Rickey and his son Chris, of Waycross, Ga., are firm believers in the Carry-Lite Pretty Boy and Pretty Girl turkey system. Their conversion began on opening morning of the 2006 season.
“I’d purchased a Pretty Boy and Pretty Girl from Carry-Lite a few weeks prior to the season,” Rickey said, “and on opening morning of the season my son and I headed out to get another chance at a wary ole tom we’d hunted several times the previous year.”
The pair had done their homework and roosted the bird the evening prior to the opener. The old, smart bird was roosted in an old oak tree surrounded by small pines.
Opening morning was unusually cold for southeast Georgia, and the pair hung back unsure of how the old tom was going to react.
“We sat back and waited for the first gobbles of the morning,” Rickey said. “Shortly before daylight my son hooted and we had four different birds gobbling on the roost.”
The pair picked out the old bird and closed the gap. When Chris spotted the gobbler only 50 yards away the pair scrambled and set up Pretty Boy and Pretty Girl, then crawled to the nearest tree and got ready.
“Chris gave some quiet tree yelps and got him fired up. He triple gobbled on the limb and we knew we were in for a show,” Rickey said. Chris purred and the gobbler locked onto Pretty Boy and pitched out of the tree. As soon as he hit the dirt he gobbled eight times in a row.
“He slowly strutted his way to us, spitting and drumming the whole time – we call that ‘strummin.’’ Chris scratched a few leaves and he gobbled his head off. He was only about 10 yards from us!”
Even at that close range the gobbler never looked the hunters’ way. He was locked on to the Pretty Boy, and when he lifted his head, Rickey sent a load of No. 5s his way.
“I shot that bird at exactly seven yards and he never even flopped,” Rickey said.
The bird weighed 19 pounds, with a 10 1/2-inch beard and 1.25-inch spurs.
“That Pretty Boy and Pretty Girl accounted for 9 more kills last year,” Rickey said. “Chris was calling them in for everybody!”
Rickey O.
Waycross, GA.