Brandon Fills Indiana Tag

After 2 weeks of grinding it out in Indiana , Brandon still had a tag in his pocket. We were on birds , but they had been pressured hard not only by us, but by everyone on the neighboring properties. Brandon and Chanse decided to take a day off mid week and get our heads back on straight before going out and giving them hell again. On that particular day off Chanse had an errand to run that just so happened to put him en route to drive by the farm, And Brandon , also on an errand, that just so happened to bring him to Indiana maybe 20 minutes from the farm.

As Chanse passed by he noticed something in the front alfalfa field… A tom was in the middle of it , full strut , with 3 hens, and he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In that moment , Chanse gave Brandon a call, not knowing he was already nearby out of pure luck. In a short amount of time they were able to put together a game plan to go after this bird. Brandon shows up in a short period of time, Chanse had been watching this bird in the field from a distance , and he had not gone anywhere.

Brandon got out of the car in a Sitka jacket , black Nike sweatpants , and white tennis shoes , luckily Chanse had a gun that Brandon had already killed a turkey with during the previous spring turkey season.

Brandon made a wide loop to the back side of the field , Chanse stayed behind worried that too many bodies crawling through the woods , may result in a busted hunt.

After about 300-400 yards of army crawling through some of the thickest nastiest crap, Brandon was able to slip into position, but there was 1 problem, this bird was still 70-80 yards away in the field , down in a low spot , and making it across the field with 8 eyes watching, just wasn’t in the play book. After about 10-15 minutes of watching , it was evident that these birds were heading in the opposite direction to continue feeding , Brandon was able to quietly get into his turkey vest and grab the aluminum Beard Buster pot call, to make some soft yelps, hoping to draw the hens his way. With a little luck that is exactly what happened , the birds turned around , and working directly towards him , as they entered his shooting window , 1 hen got spooky and noticed something she didn’t like, all 4 birds started walking parallel to Brandon, in range , however the Tom hadn’t quite made it out of the low spot , but with Brandon’s sharp eye , he dissected the crest , and was able to make out the toms head, from the neck up, and in 1 motion , he was able to pull up, and make a successful shot , putting this bird down immediately, the shot distance being roughly 45 yards.

These are the hunts that make memories that will last a lifetime. As turkey hunters , it is likely that we will harvest alot of turkeys over the years, but only a handful of those hunts will stand out as stories we repeat to our friends , family , children and grandchildren. No

Congratulations Brandon on an outstanding bird , and a memorable hunt!