Editor’s Note: Longtime CVA Pro Chad Schearer of Great Falls, Montana, host of the TV show “Shoot Straight with Chad Schearer” on the Sportsman Channel. Chad gives us some insight on his Tennessee turkey hunt.
For those of you who don’t hunt with your wives you are missing out on a lot of fun and camaraderie. Being the gentlemen that I am I though I would let my wife shoot first on camera while filming our Tennessee turkey hunt. Some may say that was awful kind of me, but in all actuality it was for selfish motives. This way I knew how big of a turkey I had to get to win our longest beard competition. Oh, and I forgot to tell her the competition was on until after she shot. The weather forecast called for rain, however we were on a limited schedule and decided to hunt anyway. Our good buddy, Ted Bratcher had set up a ground blind close to a roosting area and we felt that was the best option with weather conditions we were dealing with.
Even while still dark we could hear birds all around us within minutes as the sun was coming up we saw some turkeys pitching down. Making some soft hen yelps the turkeys got even closer to the blind. But unfortunately they were all jakes, all 7 of them. They came right in to the blind by next season they would make for some even better hunting. As the rain started to let up we decided to run and gun looking for a longbeard.
We drove into another area and used a crow call immediately we had a gobbler answer us 300 yards away. At that moment the sky turned dark, thunder rolled and lightening flashed we knew a bad storm was close and about to hit. The bird was gobbling at not only our calls but at the sounds from the storm. As much as we hated to pull back we had to take cover to protect ourselves and our camera gear. The next morning we came back to the same area hoping to catch him on the roost. With Marsha running camera Ted and I had planned on doing some buddy calling if we could locate this bird. And locate this bird we did, right away he answered to my owl call. He was within 100 yards of where we heard him the night before. We moved quiet and quickly to get set up before he pitched down. I was thankful to have my Cabela’s Couch Potato turkey vest as there were no trees to lean against. We were within 50 yards of his roost tree and I thought he was going to get laryngitis from the amount of gobbling he was doing. I felt this was a done deal. However, he pitched down and went the opposite direction. Ted and I began our buddy calling with soft yelps. He answered a few times and then became silent. We quit calling in hopes he would come looking for us. Ten minutes later with my CVA Optima Elite lying on my lap I heard Marsha say, “Left!” This gobbler was 10 yards off my shoulder. He started to cluck and I knew it was now or never. I slowly cocked the hammer and beat my wife. I had just put the smack down on a 22 lb. 11 inch beard and 1 ¼” spur Eastern gobbler. Yes, I beat my wife by 1 inch. Next time, I was informed that I shoot first!
