All done

Despite the weather being soggy For what feels like forever I decided to go out today. I got to my spot late (10am) but it was raining pretty good so I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic to get out of the truck. I slowly suited up, questioning my sanity the entire time. With loaded gun in hand and decoys on my shoulder I headed out to a bush line that’s at the back of the property. By 10:30 the decoys were set up and I was as comfortable as I was going to get with my back against an ancient beech tree. The field I setup on has 2 bush lots wedging it in a pie shape. I was about 100 yards from the “v” of the pie.

The rain was relentless. My intermittent calling was being drowned out by cackling geese. Man can they get loud. Not before long did I finally feel the steady stream of water, that followed the trunk of the tree I had my back against, saturate my layers of clothing. Now I was committed and not going to leave until I saw some action.

From previous years I’ve noted that turkeys usually hit the fields after the rain stops. I was betting on this to be the case today. After 2 hours the rain started letting up and the geese took off. I had continued to call, but no gobbles could be heard and no signs of movement anywhere in the field.

I decided to stretch my legs and back out and began to lean forward. With my back off the trunk of the beech, and my gun in my lap, I surveyed the landscape again. Magically a red head was bobbing towards me along the tree line. He was about 60yards away, I’m not sure how I missed him before.

As he slowly strutted his way to the decoys, the wind chilled my soaked back and hands. I shivered as I contemplated how to raise my gun without spooking him. He moved so slowly, shaking off the drizzle every few feet. Each inch he moved forward I raised the gun an inch. By the time he reached 35 yards I had my gun shouldered and ready. I watched him strut one last time. He stuck out his neck perfectly after he broke strut, to check out the decoys. Bang!

At 1:10 I was able to fill my second tag on a beautiful tom.

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congrats ! nice bird

Love your determination and commitment
Congrats on a well deserved bird

Nice Tom congrats, Your hard work paid off.

Well done, nice Tom, Congrats! And really enjoyed the story.

Something that I remind myself of when I’m turkey hunting (and deer hunting) and my morale is sinking is that the fortunes can change from miserable to amazing in a split second. I think of all those times when excruciating boredom or discomfort were suddenly replaced with heart-pounding excitement (or panic) :D

a great story and bird congrats.

Well done. Thanks for read.