Bucher and Hess score on another Wisconsin Gobbler!
Joe Bucher

BUFFALO COUNTY, WISCONSIN - May 1st

Eagle River banker Tom Hess had never hunted turkeys until this day. He'd only heard about it. Now, he was sitting beside Joe Bucher at the bottom of a steep woody ridge top listening to three different tom turkeys gobble on their roost right at the break of first light.

As a distant owl hooted "who cooks for you?", the three roosted toms responded on cue with thunderous gobbles. Hess shook his head in amazement. Bucher glassed the trees in an effort to pin point their location.

"Tom and I watched these birds strut in this field the night before right below their roosting trees, so I was pretty confident of their roosting location. What I couldn't be sure of was whether they would pitch into this field the next morning or simply pitch up onto the ridge top". Unfortunately, all three toms and their harem of hens did the later.

We listened to these birds hammer away all morning and even made several moves on them, but they never really came close to our set ups. The only bird we did see, ended up entering the field a few hundred yards away, and to our surprise, he was totally reluctant to come into our decoy set and my calling." By 9:30 a.m. the gobbling ceased, and the two hunters broke for a quick late breakfast.

"My plan for the afternoon was to first sneak up on that ridge and attempt to work these birds from the top. If that didn't work, we were going to end up on this same field edge with hopes that these birds would again strut near their roosting trees in late afternoon. However, Bucher's first plan turned out to be all that was needed.

Tom (Hess) and I slipped along quietly on a narrow logging road that winded thru the ridge top stopping to call occasionally. Since there was no gobbling activity at all, I thought it might be best to sit for at least a half hour in each spot, call and then slip forward and reset; hoping to get one -- just one bird to answer."

Most good turkey hunters know that once the birds quiet up, any afternoon gobble is likely to be a promising opportunity. As Hess and Bucher eased into their third calling set up around 3 p.m. Bucher let out a sexy yelp from his Quaker Boy Triple Threat Slate. Arrrroooo! "I heard a very distant gobble from the far edge of the ridge" Bucher exclaimed. "I was starting to 2nd guess myself when the bird gobbled again. I knew we were in business."

Bucher then teased the tom with a serious of soft calls that included yelps, purrs, single clucks, and ultra soft yelps combined with a still silence in order to test the tom's patience. It worked!

Eventually, the big boss tom snuck into range strutting along the narrow logging road and any woods opening. However, it didn't come out on the most opportune spot. INstead it began to sneak around the far left of their setup testing the limits of their camera range. Luckily, Tom Hess was an experienced shot gunner. As soon as the big tom alarm putted, Bucher gave Hess the signal to shoot. At 42 yards, Hess's Remington 11-87 12 gauge loaded with Hevi Shot #6 leveled the gobbler in a heap!

Tale of the Tape: 23 1/2 pounds, 10.5 inch beard, 1 1/4 inch spurs