Today was my dream turkey hunt for showing a new hunter to the sport. I think he's hooked. We found ourselves in my doghouse blind well before dawn listening to the woods wake up and the drowneed out hiss of the newly hatched mosquitos. We were prepared though and focused on the gobbles booming out in every direction. It was a clear morning, a bit windy, but temps were predicted to reach close to 70. With my blind set up at the hub of several fields gobblers love to fan in over the years and very close to a hen nesting factory I knew the chances of sticking a boss gob this morning and showing my 11 year old cousin Camden a bird up close were likely!
It wasn't long before the first birds showed themselves. The first hen came right in to 10 yards in front of the blind. More followed. Soon 3 toms all faned out worked their way across the field towards us. They hung up about 200 yards out and a total of 5 hens surrounded them. The toms were statues out there for what seamed hours while the hens fed. Then another tom emerged from our woods. It was the bird with the missing tail feather that I passed on the week before for the bird I shot. I told Camden this was the bird I wanted if the shot presented itself. We sat until nine that morning with the birds offering no shots. Gobbling was sparse though during one stint while the birds went the other way I tried some agressive putting and yelping that drew the birds into 80 yards but that's as close as they got.
We went in to relax and recooperate from all the excitement that morning. The plan was to head back out tha afternoon and set out my brand new boss gob decoy and a hen. Not 5 minutes after we settled into the blind Camden spotted the 3 toms and a few hens from that morning cutting across the winter wheat field. Nothing for 2 hours until 3 hens emerged from the woods directly behind the blind. One hen picked the ground 10 yards from the blind. Just when I was about to give up hope a tom was straggling a bit behind Camden spotted him. Missing tail feather he excitedly whispered. The bird gave me a 30 yard shot and I dropped the hammer. Didn't even flinch. Browning 12 doesn't disspoint again.
