We got the decoys...

Yep, that's right! We remembered the decoys this morning ... but we forgot the Turkeys! It seems like we did better without the decoys. Same routine this morning. 5:45. Field by 6. At Stations by 6:30. Daybreak. Shock Calls. The Whole Nine Yards...

Except the yards weren't 9! More like 1. We only heard 1 Tom calling from about 150 yards away. I was tucked into some bushes pretty good. I had not heard any turkeys near by so I thought that I would raise up on my knees. To my dismay, there was a turkey about 40 yards from me. He was moving very cautiously. The weird thing was, is that he had not gobbled yet. That's why I had not heard him. I could not see a beard on him. The grass was pretty tall. Paul was about 20 yards from me in another thicket of bushes. He was doing a hen call and this turkey came off the roost (the place where turkeys stay at night --- usually in a tree) and came into our field. I did not see him land. I just happened to see him walking towards us. The turkey suddenly stopped and he took notice to our decoys. See pic below. The hen is on the left lying on the ground. She is being 'submissive' to the Tom on the right. This is a pretty big Tom.



When the Jake (this is a year old bird) saw the big Tom decoy, he became intimidated and was not interested in the decoys any longer. The Jake proceeded to walk towards PY. PY stopped calling and he was basically busted because the Jake knew PY was in the thicket. He ended up flying off and we never saw him again. That was ok. I could have shot the Jake, but I did not want to shoot one without a beard. Their beards are so cool...

It sure is fun and such a blessing to be able to hunt during the week...

This is Paul in his camoflauged head gear. The less flesh you can have showing, the better!

Pretty Sunrise in the field

It's a great day to be alive! We have a Young Life Garage Sale tomorrow. We are raising money to send kids to Sharptop Cove this summer. We (a couple high school guys and myself) are gonna start moving stuff to the locatio around midnight and then we are going to sleep at this location until the Garage Salw starts at 7:30 ... which really means about 6:45 or 7.

Have a marvelous weekend. Hope to see you back here on Monday.

Because High School Kids Are Worth It...