Late turkey hunt at the Diamond C Ranch. Turkeys not really responding to our calls. Saw a couple in the ring by the barn and then a couple with hens in the road. Spent some time shooting at Dylan’s great steel target set up. Sight in target at 100 yards and hanging steel out past 1000 with metal animal targets and swinging red vitals. I managed to ding the Ram at 500 a couple of times, but not the vitals. Nailed a coyote at 400 and then hit the 450 a couple of times, but not swinging the red vitals section. Shooting with my Cooper Backcountry .300 WM with a brand new VX5-HD 3-15×44. I was hoping to get it better dialed in, but 15 power is a disadvantage when you are really trying to get out there. Dylan has many Pure Precision rifles, all with 5-25 power Swarovski scopes. I may need to get one in 7 PRC to take this seriously.

In the meantime I’m confident my Backcountry is ready for deer, pigs or whatever. Finally Saturday afternoon we go out again, this time with Clayton and he hears a answer to our hen call. We drive a short distance and walk to where we think we’re close enough. We get another prompt answer to the hen call and set up for them to come to us. There is a nice stump at the end of a dead log that I can rest the trusty Mossberg on. We hear them coming but I’m not sure if it will be to my right or left so keep switching. Finally they appear on the left, two toms single file. I see the first one is kind of small with a short beard. I wait in hopes the one behind is a shooter. Dylan gives another hen call and the front one gobbles. Then finally they separate and the one on the right is a shooter. I don’t waste any time letting off a 3.5 inch magnum tungsten load of 7s and it hit him pretty hard putting him down right away in a cloud of feathers.

Another great turkey hunt at the Diamond C. We remain 100%, I think it’s ten years since I started this. It is so fun. Always exciting, and now I get to make a massive batch of my favorite turkey salad!