It was a tough season with the birds not gobbling good, not wanting to respond to calls well and they didn't seem to roost in the same areas from one day to the next. I killed 3 pretty quick but #4 and 5 didn't come quite as quick. I didn't think #5 was going to happen but I got an invite from a friend to go with him to a pretty good place and it just so happened the bird came in on my side. I had intentions of him doing the shooting but it didn't work out that way. He was excited to see me get #5 and get my first limit.

Bird #1 came on opening day. I went to my listening spot and had a bird gobble not far off the back of a field. I ran to the field and put out a couple of decoys and jumped into some thick briars on the edge of a pine thicket. I heard him fly down so I pulled out my pot call but I was too cold to run it. I put in my mouth call and gave a few notes and he gobbled. I heard him fly over the creek and I knew there was a good chance he would come see me. As he was strutting down the field to me I heard Yekrut shoot in the distance and thought "dang he beat me by a few minutes ". He came in and put on a show whooping up on my DSD jake decoy and then he took a load of TSS to the face. My first opening day gobbler and my first with my new shotgun.






Bird #2 came a couple of days later. I went in a different area and got close to this bird on the roost. He flew down into the bottom with some hens so I backed out and went around in hopes I would get in front of him. He would gobble occasionally but never seemed to get any closer. He stopped gobbling about 8:00 so I just sat patiently to see what his next move would be. At 9:30 I called and he gobbled. A few calls and gobbles later He is strutting behind a downed tree out in front of me. When he pokes his head out I sent some TSS his way and #2 was gone.



Bird #3 came a couple of days later at a place I have to hunt near my house. I had 2 birds gobbling out in front of me in some hardwoods on the backside of a pasture. I was texting Yekrut about something and all of a sudden I hear drumming and wing tips dragging on the ground. I cut my eyes to the right and this bird came in silent from behind me. He went right to the DSD jake and started whooping up on him. After watching the show for a minute (long enough to get my gun up without being seen) I had bird #3 flopping. He ended up being a pretty good bird.





Bird #4 came way later in the season. I was hunting a buddies place near my club. He had a field bird dealing him fits and told me to try my hand at him. I fooled with him for a few days and he wanted nothing to do with decoys or calling. I decide to try him one afternoon so I slip up to the field and see him on the opposite side of where he normally was. I eased back out and got around on him using a road that runs along the backside of the field on that side. I walk up to the field using a fan and see him about 75yds away and he blows up in full strut. After a few minutes and couple of maneuvers later he is at 50yds. I ease my gun up and bird #4 is done. This one turned out to be a good bird as well.






Bird #5 came toward the very end of the season. I went with a buddy to his place. We scouted the afternoon we arrived there and found plenty of sign. The next morning we get to our listening spot and hear nothing at daylight. We make a move and just go set up. I make a call and get nothing. We sit there a few minutes and we make another call and a bird gobbles around the bend in the road in front of us. We set up accordingly and I give another call and he gobbles but I can hear a hen with him. I argue back and forth with this hen to try and make her mad so she will drag him over to us. Well, she comes down the road to us and the gobbler goes through the woods and circles around behind us. My buddy tells me if I see the bird to kill him. I flip the gun over to my left shoulder and a minute later he is strutting right to me. He gobbled and strutted all the way to the gun barrel. When he goes behind a tree I move my barrel in his direction and he steps out from behind it. I let a TSS go in his direction, Bird #5 is down and I have my first AL limit.




I'm fairly new to this serious turkey hunting stuff and I had to hunt hard to get the 5 that I was able to get. I am thankful for every one of them. I have some really good friends that are some of the best turkey hunters out there. I can't thank them for the knowledge, advice, and on the go learning experiences that they have given me over the past couple of years.