The property I hunt is about 40 acres in western NJ on one side of a mountain (not the sunny side - go figure) and it greens late. My hunting guru had talked me into trying Turkey hunting the year before and had loaned me his equipment. This was my first trip with all my own equipment so I was itching to try it out. I didn't even have a case for my new Mossberg 835 ulti-mag yet. I was still carrying it in its cardboard box.

We arrived late that morning, about 10 min before sunrise and parked in our usual spot next to the abandoned house in the center of the property. When we parked we wound up jumping 2 Gobblers in the trees about 10 yards away. That was the only action we saw all morning. The weather was still cold on this side of mountain and not green yet so we decided to go to the upper property line and try to call some Gobblers back to our side.

My hunting guru was doing the calling to this point, I was just learning to call on slate and he had been calling about 5 hours now with no luck so he told me to just try out one of the calls I brought to see how they sounded in the woods. It was a little wet out and I was afraid how the slate would sound so I took out a glass call with a walnut striker that I had only started practicing on the night before and let rip a few yelps and purrs. We immediately heard a gobble from the side of the mountain we had just left. I waited 5 min and called again to make sure the gobbler was still interested and sure enough he gobbles again. We grabbed all our gear and ran back to the hunting side of the mountain. As we crested the top to start making our way down I called again because there was a power line rite-of-way and we didn't want to get busted crossing it.

When I called the turkey gobbled one more time AS HE BROKE THROUGH THE UNDERBRUSH ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RITE-OF-WAY!! The big bastard is running across the opening like he is going to get his pecker wet for the first time. We turned and ran back about 20 yards where I got down with my back to a tree and my friend hid behind another tree about 5 yards away. It was legal to hunt there because we were far enough away from the nearby houses but we like to hunt the other side because people tend to get nervous when they hear gunshots. I don't know the lay of the land too well up here because I don't hunt it often so in my rush I didn't look to see where to set up and I just jumped at the base of the first big tree I saw. The only problem was that I was sitting in a depression and my friend was sitting on a rise. We were watching as the gobbler did the 40 yard dash across the rite-of-way and then I discovered the predicament I was in as the gobbler got close and I lost him in the underbrush because I was sitting in a hole. My friend was clearly visible to God and country because he was at the mounded up base of a tree.

My heart was beating the inside of my teeth like they owed it money. I had done everything right so far making this Gobbler all mine, not one my friend called in for me to ambush and I COULDN'T SEE THE SOB TO SHOOT HIM! My friend was FORCEFULLY whispering to me over and over to take him now because my friend was going to get busted out in the open like that. I know the gobbler was already inside the underbrush zigzagging toward us but I only saw flashes of him as he crossed gaps in the underbrush. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't take a shot that wasn't there to take and suddenly the gobbler appeared inside 10 yards. I am shaking!! Seconds, that seemed like hours, passed and all of a sudden my friend lets out a sharp *POP* and the gobbler periscoped to see what was going on. I snapped the shotgun about 3 inches to the right and **BLAM** the gobbler is doing a double gainer off the 15 meter platform with a hard landing on the dirt ... score 10.0!!

As you saw in the picture I just about took his head off with the shot that my friend estimates was inside 5-6 yards. All I know is even after the double flip he was still inside 10 yards. It was a day I will remember for a long time to come and now I am totally hooked on Turkey. Mongo, if I can give you any advise take Tard up on turkey hunting. Tell your wife you are going to do a little early season scouting to find new hunting grounds and take a shotgun. Tell her you are taking the shotgun because you need protection from all the wild dogs chasing you because you are a prime piece of meat, that will make her feel good like she married the blue ribbon cow at the state fair…Lord knows you've got the head for it. She will laugh and let you go ... and if you are lucky you will come home with a surprise for dinner on Mother's Day.

I made my gobbler on Mother's Day for my mother and every year since she breaks my balls about bringing another one like it is a tradition or something ... like they are 79 cents a pound at Shop Rite. Well, there you go that is the story. Now I cant wait to see what you pick and choose to say about it ...the bird dressed to 15.7lbs if I remember correctly and was the best damn Turkey I ever ate!