Top_Heavy's World

"I am telling you, this field is the best spot you have ever seen for turkeys" I exclaimed. "This field has never failed me, the birds are always vocal, tons of birds... It will be a slam dunk... Trust Me!" Maybe I had played too many wild cards in a row, the trust me was probably too much. I was trying to convince long time friend Matt Schrantz, that he should let me take him to one of my leases. We were trying to find a place to hunt in the morning, I only had one day to hunt with him, so I wanted it to be good. I kept questioning his ground, he still hadn't killed a bird this year. "Ok, we'll go to your ground, but I am taking my bow!" He really was calling me out. He was throwing all of the cards in the middle and going for broke. "Great, that will make it take atleast an hour" I said sort of cocky. "Anyone can slip into gun range, but with a bow you really have to do it right. Do you have a blind?" I asked. "I will meet you at the gas station and I'll bring my Double Bull".
The morning was planned, a chance to spend some time with a great friend and maybe get a bird. Matt works way too many hours, he is a great father, spending as much time with his children as possible, he is in every sportsmans group you can think of, he is a committee member of most of the groups, he is at every banquet... Matt doesn't get much time to hunt in the spring, so I was nervous. I had to produce. The 4 hours of sleep I finally got were not nearly enough. The anxiety of the hunt left my body feeling "run over by a truck" and my stomach was already in knots. We met, got in my truck and headed to my dream field.
The Dream Field is a 20 acre field surrounded by large nut trees, open pastures and good nesting cover. The river is just south, and a huge bluff is the the northern boundry of the property. The turkeys tend to work up and down the river in this area and this field is the core strutting grounds for dozens of toms and jakes. I called in over a dozen birds in 3 years here. This field produces lots of action. We arrived early, the short walk from the truck warmed us up and we were ready for some gobbling action. The song birds awoke first, as usual, and the coyotes howled... no turkeys. I did a couple of owl hoots... no turkeys. I did a couple of aggressive and exotic owl hoots and I got a pair of nesting owls ticked off, but we heard no turkeys. My nightmares were coming true. This was the first time in 3 years I couldn't get a bird to gobble in this field. We decided to work South towards a tractor road that led into a big open hay field. I was hoping the birds were with hens and already strutting in this field.
We slowly made our way to the dirt 2 track. As we were able to see down the lane, we were greeted with the site of a batch of jakes, all of them coming our way, towards my piece of Turkey Heaven. We quickly stepped back out of the view of the flock. Matt put up the Double Bull. That blind popped up, quick, quiet and perfect. These blinds really are worth the extra money. I set one hen decoy, and we piled into the blind. Matt set up his swivel seat and I dug out the calls. We both started to seduce the youngsters and they fired up quickly as we had hoped. The goal was to get them making noise and attract an old long beard. The jakes passed by, one after the other, I had set the hen on the far side of the blind from the tractor road so they would be looking at her when they rounded the corner. We let the little mob go by and we waited for our Tom. We waited, and waited, and after almost an hour we both started to wonder. "We could be eating breakfast right now" Matt said with a hungry look.
I hit the calls again, loud and sexy. I wanted to let the world know there was a hot lady looking for the first suitor to come calling. Within minutes, a really big jake showed up. Matt carefully got ready and as expected he made it happen when the bird turned broadside. Matt is one of the best bow shots I have ever hunted with, if he gets excited or nervous, it never shows. We raced from the blind and recovered our trophy. Every bow turkey is an accomplishment, and to take one with a friend, in less than 2 hours... I love it when a plan comes together!