Well, I had always smirked at the turkey hunters for some reason or another… and I think all of that has been blocked out of my mind after the last two days.
This year I decided to apply for a turkey for the first time, along with two bro-in-laws and my father-in-law. Two of us had never applied before, and wouldn’t you know it, we were the only two to draw.
Bro-in-law Joe drew season C, and I drew F. We would each be accompanied by bro-in-law Trevor, who has quite a few years of turkey hunting under his belt.
Joe was successful on his 2nd day with a 19lb, 10.5″, 5/8″ bird that kind of surprised him in the field. It was a very nice bird that cooked up perfect in the smoker.
After seeing this, the anticipation grew for me. A few early morning scouting missions leading up to my season, made my condifence level rise. The birds were very responsive to our calls on Saturday morning, and one almost walked up to the truck. We figured we had the perfect place to hunt the following morning.
An early rise on Sunday brought us to the field and after setting up in the blind, we were greeted only by a distant gobble that never materialized.
We expected the evening hunt to be more difficult as I’ve heard the Tom’s are more difficult to call in after moving around all day. We hunted the same field as the morning, and learned a lesson very quickly. We weren’t quite sure if the birds were around after the uneventful morning, so we let out a few hen calls before getting ready to head into the field. Sure enough, we heard a gobble from the woods we were heading to. We quickly gathered our gear and headed across the field. About 1/2 across, the same turkey gobble, just from a much shorter distance. We scrambled to get set-up on the edge of the woods and began calling again. Sure enough, we didn’t hear that turkey again. I suspect we spooked him as we were getting settled in.
Sunday was my only full day hunt, so my confidence was waining. Why do we have to work on days we can hunt? I guess that’s one downside of a Sun-Thur season.
Monday evening brought us to the same field and we pulled up in the truck only to see two Tom’s about 200yrds out walking away from us and to the north. We were already running short on time, but after giving them 15-20 minutes to go over the ridge, we went about 1/2 way to the planned set-up spot. Here, we let out a hen call and was greeted by a gobble from the direction the two Tom’s had went.
Quickly, we set up with me in the spot we expected the turkey’s to enter the field. Trevor was setup about 150 yrds away with two decoys in the middle of us. We basically formed a line from where the turkeys were coming from through me, through the decoys and to the caller.
Trevor let out a few calls and sure enough I peeked behind the tree and saw the two Tom’s coming up over the hill. They were on a bee-line for me and the decoys. I turned slightly and used the tree for a gun rest, and waited. It wasn’t 5 minutes and the first came into sight, about 15 yrds away. The 2nd Tom quickly followed, and it didn’t take long for me to decided which one to take. I put the sight on the target and pulled the trigger. He tipped over immediately and the other Tom spun around wondering what was happening. I let out a loud cheer and he ran off in a hurry.
Man, what a great time. All in all, it took about 20 minutes from the time we left the truck to the time we were on our way back. I’m glad I was lucky enough to draw a tag and bag a bird on my first attempt. It’s understandable that it is not quite as easy for everyone that tries this sport.
I have no doubt changed my opinion on Turkey hunting, and hopefully ther won’t be another year that I don’t apply for a turkey tag.
Here he is… 19#, 10″ beard, 1″ spurs 
Hopefully, I can score my 1st also 
