Turkey hunting, from first to last

My Morning, had to leave blind at 9am due to work.

  • 4:30am: head to blind, set up 1 hen facing off canter to left of blind.
  • 5:00am: get first gobble response
  • 6:00am: Finally lure the tom over the crest and he sees decoy.
  • 6:00am-8:00am: Tom stops gobbling and Struts, Preens and Stands on Log showing off. Slowly, SLOWLY displays, preens, and peck feeds down the entire length of the field edge to the right, around the corner and hangs up 30yds short and behind vegetation (not clearable)
  • 8:05am: Second Tom blast into the field gobbling like crazy.
  • 8:10am: I give up on closer Tom who is stalled and I Box Call the Field Gobbler. He approaches 60 yards out and sees decoy.
  • 8:10am-8:50am: He circles around to the left continues crossing the field, enters the woods and comes in behind me. He would not enter by 3 rear facing shooting lanes and ends up walking off as well.
  • 9:00am: I head out, no turkeys in sight.

I moved my blind.
I think the distance that the Toms have to cross from the far side of the field put them on edge when they do not see any hen movement for so long.

I got 2 shots off out of the blind last year when Paired Toms rushed the decoy, but have had 4 other times when single birds fetch up after crossing a couple hundred yards only to see the decoy never move or call back.

I’ve moved my blind over the little crest and 1/2 to the other side of the field where they usually enter to give them less distance to consider the immobile hen before they are in range.

Guess that is why they call it Turkey Hunting and not Turkey Shooting.

Day 2

Another near miss.
Set up this morning and 2 hens, a jake, and small tom come into the field.
They just would not respond to calling and calmly pecked and strolled on by out of range.

At least there are birds about!
Tomorrow I get 4 hours in the blind.
We’ll see what happens.

Day 3

This morning was even more stressful than the other morning.
A larger flock (for around here) came into the top of the field.
About 10 hens, one big tom and 1 jake (I thought).
I called to them as they crossed the top of the field and slowly 4 hens and the jake broke off and started coming by way, the long way. They did a giant circle around the field and came into the decoys the opposite side of where they entered the field.

Now, I am getting excited. They slowly come in and I notice the jack is a young Tom. More color and a 2-3″ beard. Here they come, but the tom is out the outside and they are all kind of huddled together. I draw back and hold waiting for a gap…. wait for it… wait for it….
GAH… have to let down.

They peck along slowly, with the Tom still on the outside and just poking his head up every so often and looking at the decoys. I draw back again… wait… wait… wait…….. wait. MAN!
I let down again. Still now shot. Now they are about 3/4 out of my shooting arc and still moving along.

I take a couple deep breaths and draw back again. Watching them slowly walk out of my arc and range. The whole time there was not ONE break in the flock that let me have a shot at the small tom.

I’m trying to convince myself it is for the best, that I succeeded in calling them in, and that I’ll gt another chance. I have 2 days this week, a week off, and another week before my season is over. And I know there are two other big Toms around. But man! I just wanted to tag out and eat some turkey!!!

Day 4

Yesterday:
Cold, Rainy, Damp.
No turkeys.
BOOO…

Day 5

Finally!
Got up at what I thought was 2am with the baby to feed him.
Then as I was prepping the bottle I realize it said 12:00 not 2:00.. WHOOOOOHOOOOO
2 extra hours of sleep!

So, I get up again at 2:30am, get ready and head down to my Dads.
Get there, say hi and we head out to the blind around 4:30am.
The landowner had said she saw 1 big tom and a couple jakes almost every morning, so we waited.
Around 6:45am a lone jake came in my Dad spotted him out his side of the blind.

I promised my wife that if it had a beard, I would take it down.
He had a beard, so I waited for him to get into my shooting lane and took him down at 21.5 yards.