I started for turkey opening day this year. I had the advantage of getting a lot of time off this year, so I was going to make the most of it. The birds had a real late start because of the cold weather this year. I've been out 8 or 10 times since day one and the hens just started laying last week. I had a few jakes come by but never coming within range, lots of hens interested in me, but no toms. I'd head out at night to get a response to find the roost and head out in the morning only to have the Toms always go wherever I'm not. Not that I'm scaring them off, just unlucky randomness. They never really settled into a routine until this week. I was close the other week, about 5m from taking my shot when a coyote burst out of the treeline beside me and snatched a decoy. Needless to say, it's been a challenging season.
I started second guessing myself and thinking that they're onto my position, even though I'm at a tree, hidden by scrub cam and wearing turkeyflage. So the other day I decided to build a ground blind (more because I've gotten rained on half of the days I've been out.) I posted my blind last thursday and gave them a few days to get used to it. Yesterday I sat in early and again had a bunch of hens drop by my decoys, and 4 toms come near with obviously enough hens that they didn't need mine. One lone tom came by and was just about in range when a 4-wheeler rips by.. I guess my father thinks that turkeys are ok with that. I decided to move my blind 100m to the south where the birds seem to be using a path, at least I might get lucky and get one coming out of the trees.
At 5am today I go out again, I heard 5 gobblers all around the area, so I started calling. The gobbles died out around 7am, and I hadn't even seen a hen by then so I figured they once again went where I wasn't. So around 7:15 I crouched low in the blind and had breakfast (oatmeal in a thermos and coffee). A hot breakfast while turkey hunting is a rare event and it warmed me up nicely, just as the sun was ready to start lending some heat. 7:45, still nothing so I broke out my phone and decided to play yahtzee to pass some time. ...Hunting in a true blind is something I haven't done for turkey since my bow-days. It was a hell of a lot nicer being able to move around a bit, and have a smoke now and again.
At 8am some movenemt catches my eye and I look up from my phone to see this big Tom 5 feet away strutting up to my decoy. He must hae come out of the treeline trail that I was setup on. I took a second to get my gun up and let out a sharp yelp to get him to drop the strut and poke his head up. The rest is history.
Spur Length: 21mm
Beard Length: 245mm
Weight: 21.5lbs
I started second guessing myself and thinking that they're onto my position, even though I'm at a tree, hidden by scrub cam and wearing turkeyflage. So the other day I decided to build a ground blind (more because I've gotten rained on half of the days I've been out.) I posted my blind last thursday and gave them a few days to get used to it. Yesterday I sat in early and again had a bunch of hens drop by my decoys, and 4 toms come near with obviously enough hens that they didn't need mine. One lone tom came by and was just about in range when a 4-wheeler rips by.. I guess my father thinks that turkeys are ok with that. I decided to move my blind 100m to the south where the birds seem to be using a path, at least I might get lucky and get one coming out of the trees.
At 5am today I go out again, I heard 5 gobblers all around the area, so I started calling. The gobbles died out around 7am, and I hadn't even seen a hen by then so I figured they once again went where I wasn't. So around 7:15 I crouched low in the blind and had breakfast (oatmeal in a thermos and coffee). A hot breakfast while turkey hunting is a rare event and it warmed me up nicely, just as the sun was ready to start lending some heat. 7:45, still nothing so I broke out my phone and decided to play yahtzee to pass some time. ...Hunting in a true blind is something I haven't done for turkey since my bow-days. It was a hell of a lot nicer being able to move around a bit, and have a smoke now and again.
At 8am some movenemt catches my eye and I look up from my phone to see this big Tom 5 feet away strutting up to my decoy. He must hae come out of the treeline trail that I was setup on. I took a second to get my gun up and let out a sharp yelp to get him to drop the strut and poke his head up. The rest is history.
Spur Length: 21mm
Beard Length: 245mm
Weight: 21.5lbs
Last edited:
