The Superstitious Turkey Hunter

By Howard Pounds

I guess you can call me superstitious. I will not walk behind a ladder, and I love to find a penny on heads. It was no different when I was grilling out one night in early April 2012. I looked to the sky and saw a falling star. I was quick to make a wish that the next morning I would have my chance to put a longbeard down on camera for the first time.
Just a week earlier, I had a chance at a nice bird at about 40 yards and blew it. So I was very eager to put that behind me, even if it took a little luck to get it done.

Before daylight the next morning I started out at my middle Georgia hunting club, but heard very little from the roost. I was a little disappointed but not yet ready to give up. I decided to check another location and headed down to my dad’s property on the Oconee River. I met with fellow Combat in the Wild member, Joey Tinsley, and my nephew, Lil’ John Prosser. We had just gotten out of the truck when we heard a bird hammering in the swamp. The chase was on!

As we hurried down the road on foot, only stopping to crow call to make sure we knew where the gobbler was, all I could think was that my wish was about to come true. We set up right off a food plot with not one camera rolling, but two.

We barely had time to set up Tinsley’s brand-new strutter decoy when the bird gobbled right around the corner.
“Okay,” I thought. “Here we go—now it’s cat and mouse.”
Tinsley let out a few yelps. The bird gobbled. Lil’ John called. The bird gobbled again.

The bird seemed closer, then farther away, then closer again. My heart was pounding. As the gobbler strutted around the corner into view, he looked huge. All I could think was, “He’s going to see me shaking! Pure turkey fever. Please let me hold it together!”
As the gobbler slowly made its way toward me, it was all I could do to hold back so we could get some good video. Right as the bird bowed up to attack the decoy, “BOOM!”
The bird went down in a flapping pile…and so did Tinsley’s new decoy. Not only had I killed my first turkey on camera, I had killed my first decoy as well.

I jumped up and ran to the flopping thunder chicken to see how big it really was. As I was inspecting my first camera kill, I noticed Tinsley inspecting his new decoy, or should I say what was left of it. I had been so focused on the turkey at the end of the shotgun that I didn’t realize the decoy was right behind the bird. Tinsley’s fancy new strutter deke had caught most of the shot.

“Dude! You just shot my decoy!” I heard it several times before I was able to assure Tinsley I would replace it. Then we all broke into laughter and high fives.

We had made it happen. So as we set the scene for the after-the-shot video, there was no doubt in my superstitious mind that I had made a wish on a falling star and it came true. I guess the point to the story is that even the most seasoned hunter can always use a little luck. And I find myself looking into the night sky for falling stars a little more often now, especially during turkey season. That is, when I’m not looking down on the ground for lucky pennies.
Thanks to my two great cameramen and friends for helping me get it done.

Howard Pounds is an avid hunter and Combat in the Wild member. You can watch the hunt from this story and more great turkey-season footage on Combat in the Wild’s “Turkeyologists” series of DVDs. For more information, go to www.combatinthewild.com or follow them on Facebook.

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