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Maybe We Should Have Slept In

After our just-miss morning hunt, Paul Smutz and I kept at it in hopes of
tagging a Michigan gobbler. Trouble was, the gobblers were done gobbling.

“Keep at it,” I told myself. “You’ll have a hunt yet.”

Still, after several hours of silence — except for the abundant mosquito
crop — I wasn’t convinced.

Maybe that’s why I was surprised when a bird cut off my calling as we eased
along a pine plantation. After gobble No. 2, however, I snapped back to
reality and grabbed a tree. The turkey was 100 yards away and seemed pretty
hot.

Within seconds, a hen appeared in front of us, followed by two strutters. I
yelped, and all the birds responded. In fact, the hen made a bee line for
our decoys, dragging the gobblers behind her.

When the longbeards finally stopped and separated at 25 steps, I centered
the bright dot of my Trijicon Reflex sight on the wattles of the right-hand bird and finished the deal. It was 5 p.m.

It had been a great afternoon hunt. In fact, if we’d had a crystal ball, we
might not even have ventured out until 3 p.m. Or so.

Nah.

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