Story of the Hunt

On April 23, I took my brother Steve out for his first turkey hunting experience. Two days prior to our hunt, I saw 4 hens and 3 gobblers in a field while I was turkey hunting myself. There was no way I could get close to them that day, so I decided that would be a great place for my brother and I to start our hunt.

At 5:45 am on the morning of the hunt, we got set up where I had seen the turkeys two days prior and set up a lone jake decoy about 15 yards from the tree where we had set up. Initially, we were facing the decoy, but within 30 minutes, after a couple of calls from my HS Strut Split V mouth call, four gobblers were responding from their roost tree about 35 to 40 yards behind us. At that time, I told my brother to move to the other side of the tree and face the roost tree, anticipating that the turkeys would fly down and walk toward our calls.

In about another 20 minutes, 4 hens and one gobbler flew directly into the field where we had placed the jake decoy. I told my brother to slowly move back to the other side of the tree and face the decoy in the field. I stayed on the other side of the tree to eliminate any unnecessary movement. Within 5 minutes, 2 more gobblers flew out of the roost tree and landed within 5 yards of where I was sitting. They instantly saw me and sounded a distress call.

As they moved away from me still looking to try and figure out what I was, the lone gobbler in the field with the hens was moving toward our Jake decoy. A couple of call from my HS Strut mouth call and he was with in range for my brother to shoot. I called once more to have him extend his neck and I told my brother to "Take him!". He shot and dropped him. (18 lbs 8 oz) Not a huge bird but what a hunting memory for both of us.