Pro Staff Blog

The Before School Bird by Justin Morrissey

April 30th 2009,  I took my friend Logan on a St. Croix county turkey hunt near Baldwin, WI in pursuit of a nice tom.  On the previous night, Logan received a phone call from a friend saying that there were some turkeys out were he hunts.  So, Logan and his dad got in their truck and went to take a look at the turkeys themselves.  They stayed out long enough to see them go up into the roost.  Logan immediately called me and told me the good news.  “ With the master caller and the super slayer, we should give them turkeys a rude awakening!” Logan said.  We both had school the next day, but with the opportunity given, we decided to just miss the morning classes.  I got to bed at midnight and Logan went to bed at 11:30 p.m.

“Justin? You up man?” Logan said.  He was so pumped to go out, he called to see if I was up.  Of course I was pumped too, so I had actually woke up even earlier than him.  At about 4:45 I went to pick him up and sure enough he was by the road just waiting. We were pumped up with excitement for a great day of Turkey Hunting!!!

We talked about the situation more on the way out to the landowner’s house.  We decided we would set up on a fence line that hugged right around where the turkeys were roosting in the woods.  When we got out it of the vehicle, it started sprinkling, but the air felt just right. We got all of our gear out and started the long haul.  It was a perfect morning for turkey hunting! We got out so early that we set up and sat for 10 minutes before the turkeys even gobbled once.  The spot we sat at was quite brushy, but it worked.  We realized we had a great set up and had an even better feeling than before.
I was calling for Logan and video taping also.  Logan was just the shooter, and you’ll find we both did our part.  I started calling after we heard about three gobbles.  They responded really well right off the bat.  It was really foggy out and the air was dense with moisture.  I whispered to Logan “I will work my mojo and call these dudes in.”  That is exactly what I did too!  The toms flew down from the roost and came out in the field about 100 yards away.  There were two of them with about 5 hens.  They came in at about 50 yards and didn’t give us a “smart enough” shot.  Those toms were very mature with around 12 inch beards.  As those two were walking past our range of sight in the field, we saw at least 4 other toms at about 100 yards walking through the field behind the others and checking us out.  They too had some hens with them, but weren’t as dominant as the first two.  I would call and every turkey in the section would gobble it seemed!  The toms walked along with their hens though and minded their distance.  They liked what I was throwing at them, and our set up.
Finally, another tom, by itself, stepped out of the woods into the field.  I whispered to Logan and he didn’t even see it until I told him, he was so into the other toms!  It came from about 100 yards to within about 40 yards strutting consistently and gobbling.  At about 40 yards, at least two more toms gobbled 30 yards behind us!  Toms were surrounding us!  The tom in the field would strut, gobble, then pick his head up and watch for the toms that were coming for our decoys in the woods.  So he showed off more and started picking up the pace.  He got 25 yards in front of us over a 10-minute period from first sight and I gave Logan the signal to shoot after it got past a big oak tree.  Before he shot, the toms behind us in the brush gobbled at 15 yards!  He shot and dropped the tom in the field.  It didn’t even flinch!  He jogged out there and I looked around watching the turkeys fly away from all over.

All of the day’s action happened before 7:30 a.m.; at that point Logan pulled the trigger.  He was so happy bagging his third turkey, second tom, and first turkey on that property.  He gave me a high five about 15 times I swear.  We took a bunch of pictures and tagged it.  It ended up having a 9-inch beard and about half inch spurs.  It was a nice tom and Logan was very proud.  Both of us thought it was the best turkey hunt we’ve ever been on.  From right away in the morning we knew things were going to be good and now look at the outcome!  As you can see, I did work my mojo and Logan did his job also.  I wish that everyone could experience that full morning.  I did get it on tape, but I didn’t get him shooting.  That was the only thing that didn’t work out and it really put me down.  Overall though, both of us were excited and grateful that the morning worked out the way it did.

20090506_HPIM1627 20090506_HPIM1631 20090506_HPIM1633

Kevin Paulson

Kevin Paulson is the Founder and CEO of HuntingLife.com. His passion for Hunting began at the age of 5 hunting alongside of his father. Kevin has followed his dreams through outfitting, conservation work, videography and hunting trips around the world.

Related Articles

Back to top button