Top_Heavy's World

I work really hard to have permission to great properties for everything I hunt. I don't like to "just go", I expect to see birds, deer or animals of desire, when I take the time to go huting. I spend extra hours with landowner relations, planting food plots, scouting, setting stands, basically "doing the work" as Tred Barta puts it. By doing the work I end up with more enjoyable experiences when I do go out. This morning was the results of my hard work.
Yesterday I was the caller for a friend on his small timber plot and the uncooperative birds and nonstop down pours made the morning less than perfect, but today I got a morning to hunt for me. The alarm at 3:45 was less than fun, but once I was up it only took a couple of minutes to get going. I was on the road by 4:10 and at the HY-VEE by 5:50. The normal routine is to stop and get a coffee at the last stop before the farm I hunt. I drank 1/2 of the 20oz cup of heaven and got out of the truck at 6:05. Camo slid on, boots changed and vest on, gun loaded, head net slid on, hat on top... I left the truck about 6:12. I walked 200 yards and owl hooted... nothing. A gobble sounded way up river from me as I stood there, too far to have heard my locator... another sounded way west of me, also too far to go after. I moved 50 yards north and hooted again. Gobbles on the bluff as expected, darn, that means I have to cross 2 little creeks and walk about 400 yards. I set up against a locust tree on the edge of the field above th bluff and started to call. Gobbles coming my way were wonderful and soon I could hear drumming. Movemet caught my eyes as 5 toms walked by about 30 yards away. The way they were acting was strange, sort of like they were being pushed. I held off a few seconds and 2 monster toms in full strut moved into sight. 2 hens followed the first 5 toms past my location and the pair of dominant birds moved to about 18 yards. The movement of my shotgun caught their attention but it was too late. My prize lay flopping in the field. I put 2 slate calls in my pocket and I walked to my bird. As I stood over my bird, I could see 2 more longbeards about 80 yards away strutting under the oak trees the last 7 toms had come from. I love this property! I pulled my phone from my pocket. It was now 6:45. I called Dave Reisner and left him a message. "Good morning David, listen to this..." I held the phone out into the air for a couple of seconds, absolute silence, "Hear that? That is the sound a dead turkey makes! You should have been here!" and I hung up the phone. Dave passed on a morning with me for an afternoon with John... I hope that turns out to be a good plan for him. We would have had some great video! I was back at the truck at 7:01, with 1/2 a cup of still warm coffee!
Hunts like this are the norm when the work is done well ahead of time. I hope everyone has a great spring, I sure am.