And another one bites the dust. - Turkey Hunting - Turkey Hunting

Was fortunate enough to gain access to a piece of ground that I could easliy scout periodically during the day as it was just minutes away from my place of employement. Could drive by before I went to work, once over lunch and then before I drove home. For some reason the birds just loved this pariticular field, not sure why because it has a very busy road next to it and many people(including me) would pull over and watch the turkey’s in this field. After watching this field for a week, usually by 8:00 am there would be at least 1 long beard and as many as 5 long beards in this field. So the first morning of season G my buddy and I are taking the short walk in the dark to our setup. It was going to be a short morning cause both of us had to be to work at 7:00ish. But we thought if nothing else a little in the field scouting wouldn’t hurt. We left the Dave Smith Decoys in the truck on this outing, both my buddy and I have never really had much luck using decoys. As the morning progressed we quickly learned that the few gobbles that we heard were coming from the back end of the property. As the clock got closer to 7:00 we new the birds weren’t going to make it to the field before we had to leave so we got out of there before bumping any birds. I made it to work on time and I get a phone call from my buddy at 8:15 telling me that he just drove by the field and there were 5 long beards in there. Go figure, right?
So after work, we throw on our gear again and head back out. Mind you, I checked the field at noon and its full of birds, my buddy drives by at 3:00 and its full of birds. It’s 4:00 now(no birds in the field) and we are back at it, feeling like we are walking into a hornets nest, knowing there’s 5 gobblers in the area but not knowing exactly where they are. A few locator calls later and not a gobble. We made it to the inside corner of the field where we had setup in the morning and decided to sit for minute. A few yelps and nothing, all of sudden we notice a couple of cars driving by really slow. They gotta be just over the rise in the field were we can’t see them. Couple minutes go by and the first turkey head comes up over the rise. 4 hens with 3 long beards in tow. The hens cut the inside corner out of gun range staying out about 60 yards as did the gobblers. So we just sat back and watched the show as it was getting late and they would be heading to roost soon. The birds left the field in the opposite corner that we were in. Now what, setup in the area they left the field or setup where we were at, and where they seem to be more often?
4:00 am came early on Saturday morning. Game time decision in the dark, decoys or no decoys, left corner or right corner? We decided to setup in the corner we had previously setup in the morning and evening before, and we brought the DSD Hen and Jake. As my buddy and I sat in the dark listening to the wind howl and praying that we even hear a gobble, one faint gobble came from the hillside above the opposite corner from us. That bird gobbled a couple more times, then all of a sudden one hammers not 80 yards up the hill from our setup. Thinking, where did this bird come from??? Now we have birds gobbling back and forth, with us being setup in the middle and I’m salivating. 2 long beards pitch down and enter the field across from us and take one look at the DSD Hen and Jake setup and start coming hard. The bird gobbling up the hill from us continues to gobble and now the long beards in the field break there brisk walk into a jog. The only call I make is to stop the pair, boom, boom and we are tagged out. If you haven’t see the DSD hen and jake decoys take a look at them, they are incredible looking. Took a quick pic of my bird with the cell phone before heading home. First double and first time killing a bird without making a single call.
24lbs, 1 1/8 spurs and 10 1/4 beard.