Zone 4 WI bird - Turkey Hunting - Turkey Hunting

I started this season more confident that I have ever been. I had access to a new property, and my scouting the week before the season had found birds in a specific field 5 of 6 times I was there. I had seen 24 birds including 8 toms in the field at one time. Needless to say, I was pumped to get things started. However, it seemed that something had changed at the start of this week. I scouted the same area before and after work Mon and Tues without seeing a single bird. (I had been scouting by glassing from the road, so I know I didn’t spook them). I started off hunting before and after work on Wed without seeing a bird, and without hearing any that were close. This property is a small woodlot of about ten acres, and I only had access to about 1/2 the woods and the surrounding field, so I didn’t have a lot of room to chase the birds. I didn’t hunt Thurs morning, but scouted again on my way to work and didn’t see any birds. I figured they had migrated to one of the woodlots in the surrounding sections, so I decided to try another property. Thurs evening I set up on a route I know turkey to travel back to a nice roosting location. I only caught one glimpse of a hen through the woods, and didn’t hear anything. I had vacation on Friday, and hunted a hard 12 hour day. I heard plenty of gobbles on the roost, but nothing answered my calls and I again didn’t see a bird all day. I was getting extremely frustrated. Finally on Sat morn, I had gobblers close, but again they were not responding at all to calls – except for two jakes who wouldn’t seem to leave me alone. After coming up empty in the morning, I decided to go back to the other property for the afternoon/evening. This time I set up as far back on the field as I could get, and put up a couple of hen decoys out in the corn stubble. Unfortunately there were no comfortable spots, so I made due with a small tree back in the fenceline. I called sparingly about every 1/2 hour and did not get any response. About the time my back and legs really started to ache from my seating position, I decided to call again. Nothing. However, after waiting a few minutes, I saw a bird step out into the field about 125 yds down the fenceline. I could see it was a big bird, but couldn’t tell what it was. Since it could see all the way to where I was sitting, I had to get my gun up before it got any closer. As soon as I shifted position disaster almost struck – leg cramp!!! I couldn’t believe it. I had a cramp in my calf and couldn’t move for fear of spooking the bird! Luckily after gritting it out for a couple of minutes, the cramp went away. Now I had the issue of my left arm. This bird was taking his sweet time heading to my decoys. Every little bit he would just stop and stare. My arm was starting to tire to the point of shaking and there was nothing I could do about it. As the tom kept closing the distance, I knew I would have to take the shot pretty quick, or risk moving and scaring him off. The next time he stopped and stared at my decoys, I let him have it, and down he went. He was a little farther out than I thought. He ended up being right at 47 yds, but the #5’s did the trick. He is my best tom to date, weighing 23#, with a 10.5 inch beard and 1″ spurs. After hunting hard the first three days of the season and seeing nothing, I actually let myself question why I do this. This bird helped remind me of the rapid heartbeat, knot in your throat and shaking hands. I can’t wait to do it again!