By Lawrence Jordan
I did not start turkey hunting until I was in college, and quickly realized that shooting a turkey is not as easy as it appears to be on TV. These giant birds have the best hearing and clearest eyesight out of almost any game animal in the area and are spooked if every action is not done perfectly. Turkey season is usually in April when the Tom Turkeys (male) begin to seek out the hens (female) for mating season. Hunters can use calls and decoys to imitate a hen and hope to catch a Tom’s attention. The first sign of hope is to hear a gobble in the distance after sounding a call. As the distant gobbling draws closer, the hunter’s heart starts pounding and it feels as if the second hand on a clock is barely moving.
Dawson Jordan and I went with Ryan Stephens for youth day in Dillon at a place where we had seen turkeys many times before. It was a sunny, and particularly warm morning for March, and the mosquitoes were relentless. Our insect repellant helped, but the tiny devils were constantly buzzing in our ears.
The sun rose to a point that we could make out some shapes and I began to call for a turkey. Little time had passed before I heard a gobble in the distance. After calling back and forth, the great Tom fell silent and we sat, waiting for another sign of a turkey. All of the sudden, Ryan tapped me and pointed towards the tree line. There, we saw the greatest turkey of all time, strutting by the edge of the woods with his tail fanned and his feathers puffed out, trying to show off in front of our hen decoy. He stood at the edge of the trees for what seemed like an eternity and refused to answer when we called to him. I was getting frustrated because I thought I was doing a bad job at calling. The sun rose higher in the sky and we realized that the great turkey was actually a stump. Ryan, Dawson, and I had a good laugh at ourselves and remained seated at the tree until it was time to leave for church. We didn’t manage to bag a turkey at this season’s youth day but on this particular morning, we sat by the base of the same tree where I witnessed, what will probably remain, the most astounding hunting story of my life.
Ryan and I walked into the field on a Saturday morning for youth day towards the end of March, 2014 and hunkered down against a tree to await the turkey. The rain was pouring down and I had my calls in a Ziploc® bag, trying to keep them dry. The sky was soon light enough to be able to see clearly, and I tried to use my calls, but they were already wet and the pitch was way off. Even though we couldn’t call, two Toms and a hen walked out of the woods through the wheat towards our decoys. We sat so still that my heart seemed to be too loud as the birds approached. They stopped walking before coming into shooting range and gobbled at us several times. We couldn’t respond with our wet calls, and the turkeys began to suspect a trap. Ryan, in his attempt to save the hunt, tried to call with his mouth, and sent the turkeys running to the other side of the field until they looked like specs in the distance. I had lost all hope of shooting one of these turkeys but Ryan had an idea.
Carefully, Ryan crawled out to the decoys, and picked the largest decoy out of the mud. Crawling on his hands and knees, in the mud and pouring rain, carrying a shotgun, while remaining concealed behind a decoy, he slowly but surely worked his way across the field towards the flock of turkeys. I watched from a distance as I relaxed by the tree as the decoy moved farther and farther away. Ryan would stop occasionally to rest or to pull a boot out of the mud, and then continued towards the flock. I did not expect this idea to work and might have taken a nap while he crawled across the field.
Looking back at the field, I realized that he was making progress and that he might actually be able to reach the turkeys after all. Turkeys are aggressive birds and are always up for a fight when an unexpected male tries to enter a flock.
Two of the turkeys accepted the challenge and charged the decoy.
Ryan sat behind the decoy and waited for the two turkeys to come closer. From the distanced, I saw the decoy fall, Ryan stood up and pointed his shotgun, the turkey beat his wings and fell backwards. He had crawled so far that several seconds had passed before I heard the gunshot. I jumped to my feet and rushed to see the turkey that Ryan had just shot, to find him laying exhausted in the mud beside the decoy, about 20 yards from where the turkey was lying. We took a few quick pictures and drove for a hot breakfast to celebrate a wild morning.
Today’s hunt did not unfold as planned but we were able to improvise and think of another plan that would turn out to be successful. I learned that, even when it looks like the odds are against you, there is always a way to win the day. You just have to think outside the box.
