She Hunts: Spring Turkey 2014: Part III

Matt was back from Toronto and we decided to try some more hunting at Darcy's. His Dad had them pick up a Jake decoy from Bass Pro while up there for my to try. He agreed that the Tom decoy may have been scaring him off.

We decided to sit out in the open on a sand hill with a bit of brush coverage. There is a path they tend to walk on so we set the decoys right across from it. We called and saw a hen early on. She crossed right in front of us probably 5 yards away without any idea we were there. We called some more and there was no gobbling from anywhere. All of a sudden, I saw red out of the corner of my eye and poked Matt. The tom had just come out where the hen came from. We sat quiet and Matt called a little bit. He looked towards the hen but was uninterested and left in the opposite direction. After that we had no luck and turkey hunting was coming close to an end.

My last chance to go hunting was May 30, the night before end of season. I finished work and had to work early in the morning. I didn't really feel like going out, but I wanted to spend some time with Matt, so texted him to see if he wanted to go back out. He asked me where. All season I spent hunting at Darcy's but his good friend Roger (Wing-Ding), said I could hunt at his property. I told Matt we should try Wing-Ding's. I had hunted there in the Fall and he told us some Toms and a Jake were out in the fields when he was discing his fields. Matt agreed and we were headed to Wing-Ding's for my final hunt of the season.

We had an old box call that Wing-Ding had left in the blind and a mouth call. His son had shot a Tom earlier in the season at the same spot. The grass was high where we were hunting but the field was all turned up from discing. We put our decoys out right in the dirt in a sunny spot across from the blind. Matt was tired too, he was resting beside me in the blind. I started calling with my mouth call. It was maybe a half hour and we heard a gobble really close by. Matt was excited when he heard it and started to call more with the box call. He gobbled back. It was to the right of me and I had a lot of bush concealing the blind we were sitting in, I couldn't even see the hen decoy well from where I was sitting. We decided to stop calling to see if he made himself visible. Matt said he could see him and he locked on to the decoys and was beginning to come in. I got my gun ready, safety off, and a really nice Tom came charging in full-strut. He passed the hen decoy and did a lap around the Jake. He circled him like he was ready to beat the decoy to the ground. It reminded me of something I've seen on Wild TV. I waited for him to clear the decoy and face towards me and as soon as he was just about the kick the Jake decoy I shot him and laid him out flat. It was a good shot and I finally got my first turkey. Matt was just as excited as I was and I couldn't believe after all the hard work I put out this Spring it finally happened.

Once we knew he was good and dead I approached my trophy and couldn't be more happy with my first Turkey and first animal I have successfully harvested.