Late-Season Gobbler Tactics
More with Ole Slick
 Editor’s
Note: When you hunt turkeys during the late season,
you’ll have to hunt the toughest gob blers
on the property. But hopefully, you’ll have a
history of those turkeys. You should know what they’ve
done in the past, and what you can expect them to do
in the future. You have to decide on a method you haven’t
used in the past to take those turkeys. You’ll
have to abandon what’s considered turkey wisdom
and use off-the-wall tactics to hunt these tough toms.
Let’s look at some tough toms I’ve hunted,
the people I’ve hunted with, and how we’ve
finally taken our birds.
That day, we reached the 3-acre field before daylight
and moved into a small clump of sweet gum trees out
in its middle. We spread some camouflage netting and
put sticks and limbs on the outside of the netting to
make the blind look as natural as possible. At daylight,
Ole Slick started talking, and true to his word, Smith
never called to him. When the turkey quit gobbling,
Smith told me, "Get ready. He’s about to
leave the limb and come toward us." In less than
2 minutes, I heard heavy wing beats and watched the
big long-bearded tom known as Ole Slick drop right down
at the edge of the field about 50-yards away. "When
Slick’s not looking, get your gun up, beca use
he’s going to walk right to us," Smith whispered
to me. When I spotted that big turkey, I made a drastic
transformation from a skeptic to a fervent believer.
I readied for the shot. When Smith said, "Take
him," with Ole Slick at 35 yards, I whispered back,
"Not yet. I want to enjoy him a little while before
I sho ot
him."
The gobbler strutted and drummed and took baby steps
coming to us. After what seemed like an hour, but probably
only a couple of minutes had passed, the gobbler stood
20-steps away. I put the crosshairs of my scope on the
base of the gobbler’s neck and squeezed the trigger.
When those Winchester shells introduced themselves to
Ole Slick, the hunt ended. Smith and I gave each other
high-fives, and big hugs and then went out and picked
up Ole Slick. As we started walking back toward the
truck, I asked, "Joe, what about the song the vision
told you to sing after we took Ole Slick?" Smith
smiled and in a deep, rich, baritone voice, he began
to sing, just like he did in the choir at his church,
"Swing low, Sweet chariot, Mr. John’s come
to take you home. Swing low, Sweet chariot, Mr. John
has come to take Ole Slick home." To take your
hard-to-hunt, late-season gobbler, you may need a vision
from God.
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