CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
Well as always my turkey season began during Iowa’s youth season. I got the invite to head down and hunt with Rob and his son, Dakota. Rob had a game plan and we went and sat in a blind over looking a beautiful green plot. Before long turkeys started gobbling and we had one fairly close. As we waited for them to fly down, I experienced one of the coolest things I’ve experienced in the turkey woods. Hens started clucking everywhere on the ridge next to us. Not too long after we heard the tom fly down closer to us. He gobbled..a lot… and we thought game on, until some hens flew over to him and he went quiet. We ended up seeing 3 more hens that milled around in the plot with the decoys before venturing in the direction the tom and other hens went. We decided we’d move and try another farm where turkeys had been consistently midday in an alfalfa field but on our way out of the farm we saw 3 strutters up on a ridge that we could make a play on. We slipped around them and came up about 70 yards from where we last saw them. We got set up and I backed off and called hoping to pull them across in front of Dakota. When I called they fired right back. I backed off a little more and waited. After a little while I called again and got spooked by a hen cutting me off about 5 yards away from me in the direction we walked in from. She went up the hill to where we saw the toms and we never saw the birds again. Turns out one tom did come looking but hung up at 40 yards. We moved to the other farm and as we were pulling in we were met by a flock of turkeys. We tried to make a play on them but as we were about to set the blind up they crested the hill and busted us. We had one last farm to try and as we were pulling in we could see two more toms by themselves. We made a set up about 100 yards from them and I sat back about 20 yards to call. Dakota had the perfect stump to use as a hide and gun rest. I yelped a couple times and nothing. Called louder and boom here they come on a string. Dakota made a great shot making sure they separated to only kill one bird. This turkey had the biggest head I’ve ever seen on a turkey. I couldn’t even wrap my hand around it.
Opening morning of first season Matt asked if I wanted to go out with him. I had nothing better to do because work can wait. We went in to a ridge I hunted a lot in college and have had some good luck the last few years at. Matt can tell you, I’m built for the dark. I’ll run through the timber like a Sasquatch without a light. Matt on the other hand is a blind man if he doesn’t have a light so when the batteries died in his red light it was my turn to lead the way. We powered through some nasty stuff that has really grown up the last 5 years then marched up a big hill to get to the flat we wanted to get to. Well in my stupidity I dressed way too warm and without supper or breakfast before I believe I was a little low on blood sugar when we reached the top. With the light headedness and the feeling of passing out taking over I decided to take a little break before finishing the trek to the tree about a hundred yards away. We get set up and wait. We hear a ton of gobbles but nothing remotely close which tends to happen in this spot. Matt calls a few times and nothing. After awhile I could hear a hen yelping so I called and she cut the distance by a lot but I never could see her. As she disappeared a tom seemed to be getting closer. So we each yelp and I’m looking and I catch some movement in a different direction from where we had heard the tom gobbling. It’s a blue head, headed our direction and fast. I tell Matt as he’s on the complete opposite side of the tree as the turkey and give him a play by play and what side of the tree he needs to watch. The tom closes to 25-30 yards in a hurry and hangs up strutting. I was enjoying the show. Matt on the other hand was going cross-eyed trying to look around the tree. Matt’s patience wore thin and he swung and another Iowa turkey was in the bag.
Opening morning of first season Matt asked if I wanted to go out with him. I had nothing better to do because work can wait. We went in to a ridge I hunted a lot in college and have had some good luck the last few years at. Matt can tell you, I’m built for the dark. I’ll run through the timber like a Sasquatch without a light. Matt on the other hand is a blind man if he doesn’t have a light so when the batteries died in his red light it was my turn to lead the way. We powered through some nasty stuff that has really grown up the last 5 years then marched up a big hill to get to the flat we wanted to get to. Well in my stupidity I dressed way too warm and without supper or breakfast before I believe I was a little low on blood sugar when we reached the top. With the light headedness and the feeling of passing out taking over I decided to take a little break before finishing the trek to the tree about a hundred yards away. We get set up and wait. We hear a ton of gobbles but nothing remotely close which tends to happen in this spot. Matt calls a few times and nothing. After awhile I could hear a hen yelping so I called and she cut the distance by a lot but I never could see her. As she disappeared a tom seemed to be getting closer. So we each yelp and I’m looking and I catch some movement in a different direction from where we had heard the tom gobbling. It’s a blue head, headed our direction and fast. I tell Matt as he’s on the complete opposite side of the tree as the turkey and give him a play by play and what side of the tree he needs to watch. The tom closes to 25-30 yards in a hurry and hangs up strutting. I was enjoying the show. Matt on the other hand was going cross-eyed trying to look around the tree. Matt’s patience wore thin and he swung and another Iowa turkey was in the bag.
