The coveted North American Wild Turkey Grand Slam is a goal I decided a few years ago that I wanted to pursue. The Grand Slam consists of the Osceola (Florida native), the Miriam, the Rio, and the Eastern. Months ago I began my preparation for this year's 2014, Spring turkey season. My first goal was the turkey closest to home, the illusive Osceola. As luck would have it a week into the season my first Osceola was taken on March, 18, 2014 at approximately 9:30 am. A gobbler with an eight inch beard, one inch spurs and weighing in at 20 pounds. That day was a great day, and it started out looking very dismal and very much the opposite of a great day! It had been raining the entire day before the kill, and all the way through the night and into early morning of that day, Tuesday. I was a restless sleeper that night with visions of turkeys dancing in my head. I awoke, what seemed like every hour, and the sound of thunder high winds and rain, made me start to think that mornings hunt was going to be a wash. Turkeys are not ones to feed in a rainstorm, especially one of this magnitude. The forecast was calling for a 0% chance of rain at 6 am, however. If this was true, it was my belief the turkeys would be on a feeding frenzy, seeing as how the day before they were unable to do so all day. If this was true the frenzy would begin right at sun up, which was when I planned on being there to see it! But how could I be sure that they would frenzy feed, and how could I know that weathermen were correct? Lets face it, they are wrong more times then they are right! Against my better judgment, and some of my hunting companion's advice, I called everyone that morning and told them the hunt was still on. The drive to the property did not help the feeling of doom I was having as it still continued to rain for the hour we were one the road. The winds seemed to not be letting off the gas either. However a few days before, after sitting in the blind for close to 4 hours and seeing and hearing squat, it was decided we would take a walk and see if we could rustle up some feathers. Luckily, we busted a group of 5 hens and 2 gobblers when rounding a corner of the property that day. This allowed us to follow them to their roosting tree, and tree them. So, this morning I knew exactly where I wanted to set up the blind, exactly where the decoys should go, and exactly where I thought they would cross the next day. This new location for the blind was met with some resistance my co-hunters, not that I can blame them, I was proposing we move to a new location that was 200 yards or more away from the food plot. A food plot that we had proof they were feeding in, and proof that there was a huge gobbler also feeding there. The move seemed risky and not wise, but eventually all agreed to try out the new spot. After setting up all the decoys and blind, the first light of day was just starting to come up, and Coach Fred and I starting hitting the calls with some purring and quiet clucks. Purring is the sound that turkeys make just as they are waking up. However on this morning just like all the rest, the Osceola's were silent as the grave, which is a trademark attribute of this breed of turkeys. Much unlike their cousins to the north the Eastern's, Osceola's never say much, especially early in the season. This does not mean they won't come to your calling however, so off calling we went. For the first time in history, the weather forecasters were spot on, at exactly 6 am, the skies were parted by the powers that be, and the sun came out, but still no chatting turkeys. At this point we increased our frequency and urgency of our calling as to say to the Gobblers "Hey its been almost 24 hours since I was bred get your behind over here now!" At approximately 9 am Coach Fred was dosing off to sleep, doing that open mouth head bob in his chair. I know this feeling and so does every hunter, after so many days waking up before the sun, and the peacefulness of the outdoors, it's the perfect combination for narcolepsy. The problem with this, especially when you are hunting alone, is if you fall asleep, the animal could walk right by and you would never know it! The good thing about hunting with a partner is you can offer them relief at least temporarily. Un announced to us, coach Jack that was supposed to be watching the other side of the property, had taken the truck back out and gone to sleep! I digress. So I turned to Coach Fred and told him that he should nap and if the turkeys emerged I assured him I would wake him from his hunting induced slumber. He gratefully accepted my proposal and slinked back in his Coleman lawn chair and went to sleep. Then next few moments were a blur, but I will do my best to recall the chain of events for you. Coach Fred had been asleep for maybe 1 minute and all I remember is looking out of the