My first Tom Thank God - Ol' Double Beard!
Special Thanks to Andrew Decker with Eye on the Sky Outfitters
Good luck to everyone for next years raffle!
Ol' Double beards stats:
weighting 24.4 lbs.
beard #1-10in.
beard #2-9in.
1 1/4in. spurs
2009 QDMA Spring Turkey Hunt with Eye on The Sky Outfitters
On location, with Eye on the Sky Outfitters, hunting in the heart of turkey country, accompanied by a good friend of mine from college, Andrew Decker. Now Andrew has been hunting turkeys for longer than 10 years, he has harvested 49 turkeys and guided over one hundred turkey kills. With his skills on our side the turkeys didn’t have a chance! The day was beautiful, a chance for showers that never showed up. But the Gobblers did!
This hunt was donated by Andrew to the Heart of Illinois Branch of Quality Deer Management Association. To be raffled off at the Midwest’s biggest hunting expo the Deer and Turkey Classic. The lucky winner was Dennis Schwertman of Edwardsville, IL. So I accompanied the winner on the trip to visit an old friend, and maybe harvest my first turkey. The main goal of the trip was to show Dennis the hunt of a lifetime, and it sure was.
The first morning Saturday may 2, 2009 we arrived to the farm while still dark, around 6:15 or so, then went to the middle of a large field to locate a gobbler and move in on him. So the first setup, works to perfection, a nice bird works his way up the 4 wheeler road strutting and fanning right up to Dennis presenting him with a nice 30 yard shot, and Dennis put it on him. Harvesting a nice bird, weighting 16lbs, sporting a 10 in beard and almost 1 inch spurs, good job Dennis! So the after he got one I could hunt now. Wasting little time we had a pair of hens 10 yards from us but they bumped us before the gobblers where in range. So we looked for different birds on the other side of the farm, with not much happening on the other side, we returned back a bit later and found several toms gobbling their heads off a couple draws over, so we moved in.
Reaching the top of the hill, Andrew located the birds and they were closing in on us, with little time we had to setup right there with little cover, after waiting a few minutes for the toms, a 2.5 year old doe comes right up to us at 15 yards checking us out. I was scared she was going to scare of the gobblers, but she looked at us for a bit, bobbing her head and watching then gave a light warning blow and cruised off. Within minutes the gobblers where on us, spitting, drumming, and strutting and putting on a fine show, that really gets your heart going! The turkeys were in the field as close as they would come due to a fence; it is really hard to get turkeys to cross fences or creeks. With no shot due to trees and branches a move had to be made, so I had to stand up, a move not encouraged when turkey hunting. Right then the bird gobbled and stretched his head out just giving me a shot on his head at maybe 40 yards, the Benelli shot true as usual, dropping him!
Thanks to God for such an incredible adventure and such a fine turkey. This my first Eastern Wild Turkey weighted in at 24.4 lbs, it had double beards measuring over 19 inches of beard and 1 ¼ spurs. Beard #1 was 10 inches and beard #2 was 9 inches. That will be a hard one to beat, thanks to Andrew Decker and his Family! Thanks you for a great time and thanks to Dennis Schwertman, I’m glad I got to share a great hunting experience with him.
So this is the end of the first annual QDMA turkey hunt with Andrew Decker at Eye on the Sky Outfitters. I already can’t wait for next year’s hunt, to return the land of the Turkey! For great Turkey or Waterfowl hunting in Southeastern Indiana visit Andrew Decker with Eye on the Sky Outfitters!
NOW AVAILABLE- 2010 Turkey Hunt Raffle! Only $5 could get you the turkey hunt of a lifetime! Thanks and good luck!
