I was excited for this hunt! It was a spot I had been to many times and had great success. We scouted it the night before and saw and heard many gobblers. However, morning came late, …not by choice! I had set my alarm clock for 4:30 PM! Actual time was about 5:30 am. I had over slept!
We arrived at our usual parking place to find another hunter in our spot. Not what you want to see! My heart sank and we moved to another area overlooking the spot I wanted to be in. We witnessed a shotgun hunter’s delight. Birds scattered for the hills as the ‘thunder stick’ exploded. My number one hunting spot just moved to the bottom of the list. It would have been easy to mope around, but instead I decided to scout new areas. After a long day and burning some gasoline we found a great looking spot!
The next morning there were no mistakes with the alarm clock, we were in position with gobblers lighting up less than 100 yards away. They flew down early, but luckily took their leisurely time to reach our decoys, allowing for better camera light. We were set in a wide-open alfalfa field.
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This was a large group of birds with multiple gobblers. While we watched a big tom strut near a hen she suddenly squatted down. Three other gobblers were drawn to the scene only 30 yards from our decoys. I yelped excitedly trying to get one of the lovesick gobblers attention. Finally a gobbler saw our beautiful decoy and began strutting his stuff for her. Slowly closing into 15 yards, 10 yards, and 7 yards right behind the decoy.
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I waited for an opportunity to draw my bow. He mounted the decoy. I stealthily came to full draw in the black blind. That poor bird had no clue as to what was about to happen! I steadied my fiber optic green pin on his neck and squeezed the trigger. He collapsed in a heap of feathers. As he began his death flap, the other birds scattered.
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This hunt was a direct result of not giving up and scouting new areas. Whenever you are down on your luck, hang in there and hunt smart. If you do that it’s only a matter of time and you’ll be admiring a beautiful tom turkey!
