Tennessee Two Step

by Mark Hoke
Zink Calls Z-Unit
April 10, 2009

Vital statistics
Weight - #21
Beard - 11 inches
Spurs - 1 inch

After a clear miss in the morning at the House Gobbler I found myself hooking up with long time friend Scott Mason to see how it should be done. It wasn't long after the miss that Mathews had us back on track and working another long beard in the open terrain of the Tennessee back country thirty miles away. With twenty mile an hour plus winds and spring showers setting in, time wasn't on our side. The two monarch's in question were seen hen-d-up and had been working and old cornfield off the beaten path of most turkey hunters. Lucky for us our friend had scouted the area and had the inside tip on where they should be. Due to the high winds I felt aggressive cutting and loud yelps were in order to get a response or a shock gobble from the duo.  After several attempts and not even hearing so much as a courtesy gobble I decided to move on to another spot. Our friend couldn't believe we hadn't heard a bird and quickly glassed the field only to find the duo high stepping across the open real estate to where we first called from. Everybody scrambled to find a place to hide along the dense cover that surrounded the overgrown field. I position myself ten yards behind Scott and even though I couldn't see what was going on first hand I was still getting a play by play by Scotts body language.  I could tell they where getting closer as he would slowly move his gun into position. With the howling winds I could not even hear the birds gobble to my calls and they were just sixty yards away.  Even as they closed to thirty yards, I couldn't even hear a faint gobble and I was setting on pins and needles for what felt to me to be like thirty minutes, in reality was more like five. Scott seemed to be bearing down on something and I couldn't figure out for the life of me why he hadn't shot yet. The tension was finally release as Scotts gun rang out and found his mark at twenty two steps. I quickly jump to my feet and notice turkeys flying everywhere the bird that Scott shot at was laying face down taking a dirt nap on the fields edge and after high fives and a few pictures. It was time to head back to camp and put together another game plan for the next day.

The Bottom Line
Knowing the area and doing good scouting was the key as I didn't hear a gobble when I first got there but our friend was smart enough to glass the field before moving on to the next spot. Even though I couldn't hear the birds responding to my calling due to the wind it pays to sometimes wait them out.