Preparation and Prosperity
After hanging ceiling tiles all day, I rushed home shortly before six and changed out of my dust-ridden clothes.
I put on my camo and grabbed my turkey vest, hoping to get a turkey roosted for the following morning.
As I drove to the spot 3 hens and 4 jakes crossed in front of me and another couple hundred yards away a few more hens and a jake were also by the road. It just so happened they were right near where I was heading. So after getting out of the car in a rush, I worked my way toward them hoping to draw them across the road.
I snuck up just out of their sight and began scratching in the leaves and lightly purring and clucking. With an occasional soft help every once in a while as I worked towards the point I was planning on sitting on.
I quickly sat down and figured if that didn’t already have the birds heading my direction, I could tempt them across with my glass call. I pulled it out and after finishing yelping a gobbler sounded off over the hill from me in the bottom.
I was shocked and within a minute one of the birds from across the road could be seen a hundred or so yards away and I could hear more scratching coming from behind her. The jake was heading into view and I knew that he was planning on heading to the bottom along with the first hen that had passed by.
With plenty of time on the clock till fly up I was hoping he wouldn’t stick too close to me for long.
Just as he walked out of sight the final two hens began working their way past me. One of them hopped onto a giant uprooted white oak and walked the entire way down it as they broke over the ridge.
After they had passed me and I was no longer able to hear them scratching. I knew I had to move to another tree, to set myself up for the direction I anticipated they would come from closer to sunset. So I crawled to another tree 30 yards away in hopes of being more hidden by the brush pile surrounding it and hoping I didn’t get caught by any birds I didn’t know were within eyesight on my way to that tree. I successfully made it and sat down.
For what seemed like forever I kept thinking I heard scratching just over the break of the hill but was unsure. So I mimicked what I thought I was hearing and also threw in some soft calling.
Before I knew it dark was fast approaching and the longbeard seemed to be gobbling closer and closer. I couldn’t quite make it out, but I believed I heard drumming just over the hill so I clucked and yelped softly. His gobble shook the ridge top instantaneously.
Soon after he stepped out from behind a large oak tree and his drumming seemed to shake the leaves on the ground. I knew he wasn’t alone with as much as he was strutting and drumming but I was unable to see the hens.
I eventually lost sight of him behind some logs and as it became darker a turkey pitched out onto a tree just off of the ridge. A couple more followed and although I couldn’t see it, I thought one flew up about 100 yards away from the others and a few minutes later, I saw a different bird do the same. I knew it was him and that mistake of separating himself from his hens was most likely going to cost him more than the agony of trying to rejoin them in the morning.
It began to get dark very fast and no turkeys had gobbled. So I got my owl hooter out and just as the hoot echoed across the point he gobbled right behind a bowed-over tree, right where I thought he had flown up.
I waited until complete darkness and snuck out. Knowing we would have to get in between the gobbler and all of his hens we discussed a game plan and went back into the woods and under the cover of darkness I could make out that bowed tree. We were able to use that to our advantage and get in between the two groups of birds and set up the blind.
We returned home around 10 o’clock and 4:50 seemed to come way earlier than anticipated the next morning. We made our way to the spot and after successfully reaching the blind, I snuck the decoy out and set it up.
It was sprinkling on and off and the light was slowly impeding the cloud cover.
A rooster crowed and although it was still dark he gobbled. Hens began to yelp softly just behind us and as it began to get light a gobbler gobbled with the hens.
I knew the time was coming and soon a bird pitched down onto the top with us from where the longbeard had roosted. Then another pitched down right in front of us.
We yelped softly and soon his fan could be seen popping out from behind some logs. His head shot straight into the air as he saw the decoy, it was on.
He kept strutting and drumming as he walked our way with a jake cold trailing behind. A third turkey popped out and although very skeptical of the situation, both followed behind him.
He strutted straight up the old logging road and was well within range when I clicked the safe off for my sister.
My dad said “Kill him” as he broke strut and his head lifted into the air. “His head is behind a tree” was returned instead of a gunshot.
He kept strutting and side-stepping until he cleared the sapling that was in her way. I yelped and his head went into the air “kill him” then rolled off my lips and that time was returned with the crack of a 20 gauge.
He folded and the two jakes accompanying him didn’t know what had happened, or what to do about it. In disbelief our plan had come full circle, I looked at my phone and the time read 6:20 on the dot.
We waited for the other birds to clear out without spooking them anymore and almost 40 minutes later after they had all finally left. We were able to go get the bird that put an end to a perfect morning.