canaan floyd  
me and my dad go to the hunting spot every deer season
around 4:30 in the morning we set up in there  and the after a while 
we seen two bucks one was a six point another was a five point and i
shot at the five point  becasue it was a open shot and i hit it  and
my dad  and me went to go find it and we finealy did after about 1
hour

Well, we all have our heros,and mine are my wife,Dad,and My
Grandfather.The reason I put my wife first is because she is very
supportive of my call making, and my hunting.My Dad well all I can
say Is that he taught me all the great wonders of the outdoors, and
He believes in everything I do when it comes to hunting or call
making, my Grandfather well he is my inspiration in the outdoors and
call making.(Just had to share that).
Like I said before my turkey season was very tough for me,the birds
just didnt want to respond like they are suppose to, I guess that I
was hunting 3-4yr. old birds,they are just plain and simple
smarter.With that being said you can tell I haven't gotten a ole tom
yet.
There was this ole tom that I just kept going back for the simple
reason is that he would put me in such a state of mind that would
make any turkey hunter ready to admit themselves into the crazy
house. He was the bird of all birds to me He didnt have 1-3/4" spurs
but he had enough spur that I could see at 50 plus yrds. He out
smarted me all season and that was enough to keep me going back.
One Sunday morning I got up and made my coffee,went to the porch to
get some air and to pick my place where I wanted to hunt.I was in the
woods about a hour before daylight.They would gobble on roost 20 to
30 times,but as soon as they hit the ground dead silence. I stayed in
that one spot until noon,and by this time Im starving,and its time to
go eat,so I packed everything up and started to the house,I went
about 100yrds and decided to call one more time, Gobble!Gobble!I sat
everything down got my gun up and ready 45min.later still nothing, I
called one more time and he gobbled again just this time he was
further away!@#$%^. I get to my four wheeler and my mind starts
playing with me I want this long beard!!! I go eat and decide to try
a ambush hunt cause I think that I know where he might be so walk to
across the field to get in the fence row that has plenty of cover,I
ease out just a little to see if he is in the other field and sure
enough he is walking straight to me. I !
  am all smile he has been handed to me from God and my
Grandfather,(a piece of cake) A crow calls out and he gobbles any
second now he is going to walk out in front of me, 50yrds he is
standing there,my gun shaking as though it was a leaf on a tree in a
20 mph wind I shoot and I miss!! I quit!!! I shout and go home, that
night my wife told me dont give up you will get him, her smile just
melted me, she knows that it is now a mission for me.Thursday April
24th, I have to go back to mow the yard at the farm,I get done mowing
and I have a hour and half to kill before I have to leave to go to
work, I slip my como on and go back to the spot where I had missed
that ole tom, and he wasnt there so I just eased up the fence row and
get to a finger of woods that come out to the field and made a few
yelps on my wingbone call, I heard a cluck, I wait a moment and I
dont see him, but something told me to ease to the back of the woods
and field, I took a few steps and I could see the corn!
  er of the field and there he was!!!! I just froze!! Now where !
  Im going
  with this I believe that Michael Waddell of Realtree and RoadTrips
would be very proud of me, This ole tom is about 100yrds from me. I
ease down and started my way to him,taking a breath which seem like
every 2min. only!! I close the distance to 40yrds, I am proud of this
task, I look to my left and there is a hen only 20yrds she laying
down waiting for this tom to come to her.Now we all know when it
comes to turkey hunting our favorite thing to do is call. I would
tell myself over and over dont call, dont call just wait!!! That ole
tom would go into strut and gobble, then back into strut, it was the
most beautiful thing to watch I was just in awe of the whole thing, I
kept thinking if that hen would just pick up and move to steps he
will move 2 steps toward her and I would have a clean shot,this only
took just a matter of minutes but I seem like hours.
The hen finially pick up a took two steps and he went into strut and
took two steps, He was finially in the open, BOOM!!!!!! Old Tom
finially got out smarted!!!
I got my bird, it was such a magical hunt,now alot of men want admit
to this, but when I went to pick him up,and saw him there I cried
like a baby tears of joy that is undiscribable, Thank you
God,Vangie,Dad,and Pop!!

Michael Wells

Well folks here we go,This spring turkey season has been
the hardest for me so far.Before I get started I must tell you I have
been making turkey calls for a long time.The season opener was our
youth season and my son and I hit it just right,the morning hunt was
slow,but we went back to a different spot on the farm after lunch,I
had seen several scratchings on the ground,and this place was were I
took a nice buck during deer season.My son has been wanting to hunt
by himself for sometime now, he is 13yrs old,and I wasnt quite ready
to let him go,so I set him up on a logging road and I sat about
30yrds behind him,trying to give him that sense of maturity. We gave
it about 20mins.before I started calling,I took my Maxcey-Strut Glass
call out that I had finished the week before, said a small prayer and
threw out a few yelps,THUNDER!!! He was only 100yrds away. I put the
call down gave it a few minutes aprox. 10, called again,THUNDER!!! He
was right behind me, he hasnt !
  seen the decoy yet,He went into strut, spitting and drumming
walking right beside me,he went over the ridge and I could feel
Dakotah shaking or was it me not to sure yet.You could hear that ole
Tom dancing over the small ridge, so I purred and clucked,and he came
right back to me,still hasnt seen the decoy yet,I let him go past me
about 40yrds and called again THUNDER!!! here he comes back in strut
walking right to the decoy! He got to the decoy and I told Dakotah to
shoot,(nothing)SHOOT! SHOOT! BOOM!The Ky.Thunder chicken was down!!
To watch the expression on that childs face and the excitment he and
I had was truley a moment with God.Iam one of the lucky ones, I still
get to hunt with my Father who is my best friend he has taught me so
much when It comes to doing something I Love with all my heart and
that is to hunt and make turkey calls. I have 3 sons who I hope that
they to will treasure the memories of a hunt of a life time.
May God Bless all of you who read this! I pray to that you will have
the memories that I have in yrs.of hunting.
Thank You,
Michael Wells
Maxcey-Strut Custom Turkey Calls

