It was 2 pm. The temperature was rising and the south wind blowing 20+ mph. It was late-May and I had a turkey tag burning a hole in my pocket. It’s time to get serious! I made my way to my favorite spot consisting of many large oak trees.
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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 would do some yelping, with no response. I knew birds 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.
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I passed some time reading, when suddenly I heard crunching on the leaves. 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!
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He had that look in his eye and 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. As he spun away from 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, only 6 steps away! I squeezed the trigger… lights out! Perfect head shot with a Victory arrow. The gobbler was dead on contact!
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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 hear any distant gobbles, but I knew it was a good area. Then out of the blue, crunchy leaves gave this big tom away. My advice: sit tight! You never know what can happen.
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