The Secret to Turkey Hunting

This morning, as I was laying in bed listening to a turkey gobbling in between the wind and thunder of a spring storm I was reflecting on the lessons learned this turkey season. The first one being that kids hate waking up early for anything, and turkey hunting is not an exception, but they also love taking little trips if you can work in a stop or two at McDonald's or something similar. The second is the need for a great hiding spot is more important than the desire to see everything from your seat and facemasks make a difference in your ability to blend in. Getting close to the roost is a dangerous game and sometimes the best tactic is to sit still, or even take a nap, rather than chase birds that aren't gobbling. But the secret? We'll get to that...

Caden didn't feel like getting up, so I headed out alone. Got set up in a spot where I've seen turkeys in seasons past, but that I hadn't really set up this season. The birds gobbled from the roost and the hens responded, but minutes after fly down it was over as the birds found each other for their morning hook up and went about their business. There was definitely a part of me that wanted to head home to get a little more sleep since it felt like the morning hunt was over before it began, but I keep hearing how mid-morning is when the birds disperse again and a Tom can be called in. Being patient does not come naturally to me, I want to get after it and make something happen, but I knew that it made no sense to start moving on a morning when there wasn't any gobbling or ways to know where the birds were. As the morning progressed and warmed I let my lack of sleep catch up to me and started to doze. Sleeping under a tree in the warm turkey woods is a wonderful thing. When I'd wake up for a moment I'd make a few light calls and listen until I fell back to sleep. 

Time passed much more quickly than I'd realized utilizing this method, and midmorning was in danger of ending unremarkably when I thought I heard something moving through the leaves nearby. I sat up a little and in a moment was only about 3 yards from a jake that had come in from the side to investigate the calling. Two other jakes followed him into the set-up, and I figured this was it, I was going to shoot a jake. I hesitated, trying to see which jake had the biggest beard (like it makes a difference!?!) when the tom came into view. The jakes were all off to my left side and extremely close, but the tom was checking out the decoy 10 yards in front of me. I held as still as I could until his head went behind a bush, then I reached down for my gun and got it into position before his head came back into view. Off went the safety and I made the shot on my first tom. A rush of excitement was only tainted by the wish that Caden had been there and had this opportunity. 

The walk back to the house was a sweet one, with a bird over my shoulder I answered the text from Deli asking if I was going to come home. Coming back heavy! I'm not sure how the tradition of getting a picture with your bird on the porch started, but I love it. Deli was nice enough to take some pictures for me. 

We tried to get out and replicate my success for Caden, but in the same set-up a couple of days later only a couple of hens showed up. We tried our best, getting up early and hunting late until the end of the very last day but it never came together. So the secret to turkey hunting? It's better to be lucky than good!

Hope you're as lucky, 

Kidder