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Stacking 'Em Up
T.J. Williams, marketing manager for Primos Hunting Calls, has been on fire this spring. Not bad that his first bird of this season was also the first bird he ever called in on his own! Congrats to T.J. on the achievement. That's always a big one, and every one knows that while shooting a bird can always present its challenges, calling him in his the real game.
Anyway, on to the details:
Opening weekend in Mississippi and Mr. Williams found himself hunting solo. The longbeard didn't make a peep until 7:20 a.m., but when T.J. hit him with some calls, the ol' boy wouldn't shut up.
"By the time I made my way to him he had already pitched down into a field. When I saw him, I had to hit my belly," T.J. says. The two locked off into a standoff 200 yards apart. T.J. estimates the bird gobbled around 50 times in 20 minutes before heading off around a point of woods.
That's when he broke out his company's latest weapon in their arsenal, The B-Mobile Strutting Turkey Decoy (as read about in The Strut Zone), and quickly set it up in the open. He then laid down a series of loud excited cutts and yelps, bringing the tom, along with another longbearded buddy, back around into view.
Upon seeing B-Mobile, the first tom went into strut and danced around gobbling, but didn't come in...at first. Then, T.J. hit him with something else he couldn't stand...he hit his gobbler tube. "The gobbler dropped out of strut, looked my direction...and made a beeline to me with his buddy right behind," T.J. says. "When they hit the 35 yard mark, I decided that was close enough."
The field was laden with dew and, unfortunately, when the tom went down, it began flopping in the wet grass and by the time T.J. had it completely subdued for photos, well, it maybe wasn't as pretty as he would have liked. That fact did little to diminish T.J.'s excitement at getting his first solo bird.
"It was about 34 degrees that morning, and the gobbler had the sun to his back. Everytime he would gobble, I could see his breath. It was an awesome hunt and a great bird," T.J. says.
Then, barely a day or two later, T.J. and his buddy Tim Renfroe, set up on another Miss. gobbler, with T.J. also working the calls and Tim on point. They used B-Mobile again and yes, the gobble tube as well, delivering a virtual replay of T.J.'s hunt earlier that week.
Then, before the week was up, T.J., an old pro by now, went out with Primos' video team and succeeded in being the only company guy to kill a bird on tape in their home state that week. Not too shabby! The tom's beard measured 9 inches and the spurs stretched to 1 inch.
Great week buddy and thanks for sharing the pics with us.
As for the rest of the Primos crew, they have taken on film one bird in Louisiana, had a great bunch of hunts in Alabama, and as of the time of T.J. sending me this info, were hunting hard in Texas and Tennessee.
I'm still on vacation with the family in Curacao, my back scorched like someone took a blow torch to it, but the beach scenes are incredible, the warm weather great and the other activities...well, there's a lot to do and see. Still, I'm looking forward to getting back out on my next hunt, hopefully next Saturday when the season opens in Virginia. (Hearing any birds Deadeye?)
Until next time, hunt safe...
I remember my first turkey that I called in. I wasn't sure I was calling right but when he answered it didn't matter. I was so excited I thought I would blow it. I didn't see him until he came up over the ridge close enough that I could hear him drumming which I'd only heard on tape before. That hunt I will never forget and I was 52 at the time.
Posted by: azduane | April 09, 2007 at 12:43 PM
Reading about T.J.Williams' first solo kill took me back many years to my first kill. I have been hunting turkeys since I was 12 years old, but this spring, I killed the best 2 yr. old gobbler out of 400+ in my lifetime (I am now 68 years old) I killed him in Mississippi on Mar.24, 2007. He had a 10 inch beard, 1 inch spurs and weighed 21 lbs. This was the youngest trophy I have ever killed. I've killed many turkeys much bigger than this with longer beards and spurs, but much older too.
Posted by: Paul Jones | April 09, 2007 at 05:36 PM
I started turkey hunting at age 51. My friend, (now husband) called in 2 beautiful birds. I took one and he took the other. I will never forget my excitement. The bird came from behind me and walked past less than 3 feet away. I had to wait until he was FAR enough away! I have since called in my own birds on solitary hunts. It is wonderful. Truly what the hunt is all about.
Posted by: Redhead | April 12, 2007 at 10:16 AM
It's great to hear everyone's hunt stories. I know I learned to hunt with a friend who barely knew more than I did about turkey hunting at the time, which was nothing. It took me five years to kill my first tom, but the effort it took to get that first one became such a quest, I was hooked even before that.
Posted by: Doug | April 14, 2007 at 12:46 PM