Perfect Morning for a First Turkey

The morning of May 5th started like most mornings this spring did, overcast after a rain. This morning was special because I had a chance to take my wife, Renee who a lot of you know, out for her first turkey hunt of the year. We were both excited because I had been seeing a lot of birds around our farm just north of Hagerstown.

Renee had gotten her own 20 ga. shotgun this past year and was very excited about getting a chance to tag a bird with it. We set up a couple of targets the evening before for her to bust and she did just that! She was ready!!

As we got to the farm we discussed how she thought we should set up. I wanted her to have as much input into her hunt as possible. We decided to place our decoys in an opening in the fence so the birds could see them. You see, the birds always roost on the neighbor's property and the fence line is very thick. We used our Avian X decoys that morning. I set my laydown hen on the ground with a ¼ strut jake over top of her. I then set a feeder hen off about 10 feet from the jake. We had our ground blind set about 20 yards off of the decoys. The stage was set. Would it work? Would the birds read the script?

As the fog burned off and the skies began to lighten we heard our first of what would be many gobbles! We sat there enjoying the chorus of the spring and soaking in the sights and sounds of God's creation when Renee saw the turkeys start pitching down into the field about 300 yards away. 4, 8, 10 birds. There ended up being close to 15 birds in the main group. WOW!!! What a show!! There were 4 longbeards in that group, and they were ALL fired up! As we were watching those birds we heard two gobblers gobbling back in the back in an isolated finger of the woods. This is gonna be a GREAT morning!

As we were watching the main group, Renee saw two lone hens on the edge of the field about 75 yards away feeding. We were hoping that the hens would bring the main group of birds down to us when all of a sudden the hens made a bee line for the edge of the woods. WHAT HAPPENED?!?! We didn't spook them! I grabbed my binoculars and started to scan the field edge when I picked up the white head and fan of gobbler. Ahh…. They were going to the gobbler. I told Renee to be ready because they might try to slip into our field since the gobblers heard my calling.

We were patiently waiting when I peeked out of the left hand side of the blind and see a gobbler in full strut, not 100 yards away! I told Renee, "Strutter in the field. Get ready!" As I watched him strut I saw the two hens in front of him. Then Renee said that she saw another strutter (I couldn't see the second one at that point from my vantage point). As the hens walked further into the field, the gobbler we saw first gave way to the second gobbler and he took over the show. He strutted his way to the top of a little rise in the field and let off a thunderous gobble as he saw our decoys. HERE HE COMES!! GET READY!!

The boss gobbler strutted his way right into our decoys! Renee did not feel comfortable taking a shot as the gobbler was walking so she waited till he stopped. Problem was, he didn't stop till he was IN the decoys! Boy, did he put on a show though! He attacked our jake decoy and was not about to let a jake take one of his hens. He was MAD!!

Renee asked if she could shoot while he was in my decoys and I lovingly said "DON'T shoot my decoys!" Unfortunately, she missed on her first shot and started to get a little frazzled but the gobbler was none the wiser and stayed, continuing to attack the decoy. I whispered to her to relax and smash him, just like we practiced. At the report of the second shot, he was flopping!!

WAY TO GO!!! YOUR FIRST BIRD!!! You see, this was not only her first bird, this was her first animal period. I grabbed the front of the ground blind and threw it over top of us and ran out to see her bird. As I turned around I saw that she was taking her time walking up to me and her bird. I asked her if everything was ok (besides me knocking her hat off when I threw the ground blind off of us). I noticed that she was getting a little emotional and had a tear in her eye. I asked her what she was feeling at that exact moment. She said that it was sad and emotional because she had just killed something. I told her that is a normal, natural feeling and that if you ever stop feeling THAT, you need to stop hunting. I then asked her, besides that feeling, what are you feeling? She said "can we go tomorrow?!"

This is a hunt that I will never forget. I was able to share this beautiful morning with my best friend! Renee was able to have an amazing hunt AND be home in time to spend time with our granddaughter Addie! It doesn't get any better than that!

Renee's equipment included a Mossberg SA-20 ga shotgun with an Indian Creek .555 choke tube. She was shooting Apex 7.5x9 Smalltown blend shells. Her bird was 24#, had an 11 ½ beard and sported 1" spurs! I'm proud of you Renee!!!