Lessons Turkeys Have Taught Me with Matt Morrett
Day 5: The Toughest Gobbler Matt Morrett Ever Tried to Take
Editor’s Note: Mossy Oak Pro Matt Morrett works for Zink Calls (www.zinkcalls.com) and Avian X Decoys. Matt won the Junior and Senior Grand National Turkey Calling contests, and the World Friction Turkey Calling Championships five times. He was only 16-years old when he won his first World Turkey Calling Championship.
  When I go to shows, do seminars or am talking to a group of turkey hunters, someone in the crowd always will raise their hand and ask, “Matt, tell us about the toughest turkey you’ve ever hunted.” Well, I’ve hunted a lot of tough turkeys. But I guess the toughest turkey I ever hunted was a gobbler in north Florida, right on the Florida-Georgia border. A friend of mine, Vandy Collins, took me to a turkey that another hunter had shot 5-days before we hunted him. Although the other hunter didn’t kill the turkey, he did give him a thorough lead shower. Unfortunately, when I go into a hunting camp, the landowner or the people in camp generally “allow” me to hunt the worst gobbler on the property. I don’t think you can hunt a tougher turkey than a gobbler that has been sprayed with turkey shot and been missed.
When we got to where we could hear the turkey that day in Florida, the bird was roosted in some flooded timber. This gobbler answered me every time I called to him, but he wouldn’t come in to my calling. Finally, I asked Vandy, “Which way does this turkey usually leave this swampy area?” Vandy pointed in the opposite direction to where I was trying to call the turkey. So, we left the gobbling turkey and went to the spot where Vandy had seen and heard the gobbler walk off to, after he flew down from the roost several consecutive days. Once we were set-up, I cutt about three times on a friction call.
  Within 10 minutes, we saw that turkey out in front of us at 60 yards. That turkey knew exactly where we were. He looked at us. Even though he couldn’t see us, he couldn’t see a hen either. So instead of coming straight to us, that turkey walked a big circle around us and came up to the side of where we were sitting. We were filming a TV show. There wasn’t any way the cameraman or I could turn, shoot the turkey and get the video footage we needed. Vandy told me, “Matt, the next time we hunt this turkey, if he shows up within gun range, I want you to shoot him - whether you get a TV show or not. This old gobbler is teaching my young turkeys some bad habits.”
To learn more about turkey hunting from the masters, get these Kindle eBooks by John E. Phillips, including: “The Turkey Hunter's Bible (available as an eBook or in paperback),” “PhD Gobblers: How to Hunt the Smartest Turkeys in the World,” “Turkey Hunting Tactics,” “How to Hunt Turkeys with World Champion Preston Pittman,” “The 10 Sins of Turkey Hunting with Preston Pittman,” and “Outdoor Life’s Complete Turkey Hunting.” Click on the links above, or go to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, type in the names of the books, and download them to your Kindle, and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, SmartPhone or computer. To get John’s newest book, “The Turkey Gobbler Getter Manual,” for free, go to www.johninthewild.com/free-books.
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About the Author
John Phillips, winner of the 2012 Homer Circle Fishing Award for outstanding fishing writer by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors. Click here for more information and a list of all the books available from John E. Phillips.
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