Last night I was on my way home with my daughters. I noticed three black dots out in a field that I can hunt. There has not been any birds there since early April. A closer inspection revealed that one of the black dots was twice the size of the other two. They were also in a location where we could cut a lot of distance and get fairly close to them. I didn't have my binos but that was good enough for me. Game on.
I rushed over to my dads who lives less than a mile from the location of the turkeys. My girls hopped out and stayed with grandma while dad and I scrambled to get ready and get back over their. We drove past once before making our move to confirm where they were at. This time I had my binos and confirmed one big bird was a tom and the other two were hens. They did happen to drift over to the far edge of a plowed corn field. They were a little farther than I was hoping, but excited we were still in the game.
As I was rushing to get ready, I thought to myself that this situation would possibly require a decoy. I figured if they were still in the field or if I got them to come back into the field, they would need to see something out there to draw them in. I grabbed an old Thunder Chicken decoy that I had put a real fan on and took it along. We ran across a field, climbed up a creek bank and belly crawled to the field edge where they had just been. Dad belly crawled to a tree surrounded by brush and got into position where he could shoot out in the field. I moved down from him ten yards with my slate and decoy and crawled to the edge as well. After we got set, it was plain to see that the birds had worked out of the field. I got on the call and did some clucks and purrs. Nothing. I began with some soft yelps and bang... He double gobbled right back. I would guess just out of the field and into the woods roughly 150-200 yards. I waited a couple minutes and checked his temperature again. He hammered right back after another set of yelps and was what I would guess inside of 100. I laid the call down and grabbed the decoy and held it up on the field edge over my head as I laid in some foot high greens.
Less than a minute later I see a white head a fan enter the field followed by two hens. They hens start towards me and the decoy I am hiding behind. The big gobbler does his best to corral them back to himself and much to our dismay he is successful. We watch him put on a strut show at about 80-90 yards for 10 or so minutes. He doesn't seem interested in my decoy, so I crawl about ten yards closer to him. One hen slowly decides to feed off while the other is acting funny and begins to run circles around the big tom. He spun in a circle like a top around that hen to the point I thought he would fall down dizzy. I almost laughed. She eventually laid down and let him go to work. It was a crazy sight to see that close in person. He goes to town for I would guess around five minutes. All the while I am holding this decoy over my head and rotating it with my wrist every so often to give it movement. I felt like if I let it down and then back up, they would figure me out. So I laid their with my arms going numb and just dealt with it. I decide to crawl five yards further and get to the dirt in the plowed field. Finally he hops off and lets her up. He does a little shimmy and bang.... He locked straight on my decoy and was on a mission! He had enough of a competitor within range of his hens. He went into strut and never broke out of it. I have never seen a turkey move so fast while strutting. It was like he was running in strut. As he is approaching, I tuck lower and lower and try my best to disappear in the grass. I put one cheek to the ground and open one eye and watch him close. 60, 50, 40, 30, 20 yards!!!!! At this point he looks enormous, I start to think what am I going to do if I don't hear a shot soon? I honestly was a little nervous. I keep an eye on him not moving and suddenly I hear the Ka-Boom and watch his face go from looking straight at me to completely sideways into the ground. Dad buried him at what I stepped off to be about 15 yards. At his pace, he was literally a couple seconds before he was on top of me. I jumped up and ran out and put a boot on his head. Dad ran out and we did a little victory dance. After all of our epic fails this year we finally hit pay dirt together. It was like something you see on TV. Honestly, it was the best turkey hunt of my life. From pulling them back into the field, to watching a strut show, to full on breeding, to full on furious gobbler on a run, to almost getting whopped by a big gobbler, I don't think this one will be topped. He was a good heavy bird with a 10" beard and 1.25" spurs. Season made.
I rushed over to my dads who lives less than a mile from the location of the turkeys. My girls hopped out and stayed with grandma while dad and I scrambled to get ready and get back over their. We drove past once before making our move to confirm where they were at. This time I had my binos and confirmed one big bird was a tom and the other two were hens. They did happen to drift over to the far edge of a plowed corn field. They were a little farther than I was hoping, but excited we were still in the game.
As I was rushing to get ready, I thought to myself that this situation would possibly require a decoy. I figured if they were still in the field or if I got them to come back into the field, they would need to see something out there to draw them in. I grabbed an old Thunder Chicken decoy that I had put a real fan on and took it along. We ran across a field, climbed up a creek bank and belly crawled to the field edge where they had just been. Dad belly crawled to a tree surrounded by brush and got into position where he could shoot out in the field. I moved down from him ten yards with my slate and decoy and crawled to the edge as well. After we got set, it was plain to see that the birds had worked out of the field. I got on the call and did some clucks and purrs. Nothing. I began with some soft yelps and bang... He double gobbled right back. I would guess just out of the field and into the woods roughly 150-200 yards. I waited a couple minutes and checked his temperature again. He hammered right back after another set of yelps and was what I would guess inside of 100. I laid the call down and grabbed the decoy and held it up on the field edge over my head as I laid in some foot high greens.
Less than a minute later I see a white head a fan enter the field followed by two hens. They hens start towards me and the decoy I am hiding behind. The big gobbler does his best to corral them back to himself and much to our dismay he is successful. We watch him put on a strut show at about 80-90 yards for 10 or so minutes. He doesn't seem interested in my decoy, so I crawl about ten yards closer to him. One hen slowly decides to feed off while the other is acting funny and begins to run circles around the big tom. He spun in a circle like a top around that hen to the point I thought he would fall down dizzy. I almost laughed. She eventually laid down and let him go to work. It was a crazy sight to see that close in person. He goes to town for I would guess around five minutes. All the while I am holding this decoy over my head and rotating it with my wrist every so often to give it movement. I felt like if I let it down and then back up, they would figure me out. So I laid their with my arms going numb and just dealt with it. I decide to crawl five yards further and get to the dirt in the plowed field. Finally he hops off and lets her up. He does a little shimmy and bang.... He locked straight on my decoy and was on a mission! He had enough of a competitor within range of his hens. He went into strut and never broke out of it. I have never seen a turkey move so fast while strutting. It was like he was running in strut. As he is approaching, I tuck lower and lower and try my best to disappear in the grass. I put one cheek to the ground and open one eye and watch him close. 60, 50, 40, 30, 20 yards!!!!! At this point he looks enormous, I start to think what am I going to do if I don't hear a shot soon? I honestly was a little nervous. I keep an eye on him not moving and suddenly I hear the Ka-Boom and watch his face go from looking straight at me to completely sideways into the ground. Dad buried him at what I stepped off to be about 15 yards. At his pace, he was literally a couple seconds before he was on top of me. I jumped up and ran out and put a boot on his head. Dad ran out and we did a little victory dance. After all of our epic fails this year we finally hit pay dirt together. It was like something you see on TV. Honestly, it was the best turkey hunt of my life. From pulling them back into the field, to watching a strut show, to full on breeding, to full on furious gobbler on a run, to almost getting whopped by a big gobbler, I don't think this one will be topped. He was a good heavy bird with a 10" beard and 1.25" spurs. Season made.
