was successfully added to your cart.

Cart

As most years, I had built much anticipation for the 2019 turkey season.  I began my scouting in the middle of February as I typically do, but this season was different.  It seemed the turkey population on the properties I can hunt had taken a hit.  Whether from hunting pressure, predators, or just an off year, there was a clear difference from previous years.  What had started out as an anxious feeling for opening day to arrive, quickly turned to a state of urgency to locate more birds to hunt.

Back in deer season, I had obtained permission to hunt a property that was made up primarily of soy bean fields that was surrounded by pines.  I had listened here several mornings in March but had only heard a handful of gobbles way off in the distance.  As season quickly approached, I had spent the majority of my time listening on public land and a few of the other private tracts that normally held more turkeys.  The day before the North Carolina season opened I had intended on spending most of the day scouting and trying to decide on what property to go to.  The evening before opening day I was headed to a property where I had killed several gobblers before, but on my way I decided to stop by the property I had just obtained permission to hunt on several months prior.

As I turned off of the asphalt onto the gravel driveway I saw several black specks out on the largest bean field.  I pulled my truck into the edge of the grass and raised my binoculars to glass the bean field.  Much to my surprise, I saw a strutting gobbler and approximately eight hens standing right in the middle of the field.  I climbed out of my truck and eased around a nearby hay barn and laid down on my stomach to crawl out into the edge of the bean field.  I watched the small flock feed towards the pines located at the back corner of the field.  As darkness approached I knew I would have a good idea where the turkeys were roosted come daylight.  The stage was set and what had seemed to be a disastrous start to my season was now looking up!

After getting very little sleep through the night, I arrived at the property at 5:00 a.m.,  which is more than an hour before the turkeys begin gobbling.  I began my walk to where I thought I needed to be set up and eased my way through the bean field.  In an attempt to be as silent as possible, I took the last 80 yards one step at a time.  When I got to the corner of the field I carefully set up my jake decoy facing where I planned on sitting, followed by a breeder hen.  I then tucked myself back in a small brush pile around 20 yards from my decoys with my back to the pines where I had watched the small flock enter the evening before.

 

At 6:12 he gobbled… He was right where I had thought and I knew I had the right setup!  He gobbled a few more times and around 6:30 I let out a small series of tree yelps to let him know I was there.  He continued to gobble till around 6:45 when I heard a very loud set of wing beats and heard him hit the ground.  Behind me was a large briar thicket that was impossible to shoot through and he walked right to it!  The excitement peaked as I began hearing wings dragging in pine needles and that unforgettable sound of spitting and drumming.  He strutted back and forth for what seemed like forever.  With my back to him, I couldn’t tell exactly where he was and if there was a way for him to get to the field.  I began to worry that he would lose interest and this setup wasn’t going to work.  Then I heard a hen cutting loudly out in the field which quickly jerked a gobble out of him.  The hen walked directly between me and my hen decoy and stood at 10 yards constantly cutting at the gobbler.  The spitting and drumming became more distant and the hen in front of my finally wandered off.  I thought my initial setup was done and began to think of what my next move would be.

After sitting there for around 10 minutes, he gobbled again and I knew he was in the field.  I quickly hit record on my camera and let out a series of yelps.  Shortly thereafter I saw a red head appear over the rise in the field.  He locked his eyes on my jake decoy and came out of strut and began running in my direction.  Just before reaching my decoys he dropped his wings and went back into strut.  He made a half circle around my jake decoy and began flogging it causing my decoy to spin around on its stake.  I couldn’t take it anymore! I yelped a couple of times to get him to raise his head and sent a round down range!  He barely even flopped as I rushed into the field to grab him.  What a morning and what a way to enjoy God’s creation!  What had seemed like a rough start to the season just a few weeks earlier, had turned into a great way to get it started!