What a difference a nice day makes. Fall turkey opening day yesterday (15 SEP) in MI was a beautiful, perfect day (photo 1). Sunny, 60 deg. at sunrise, situated on a “known” turkey highway. What could go wrong--except no turkeys? I saw deer (too far to photo), crows were making their usual racket (even though I had popped a few last Sat. at this very location), and had I been a goose hunter (season is now open) I could have gotten two of three, as they took off from the lake (photos 2, 3) and flew directly overhead at about 40 feet. However, not a gobbler to be seen--at least I found some evidence of turkey activity to show for the day (photo 4). Oh well…
Opening day +1 (today) was different. Set up (photo 5) at the usual early hour before sunrise and settled in, making “happy” turkey sounds with my pot caller and scanning a 180 degree field of fire. Nothing. 7:30, 8:00, 8:30, sunny and warm. But wait…off to the extreme right, about 150 yards to the west, I saw three come from the wood line and stop to feed at the NW corner of the blueberry field (photo 6). OK, more happy sounds. With that, their heads shot straight up and looked my direction toward the four decoys. Then back to feeding. In another minute, 8 more showed up; a mixture of jakes and hens led by three good-sized jakes. All eleven meandered their way toward me (photos 7, 8, 9) which gave me the chance to take a few photos. At about 40 yards, I had to put the camera down and get into my chair slouch with the shotgun. The three jakes came to my side of the decoys at 20 yards and circled the two decoys until one jake broke away from the cluster and was clear of the hens behind him and bang! (photo 10) The rest took off or ran toward their start point. He weighed just under 18 pounds with a six-inch beard and ¾ inch spurs (photo 11) and now resides in a very cold place in our garage, waiting for an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner. I always open up the crop to see what they have been eating (last photo) and this one had been enjoying blueberries--one reason why this farmer/landowner is fond of turkey hunters.
I think I might return to this place in a few days or to another blueberry field belonging to this farmer. With licenses only $6 (at my “advanced age”), what a deal! (Note: MI fall turkey is such that you may purchase as many “leftover” licenses as you wish, using one per day, max.). So, with crow season ending on 30 SEP, I think I’ll switch back to the crow mode, as our turkey season lasts until 14 NOV. Good hunting y’all!
