of plan is this ? I am a novice and I know
better than to bump them. OK lets do it! The decoy spread set up beautifully in
the corner of a green field. Cool morning air was fresh and damp. We were hidden
10 yards in the woods on an Oak big as the hood of my truck. John said sit still
and since you have never taken a true "longbeard" I'll call him in ,
you shoot him and we will be out of here before the dew dries. By the way, how
far can you shoot with that thing? Well, John my 28" Gold Hunter with Mad
Max choke and 2oz HV Winchester Supreme 4's killed a jake at 45 yards. You can
bring him in that close can't you. OH Yeah !
The morning started out really slow, no gobbles, no crows - only a blanket of
fog. John says we'll have to be attentive he may slip in on us in this fog. John
started with very soft clucks and purrs to insure we were not parked underneath
the roost of our quarry. As the day progressed we became slightly more
aggressive with the calls. Finally a response. John says here comes your bird
and he's running in. I assumed a shooting posture and readied for the shot. When
the bird came into view it appeared to be a jake headed straight for the
dekes(keep in mind the fog). I took aim when John says it's a hen. Hold up. OK
lets watch this ! She's purring and rubbing against the decoy. She's a lesbian!
I never saw anything like this on the discovery channel.
Not getting any response, she came into the woods with us. Now we were busted
for sure the only bird within 100 miles was a 10 yards from us scratching and
digging.
When I was nearly convinced that we were testing how gullible Jeff is , we heard
a short weak gobble. Wow a live bird! Our hen left us beating a trail to him.
Should we call her back John? No! we want her where she can't bust us. Things
cooled down. We never saw the jake and she finally drifted out of sight. Must be
the fog we thought or it could be the hunting pressure. About that time, we
broke out the Widow Maker a few strong calls will have every tom in the
neighborhood running in. Well John said I am going to take a smoke break while
we wait for the results of the Widow Maker. OK I thought. He removed his mask
and gloves when over the crest of the hill comes the whole squad of long beards
marching straight for us. OK man get dressed I told him. They're only jakes he
said don't get excited. No! one has a big rope on him. Lets do it. We brought
the whole crew to about 60 yards when they just stopped. We're toasted I
thought. Hold on don't get excited John told me we are gonna have turkey for
supper. He reached into his magic bag and pulled out the scratcher- the leaf
scratcher that is. When the longbeards heard what they were sure was hens
scratching in the woods. The death march was on.
At 20 yards, I sealed the deal 2 big ole nasty longbeards with one shot. All we
had left to do was shoot a roll of film.
Our key ingredients are as follows:
Key Ingredients:
1. preseason scouting - got to know where the
birds are and want to be
2. preparedness - get there on time (even when that's a 2:30 am wake up call)
3. having the proper tools. That Widow Maker brought 'em in like they followed a
map
4. having confidence in your calling
5. not overcalling
6. resorting to calls outside the norm (twig for scratching)
7. having the proper tools (b) Matched choke and shot
8. having a camera handy for taking pictures of your friends when you have spent
a 45 minutes creating the hunt of a lifetime.
9. just being a little lucky - not very many hunters "double" on their
first longbeards
For a
South Carolina
Guided Hunt