MY FRIST TURKEYWITH MY DAD MICHAEL WELLS

It was a long hard day of hunting, we started of at the back of the
farm cutting and running. We finally hear a gobble and he was coming
so we eased up a little and set up. Called a little he was a coming
but about that time something scared him off. So we went to the front
of the farm and walk and walk and walk  we would call every once in a
while the my dad changed mouth calls he yelped there was a bird right
on top of us so we set up as fast as we could didnt even have time to
put up the decoy my dad called one more time he was right there then
we seen that white head pop up over the top of that hill I started
shaking like crazy then he went back down the hill and was silent
then he came back up the right beside us then my dad so eager to get
me a bird jerked the gun and the bird flew off so we went and got
something to eat stayed at the house for about 2 hours then went back
out to the middle of the farm we saw some birds a little ways off so
we got in front of them and !
  hustled are way up to them I laid down in a creek bed my dad used
his wingbone call 2 times and two jakes came a running and I mean
fast then they stopped right behind a tree then that bird popped its
head out and boom that three and1/2 inch shotgun shell popped out I
thought my shoulder was broke but I got up and ran towards my trophy
the I seen that my dad was so happy he was crying he showed me the
fan and I was so happy I for got about my shoulder and gave him a hug
and we went back to the house and I showed my trophy.
DAKOTAH

                       It was a typical Midwestern end of fall day, thirty degrees in the morning and fifty degrees by mid afternoon, hazy and wet. After having no luck on the farm in western Kentucky that morning we tried a new tactic on the opposite side of the farm that afternoon.

My brother in-law Michael, nephew Dakotah, and I set up on the highest ridge of three ridged gulley covered in hardwoods. I took front position, gun in hand, and my first functional box call I hand crafted nestled beside me in the leaves. Dakotah took middle position wielding a personalized box call made for him by Michael and a wing bone call he made from his first turkey. Michael took the back position armed with his customized diaphragm call by his own design, one of his hand turned glass calls, one of my hand turned calls and a complete arsenal of strikers.

After positioning ourselves in deep cover we began our choir of turkey talk. Mike yelped and cut that diaphragm as it was a part of his anatomy, then a high raspy yelp from Dakotah’s box call, finally the verse would end with me lightly clucking with gentle taps on my box call at my side. We were a force to be reckoned with; throwing purrs and clucks that would definitely pique the curiosity of the nearby turkeys.

Mike and Dakotah would intersperse the calls they had melding the sounds into the forest chatter as I remained dedicated to the occasional subtle cluck and purr. After twenty minutes or so we backed off the calling to assess the situation.  Almost immediately Mike began calling again. I thought to myself we might be over calling a bit when I realized mike was really out doing himself he was making clucks and purrs an yelps all at the same time, then I said to myself “hang on” and slowly looked behind me and sure enough forty birds right on top of Mike.

                       

I scooted around the tree to line myself up with the birds, but in doing so I also lined myself up with Dakotah and Mike was so dug in I couldn’t spot him. I whispered to Dakotah for some light clucks and Mike was purring a song that left those birds in a state of concern as if they were conflicted, torn between staying or going about their business with the rest of their flock or joining ours. Mike and Dakotah had those birds pacing a path in the earth for a good forty minutes, but I never had a clear shot.

When the last hen left my vision my anticipation and anxiety got the better of me and I decided to better position myself to see where the birds were headed and I pulled a turkey hunting mortal sin and stood up. I couldn’t hear Mike saying it but I knew he was whispering “what are you doing” and he was.

I stood up slowly and hit the box real gently to assess their location and just as I  was about crawl to my improved position I heard the rustling of brush behind me, I slowly side stepped around the tree, like military operative sneaking in on the enemy.  As soon as I positioned myself two great big long beards flew up into the trees fighting and scratching for the best perch, that’s when I realized for the past hour we had been completely surrounded by turkeys at least a hundred.

The plot of land across from me was about three feet higher than where I was sitting so standing up turned out to not be such a bad idea and my fellow hunters were no longer in my line of fire. I then knew my time to shoot a bird was almost up it was forty five minutes before dark and the toms had already started jockeying for position.

The bigger of the two long beards won the battle and the smaller of the two fell to the ground, I could hear the popping and clucking of the other turkeys but I could see none. Then it happened just like a scene from a hunting video I meticulously studied over and over before going hunting, a head pops out from behind the brush and immediately goes behind a huge oak. I lifted my gun and aimed at the appropriate height and waited for him to pass the tree. Then his head peeked from behind the tree “BOOM” the kick of the three and half inch shell slams me up against the tree and all I see is fluttering wings and I let out a holler of such content that all the creatures in the woods were now aware of our location.

It turned out to be a good size Jake with a double beard and not even nubs for spurs, but if one asked me he was the most beautiful Jake to ever walk the earth.  It was a good first turkey hunt and just the beginning of many more to come.

Tommy Housman

            Maxcey Strut Custom Turkey Calls

Turkey hunters and hunters of all small and large game can share their stories of trophy hunts and lots more. Let us know all the details where, when, and how and especially with what kind of call. Just submit your story on our hunters blog page and we will display as many stories as possible.