"A RUNNER"

REQUESTED BY HOOSIER, for this turkey hunting story in sweet owen county,i went scouting thurs.(april 24) just with binoculars. seen one hen, i keep asking my self,whats' up with these single hens and no gobblers? so i picked a spot along this old cornfield for fridays morning hunt ,where the hen went to roost, theres' got to be a gobbler around , right (its mating season) . the next morning i see that hen ,1 hour after first light and she's still alone.then another hour passed, i looked up on this grassy hillside pasture, a flock of turkeys (80 yards out) with a dominate gobbler in tow, and he's running jakes off, so they pass and go thru my area and head for a high wooded ridge . so about 10 a.m. i'm going to relocate for monday morning hunt, so i go where they cut thru to clear some shooting lanes, i pick two spots ,one for morning hunt and one for roosting time. at the second spot i decided to sit down and call a little, with no decoys.i get a responce with my first call, so i decided to sneak down this creek and get closer ,i see a falling tree that would make a good spot. i sit down and get ready , i'm thinking theres' a open field up there and there all there at a strut zone, but no, there in the woooods and they are close. i'm in good shape, i hear them yelping and clucking, i'm nervous now, with all my experience i have and this situation has got me excited, oh boy, thers a jake,twenty yards away and looking right at me, i start to move my shotgun slowly, he catches me and putts off. i said" darn it"., i think i would have shot that jake. then up comes' the dominate gobbler,all pretty red woddles,white head and loooog beard,he's twenty-five yards away and i know i'm going to get a shot. its' going to happen,he passes by this big tree ,i get my shotgun ready for this easy shot, Right !-well i squeeze one off at his head, not his neck, like i usually do..AND I MISS.HE TAKES OFF FLYING AND I SHOOT AGIN, GOOD SHOT, he came down like a hit b- 52 bomber, i hurry to the spot i think he should be laying , no gobbler.....WHAT- i know he's dead, where did he go? so i mark the spot where i think he should have been and start looking in every down trees and brush piles , i just got to find him!! so after 1 hour and 45 minutes ,still no gobbler, i found feathers where he landed. then i went back to the log where i shot him at, to pick up my two empty shot shells. i'm hot,(80 degrees) tired , and not too happy. so i decided to leave my shotgun at that log( BIG MISTAKE) and make one more pass thru the wooooods, i heading over to this big revine and get to the lowest spot and head down it.MY GOBBLER , i see him and hes' up and running, not too fast, off i go , i'm running as fast as i can , to try to catch him at this old fence, he's flopping, trying to get thru, and he does, so over the fence i go, hes' running and i'm running, its a big grass field, he slows down a bit , i can see hes' got a broken wing, but thers' nothing wrong with his head and legs. i just happen to get ahead of him and he starts to go back to the wooooods and the fence, but this time, theres' no big holes for him to get thru , hes' flopping agin, so i dive on him and grab his neck and choke him til he doesn't move any more,while holding him so those spurs were under him.all the time i'm gasping for air and thinking how lucky i was to have my hands on him and i'm not letting go!! 22#....24 mm. spurs......11.25 beard........april 25 ,2008...A VERY HAPPY INDIANA HUNTER and NO MORE RUNNING AFTER A TURKEY FOR TURKEY SCOUT.............turkey scout