Turkey Curse Ended

Patience finally paid off!  It only took four springs of turkey hunting, we will not talk about misses to save my pride, until I was finally able to take my first turkey!  After so many early mornings and frustrating public land hunts, I was invited to stay at a cabin and hunt private land.   The hunt started off just the way you want with turkeys gobbling from four different locations.   One of these was closer than the others.   We set the decoys out in a field on top of a hill and tucked into the brush along the edge.   It only took a couple soft calls for the closest Tom responded to us.  After hunting so many skid-dish public birds we decide to be quiet and let the bird just work to us.  It worked like a charm.  Not five minutes later the Tom spoke again this time rattling the woods behind us and causing me to about jump out of my skin.   I knew he was really close so I shouldered my gun and let off the safety.  I was just getting steady when he came out of the woods at full strut and moving fast for the hen decoys!   He was moving up the edge of the field so I wasn't going to have a clear shot till he was about five feet from me.  If I've learned one thing about turkey's its that they have incredible eye sight.  So I decided not to move and just let him walk till he was in line with my gun.   That plan was thwarted by Mr Tom when he spotted us at about 10 yards.  His feathers laid down and he turned to run but he was a moment to late.  Even with a little brush in the way one blast of the nitro mag turkey load was all it took.  At 6:09am the hunt was over!  Now that's the way turkey hunting is supposed to go!  Thanks to Marv for inviting me and Eric for letting me have first shot!   I will not soon forget that Tom's gobble at about 20 yards on the crisp morning air.  It was enough to give you goose bumbs! 25lbs 9" bear 1" spurs.

Half Marathon

Even Heavy rain storms could not keep us from running! After an hour delay for rain we finally started the race.  Eric and I started out strong the first 3k which came back to bite me at the end.   Despite having a side ache and a shoulder cramp I was able to run a very strong first 10k for my standards.  We ran a 7 minute mile downhill mid race at one point which was reassuring :) Bulldog hill (mile 11-12) was grueling, although I held pace up it I was completely exhausted at the top.  The last mile and a half I had to dig pretty deep mentally but was able to hold on.  When training we were shooting for a sub 2 hour race but for line ups I was optimistic and put down 1:55.  My finish time, after my start up deduction (time from gun till when I actually crossed the start line), was 1:54:55. I finished with 5 seconds to spare! All in all it was a fun experience and good for me to push myself.