Conclusion: Smallville

[Brian Lovett]

In "Decision Time," Editor Brian Lovett shares a scenario from his 20-plus years hunting turkeys. Each hinges on a critical decision. Post what choice you would have made, and then see how things actually turned out.

Conclusion: Smallville

Any time I can hunt a "kill spot" -- a setup where the gobbler can't realistically see the source of calling until he's in range -- I do it. So I backed 30 steps down the hill, found a passable box elder tree, yelped hard on my glass call and hoped for the best.

The gobblers acted like champs, hammering all the way to the call. As I'd feared, they stuck to the woods, but it didn't matter. I had about a 2-foot window and one-second opportunity for a shot, and thankfully, I smacked the trailing longbeard with a well-placed load of No. 6s. He fell five steps from the property boundary.

Smiling at my good fortune, I hoisted the 3-year-old gobbler over my shoulder and headed toward the truck, which was actually only 100 steps away. I guess that's another advantage of hunting small properties.

What decision did you make?

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