The week before the season wasn’t as promising as years past, but I was very excited to get back into the blind! I drove past one of my spots on my way home from work at about 7pm on April 29, and spotted about a dozen birds in a corn field close to the roost. The original plan was to have my dad sit in the blind close to this field on April 30, but he was unfortunately not able to hunt that morning.
Since the birds roosted close to the field, I decided to avoid spooking them the next morning, and set my blind up that night about 10pm.
Of course, I didn’t sleep that night, and got into the blind about 5am. I was set up about 130-150 yards from the roost, but didn’t hear a gobble. I then heard the first hen yelp, and my hopes were lifted. Not long after sunrise, a tom gobbled once he hit the ground. I glassed the woods to find a hen feeding on the timber floor, followed by the feather tips of a strutting Tom.
About 30 minutes had passed until the group made their way to the alfalfa field. The group consisted of 2 hens, one Tom and 3 Jakes-one strutting.
The birds looked at Pretty Girl, but showed no interest. They made their way the other direction about 150 away. For some reason, the hens turned and ran their back to where they roosted, followed by the jakes and Tom.
After inspecting the decoy from 80 yards away, the jakes creeped their way towards the decoy. The Tom showed no interest as he was focused on the real hens. After a few minutes had passed, the jakes were at the decoy and the Tom stayed at 35 yards at the woodline – watching the hens.
When the Tom got behind the divider between the windows in the blind, I drew back. When he got to 30 yards I let out a soft cluck to stop him. I watched my Nocturnal fly passed the jakes’ heads and settle perfectly towards the Tom’s wing joint!
He ran 20 yards and fell, follwed by a chase from the jakes. After glassing and waiting 20 minutes, I decided to nock another arrow and slowly make my way towards him. I couldn’t believe that I had filled my tag on opening morning! He weighed between 23 and 24 lbs, 9″ beard and 1″ hooks. It was a great feelin, but bitter-sweet because I couldn’t hunt anymore :/
Fast forward to Monday May 4. I kept the blind out after I shot my bird because my dad’s season went from April 30-May 4. We had a tsunami come through with hail and 50+ MPH winds. I decided to check to see if the blind was still standing after the storm. After glassing from the road, I saw that an old tree had fallen ontop of it-busting one of the fiberglass rods 
This was the Covert that I had won from the 2010 IDO Turkey contest.
Besides all the drama, I filmed a buddy shoot a Jake with his bow, and watch my father in-law shoot 3 birds in Wi with surplus tags.
