Gobblers Back Down Coyote, Then Boss Tom Rolled At 37 Yards

Finally a win for the good guys. Sue Davis was turkey hunting in Terrell County on April 17 when she used her cell phone to capture video of five turkeys—three of them gobblers—walking down a woods road and actually run off a nervous coyote into the bushes. Maybe six spurs was enough for the song dog to retreat.

“After an early morning of very few gobbles, and none on our property, I was working my way back to my truck, calling every 150 to 200 yards,” Sue said. “I turned the corner onto our main road and saw five black dots at least 200 yards away. I quickly squatted down to get binoculars on them, but it was too far to tell if any were gobblers. Then, I see a bigger shape emerging from the brush about 25 yards in front of them. At first I thought it was a bobcat until I saw the tail and realized it was a coyote. I watched him go in and out twice and was astonished to see the gobblers back him down.”

With the coyote seemingly out of the picture, Sue went into her own predator mode and looked for a place to set up.

“By that time, I realized I’m a suspicious clump in the middle of the road, so I threw up my turkey fan and kneeled and crawled slowly to the edge of the woods for cover,” said Sue. “I was again astonished, this time to see three gobblers beelining to me. The two hens with them had gone back in the brush. I had never tried to fan a turkey myself but had watched my neighbor do it twice, so I tried to follow his example. The lead gobbler started strutting and blowing up, my heart accelerating with each step, until finally I got to make the shot at 37 yards. As he fluttered, I got to watch the other two gobblers try to attack him.”

Sue said so much happened in such a short amount of time that she left her gun in woods and had to have her husband Greg drive her back out to get it.

“The video is very shaky at 200 yards away since I was trying to squat, crawl, hold my gun and fan, then try to zoom with one hand so please excuse the poor video quality,” said Sue.

We think it’s pretty darn impressive all of that happened in such a short amount of time, and the hunt ended with a bang. Congrats Sue!

Sue Freeman, 57, of Albany, rolled this Terrell County gobbler after watching it, along with four other turkeys, back down a coyote in a woods road.