April 25th, 2018
On Wednesday, April 25th I was able to slip away from work for opening day of Iowa’s 3rd turkey season. I was only going to be able to hunt for a couple of hours in the morning - but at least I was hunting again. Leaving the truck at 5:05 am I started the ¾ mile hike back into this spot I had scouted earlier in April. Right before first light a bird sounded off to my west, “Time to cut the distance” I thought to myself as I eased through a wooded drainage. It was now approaching 6:00 am and legal shooting light was upon me. I’m going to guess that I was about 150 yards from this bird when I made my first set up and being so close to him and the timber I didn’t even bother to set any decoys out. Shortly thereafter I heard him fly down to the east. I had only made a few clucks, purrs, and yelps while he was on the limb…just enough to let him know that I was there and then went quiet. After waiting over 40 minutes in silence, both from him and me, I pulled out and started to make my way back towards the truck. Remembering an open spot I liked on the walk in, I was going to stop and spend more time at this hay field on the way back. By this time it was crowding 9:00 am and I hadn’t relieved myself all morning. Now before I go any further, I HAD heard two gobbles back to the south out in part of this hay field. However both of these gobbles seemed more than 400 yards away. Besides, Mother Nature was calling and I was going to answer. Just about the time I was finishing answer the call, a gobbler broke the top of the hay field ridge at 125 yards. Spitting and drumming – gobbling only sporadically – he basked in the morning sunshine. I managed to button myself back up but it was too late. At about 100 yards the bird knew something was up and I wasn’t close enough to cover in order make a move. I let the tom ease on off as I shook my head and smiled. (7.3 miles)