As I walked to where I wanted to set up at 4:45am, everything was quiet...dead quiet. There was no wind, so every footstep into last season's corn stubble sounded like a bomb going off. I set my bobblehead hen decoy on the edge of a wheat field, leading into a freshly groomed field, where I knew the birds were coming due to my father-in-law's road scouting efforts the past week or so.
As the sun came up...nothing. Absolutely nothing. No gobbles...no hen talk...just the songbirds singing away. Lack of turkey chatter is always frustrating to turkey hunters and many get up and leave, thinking that no birds are in the area. On this morning, scouting ahead of the season paid off. I knew the birds were there and since Dad had seen them recently, I was going to wait them out and see if they'd come to where they had been seen.
Soft purrs and clucks were all I used. At around 7:00am, a lone hen entered the field, stretched out her wings and began to give herself a dust bath. Using some soft voice box calling, I was able to entice her to come within 40 yards of me, where she was more than happy to dust herself, peck around and give me some entertainment while I waited for one of her boyfriends to show up.
She was milling around the same spot for around 15 minutes and I was paying so much attention to her that I didn't even see three jakes come out 40 yards to my left and mill around my hen decoy. I caught movement in my peripheral vision and that's when I saw them...three targets acquired.
I hemmed and hawed about taking a jake to close the season, but, remembered the instructions from the landowner...and that made the decision easy. I put the reticle of my Leupold turkey scope on the head of the larger of the three jakes, waited for him to separate himself from the others and sent a load of Hevi Shot #6s his way to drop him where he stood and end my season.
Not a bad size jake:
17lbs
6" beard
1/4" spurs
He would have made a great 2-year-old next year, but, after dropping by the farmhouse after the hunt and sharing a coffee, a high five and one of the jake's breasts with the landowner, I once again have permission shored up for next year.
Good luck to all who are still heading out to try and bag their first or second!
How many days until turkey season 2013?
