It was late-May and a wild turkey tag was burning a hole in my pocket. I had to get serious! I went to my favorite spot, some large oak trees where wild turkeys were known to roost. The time was 2 pm. The temperature was rising and the south wind blew at 20+ mph.
Taking my time, I got the blind up and decoys out. I sat down on my Rack Pack, took a drink from my water bottle and wiped the sweat from my brow. Several loud yelps and cuts from my box call were falling on deaf ears. I heard nothing, not even a crow!
Two hours passed; about every 20 minutes I yelped, with no response. I knew wild turkeys were in the area and that they may be having a hard time hearing me over the wind, so I decided to get a little more aggressive cutting and yelping loudly. I set the call down, confused, usually these birds will at least shock gobble at something.
I passed some time reading, when suddenly I heard crunching on the leaves behind me. It sounded like a deer to me, but when I peeked out the back of the blind I saw a big gobbler fanned out and heading my way!
He wasted no time strutting right up to my jake decoy. He strutted around it for a few minutes, not paying much attention to the hen. When he turned with his back to me, I drew.
Now at full draw, with the gobbler still relaxed, it was all in my hands. I took my time and let the green pin settle on the gobbler’s head. He was only 6 steps away! I squeezed the trigger… lights out! Perfect head shot. The gobbler was dead on contact!
It always amazes me how fast things can happen when you least expect them. Three minutes before that gobbler came, I was thinking it was going to be a bust for the day. Calling had produced no response and I did not even hear any distant gobbles, but I knew it was a good area for wild turkeys. Then out of the blue, crunchy leaves gave this big Yom away.
My advice: sit tight! You never know what can happen.
