April 29 - Aaron Bennett

Hunter: Aaron Bennett
Animal: Turkey
Location: Missouri
Weapon: 12 Gauge Thompson Center Shotgun

“Grass Ninja!”

With 20-30 mph winds, we knew that we were in for a tough day of hunting. Chad Kilmer and I headed to one of his best honey holes early in the morning, but the roost hunt was a bust. For the rest of the day, our hunting consisted of driving from farm to farm and glassing fields. We didn’t even bother calling or trying to strike birds because of the high winds.

Finally, around noon, we spotted a lone gobbler on a grassy hillside. We thought he was in a good spot for us to make a stalk on him. We drove around to the opposite side of the farm, dismounted, and then went in slick without our gear. All we wanted to carry on this stalk was Nikon binoculars, a T/C, and a camera.

After slipping, sliding, and sneaking in the grass, we were danger close to the gobbler we had spotted – if he was still there. We hadn’t actually seen the bird since our stalk started because of the terrain. Now it was time to crawl. Chad and I slithered through the grass, closing the distance to the cedar tree we had land marked (I was starting to have flashbacks from Marine Corps bootcamp…haha). We just knew the gobbler was going to be there if we hadn’t spooked him. All of a sudden I saw a bright red head that belonged to our target. He was only 15 yards away and slightly below us! The big longbeard had no clue that we were about to terminate him.

After making sure that Chad was on him with the camera, I let the Thompson Center rip, watched the gobbler drop, and life was good!! Thanks Chad!