left side of the blind, no turkeys. Looking out of the right side of the blind, no turkeys. Looking down at my watch, "hmm 930 am, they should be out by now". Looking once again left and with one swift motion of my head, I gazed upon the greatest flock of wild Osceola turkeys I had ever seen. They emerged out of the brush, just as the sun was hitting their path, the iridescent coloring of their feathers lit up the small field, like 12 little turkey gods had come down to earth. It was everything I could do not to be hypnotized by the amazingly unique and beautiful colors of their feathers. The flock of birds was moving right towards our position and towards our decoys. While being blinded by the beauty that was before me, I grasped Coach Fred's knee to awaken him. It seemed as if I was almost frozen in time, partially out of shock at what I was witnessing and partially out of fear, this was it, it was time to take my first Osceola gobbler. Among the flock there was a gobbler already fanned out in strut position and one jake that looked to be about 1.5 years old. As Coach and I slowly retrieved our guns, it was apparent to me that I was nervous, I came to this conclusion by observing the amount of trembling that my arms and legs were doing, it was enough to measure a 4.5 on the Richter scale for seismic activity. Coach Fred leaned over and instructed me to get into shooting position and not to forget to breath! "Breath! Oh yeah, breath, I knew I was forgetting something!" I exclaimed to myself. Just two weeks ago when I was watching armature turkey hunting videos online, I laughed at the people hunting when they would get themselves all worked up and start to shake. "Silly!" I thought. "Its just hunting, you're not on trial! How strange. I have been on plenty of hunts, and never had that reaction." I thought. Now the taste of crow was ever so apparent on my tongue. This was a new experience for me, sure last year I went turkey hunting with my friend Jack but he was the one who shot, I just called and pointed out that fact that what he was looking at was indeed a tom. I had also been on countless dove hunts, fished in the murky waters of Tampa Bay with sharks and stingrays at my feet! Surely I was tougher than this! The only word that kept repeating in my head was, "NO! NO WAY you screw this up!" "That gobbler is in perfect position at 38 yards, you have farmed and planted, and patterned and treed and put in countless hours and amounts money in order to be in this exact position you are in right now!" "NO! NO WAY you screw this up!" As I was mentally abusing myself Coach Fred's words fell upon my ear, and he said, "wait until you have a good shot at his head, you take the gobbler and ill take the jake. I'll wait for your count, and we will shoot on 3." "Oh Lord!" I thought! "Do I even remember how to count to 3 now? Goodness gracious I have to pee like a Russian race horse! Ok I can do this, I will do this!" I said to myself! Just as I had a good shot on the gobblers head, Coach's voice once again rang in my ear drum, he explained "your gobbler is breeding that hen, let him finish..... Its a guy thing." "Really! How in the world did I fail to notice that!" I thought. After the gobbler was done with his manly turkey duties, and the hen shook him off and ran for it, I was ready! Upon bated breath just as he turned around, I told Coach, "Ok I have a shot, one....two...three, BANG! Gobbler and Jake down! Coach Fred and I had done it! Two shooters, two birds down! As we escaped the blind to claim our prized turkeys, and after I jumped around and squealed like a school girl! I couldn't help but say a prayer of thanks, and remember how truly blessed I am to have such great friends that have helped me along my hunting adventures. Fred and I just did what many hunters wait their whole lives to accomplish! We got Osceola's! THE hardest turkey to hunt in North America. THAT was a great day! The following are my journal entries from opening day until the big Osceola take down complete with pictures....
Dear Diary,
Day one Spring Turkey season 2014; Saw 5 hens. 2 at noon and 3 at 6pm. No gobbles yet. Discovered a boss hen that fights over Wrens Abruzzi. Staying positive. Tomorrow we hunt in the afternoon.
Dear Diary,
Day 2 Spring turkey hunt 2014. Significant improvement today. Called in boss hens and their subordinates. Discovered roosting tree. Belly crawled through palmettos, the spotted small jake and one gobbler, approximate 8 inch beard, but was out of range. Fat gobbler strutted twice. We hunt again 2 days from now, where certainly the fat one has a date with his turkey maker.
Dear Diary,
Gobbler down! 03/18/2014. Osceola, 8 inch beard, 1 inch spurs, weight 20 pounds! First step in grand slam complete!
....Stay tuned for the complete series "The Grand Slam Pursuit" with The Girl Outdoors!
