It’s Been a Long Time Coming!

Some days are just meant to be memorable. With hunting and fishing every trip out is a lesson learned but when you combine that with success in the field or on the water, well, you have all the making of a day that will not be forgotten. Today was one of those days!

After a fun-filled but unsuccessful turkey hunt yesterday with my wife, Kate, and our oldest, Maia, today I struck out on my own. This was a special hunt for many reasons with the fact that it’s been three years since I got to hunt turkeys not being the least of them. The alarm went off at 3:45am and after loading up and getting that first coffee in me I headed to some private land down in Madison county. Yes, the same county as the book, “Bridges of Madison County” and better yet I was hunting within a mile of the Roseman bridge that the book made famous.

After a forty minute drive I get parked and I begin to walk across the field I’d be hunting, a newly planted field. This field is perfect for turkey hunting because the backside of it is protected out-of-view of the road or any houses (not to mention other curious hunters). The hunt the day before yielded a look at a tom and a hen but no shots presented themselves but I did take mental notes and today I moved 60 yards north to where a draw enters the field. This draw isn’t anything special except that the deer and turkey use it as a travel corridor between the field and the creek bottom that provides plenty of cover and ideal trees for roosting birds.

While I have both a jake and hen decoy, I opted to only put out the hen decoy about 30 yards from the draw. I then found a suitable tree to back myself up to and at just after 5am it was time to wait for first light. Many years I find that as the day approaches the birds get worked up and will often sound off on the roost. Often times they are set off by a owl or coyote and the resulting shock gobbles can be deafening and frequent. That wasn’t the case this year. The day before we heard some gobbling but not much so I had a strong hunch that any times that might be near me will likely not reveal their location so easily. This can bother many turkey hunters , especially beginners, but I knew this land well and I had no doubt there were birds nearby and I hoped that by getting in so early I wouldn’t spook them.

The hour passes with the typical noises of nature at night. I could hear an animal close to the ground scurring about…maybe a raccoon or possum? Owls who were winding down their evening of hunting were hooting. Frogs from the nearby creek croaked and I even heard a coyote barking. I often tell friends of mine who don’t hunt the common phrase that hunting isn’t near as much to do with killing and until they experience these sounds and have had a chance to be present in the woods without alerting its inhabitants of their persence they just won’t get it. That’s why I took Kate and Maia out with me yesterday…while I pray they may some day they will get the same feelings about being outdoors as I do just knowing and understanding how why it is something to be valued and protected is a good first step.

The darkness gives way to the first rays of sunshine. I’ve got a diaphram call in my mouth and I begin to think it may be time to start using it. I also silently talk to the turkeys roosted somewhere near me…begging them to disclose their location. It’s funny how much a hunter can have so many conversations in the mind. That’s what make this pasttime so much fun, it’s a time to talk without using words and often times this leads to a reflection on life but for me, mostly I find myself talking to mother nature and all her creatures.

So the stage is set, my back comfortably to a tree, my decoy in front of me wooing any would-be suitor. All I need is a bird to cooperate. I begin to seat the diaphram call in the roof of my mouth as I continue to contemplate my first bit of calling. I talk myself out of it once again. And as I begin to get frustrated with the fact that I haven’t heard a bird gobble yet I notice movement out of the corner of my left eye. It’s a tom in full strut not 30 yards away from me. Its approach was quiet and I was amazed that it had flown down from its roost so early in the morning. Immediatley my hearts begins pounding. The extreme angle the gobbler took towards me put brush and tall grass between us making a shot impossible. As I sit praying that the bird would move just 7 yards further out into the field toward my decoy, I begin to realize that bird must have been close when I got setup. Really close. Despite being so close, I never did hear it fly down which amazes me as turkey are not know for quiet flying.

Time passes one excruciating second after another. I begin to prepare myself for disappointment telling myself this bird could leave at anytime. The tom had come to me over the crest of a hill and I had convinced myself that the bird wasn’t alone…prehaps a hen was just on the other side of him out of view. It was unbearable. The tom struts forcing all the blood out of his head and neck turning his head white with hints of baby blue. I recall seeing the sun reflect off his eye as he turned around in his mating dance. All of this happened fast. So fast that I finally realized I didn’t have my gun in position let alone turned on my scope, a red-dot. I dare not move as the gobbler never got his back fully turned from me. Now I let my thoughts convince me I’d never be able to raise my gun without being made. Then the unthinkable happens.

The tom bellows out a thunderous gobble which trigger another tom I hadn’t seen to gobble. This second tom was back in the timber over the crest of the hill and out of sight. This was a good development as it convinced me these two were alone and that the hen I just knew was enticing them didn’t exist. Just after the echos of their dominance settled, a deer comes over the crest of the hill. In just seconds things went from good to bad. While deer and turkey have a truce, being able to slip the detection of both a wary-eyed tom and the nose of a whitetail wasn’t something I’d put my money on. The doe walked right between the tom and the decoy and the tom never broke strut…afterall, he’s ready to get it on. The decoy was fooling the tom but it wasn’t faring so well with the doe who began to suspect its authenticity. She stops, drops her head to the ground, lifts it back up, puts it down again and stomps her foot trying to get decoy to move…because deer know turkey usually move. A few more cautious steps and the doe picks up my scent on the ground where I knelt setting up the decoy. Before I know it, the doe leaps 10 steps towards me and stops to look back one last time at the decoy.

Then “The Moment” happened. The doe was looking away from me. The tom had finally turned and during all this had move out giving me a clear shot and so I raised my gun. A few seconds later the tom turns back around giving me the shot I had been waiting for. The Remington 1187 rang out and a few seconds later the tom lay at rest. Now for a few seconds after I let all this register. It just all too good to be true, harvesting my first gobbler in three years at 6:06am on a beautiful sun-filled, spring morning.

Ok, so enough the recount of the hunt. Here’s the specifics on this bird:

Weight: 24.6 lbs.
Beard: 10 1/4 in.
Spurs: 1 1/16 in.

The lessons learned this go around:

1. For morning hunts get setup early…you can’t be too early. Had I gotten in much later than I did I would have risked being spotted by the roosting birds. Also if you spook birds getting in, leaving plenty of time for them to calm down before day break mean you may not be out of luck.
2. You don’t have to call! Armed with my slate, diaphram and box calls I never made a sound with any of them. This is very unusual but this underscores how calling isn’t as important as following the next couple of lessons…
3. Make adjustments. The day prior I had setup in a good area but noticing how the turkeys used the draw and recalling how this same draw had been used in the past allowed me to adjust and get in closer.
4. Scout the land *and* the birds. Knowing the land is a good first step on any type of hunting as you’ll quickly identify good areas for feeding, roosting, dusting, struting, etc. Further scouting taught me that every time I had been in this area by the creek, particularly in the mornings, I’d seen birds. This was true the full year round. Knowing this it didn’t bother me much when the birds didn’t gobble on the roost…they were there, just didn’t want to be heard

That’s a wrap, the memories have been made and the hunt properly retold for all to enjoy and I can’t wait to get out after them again during fourth season in a couple of weeks!