We are back at the cotton field for the 2020 turkey season for another memory we won’t forget. If you haven’t got a chance to read our last post “When Giving Up Pays Off”, which is another turkey hunting story from the same field, you will want to read that one first.
So, it’s April 10, 2020, I’m just trying to get through the workday until I can finally get home, load up the truck, and start making the four- and half-hour ride to Georgia from Charlotte, North Carolina. Luckily, I was able to get off work early that day and got to leave around one o’clock in the afternoon. I would be making the trip with my girlfriend Kelsie, and our two dogs, Sledge and Taco. We would be meeting my mom and dad at camp, after they made their own five and half hour ride from Orlando, Florida. This is the first time Kelsie and I have been able to make it up, during turkey season, since the Covid-19 pandemic has hit.
We finally make it to camp around five-thirty that afternoon, and we quickly drop the dogs and our bags off, grab the pop-up blind, and head towards the cotton field. We wouldn’t be chasing any birds that evening but wanted the blind to be set up, so we didn’t have to fool with it in the dark of morning, making unnecessary noise. I set up the blind on the top of a hill that fell in between two draws. The plan was to put the decoys out at the top of the hill and hope that the gobblers would come from the bottom and move up the hill towards us and the decoys. Kelsie and my dad would be in the blind and I would be set up just behind them and to their back right in my turkey chair doing the calling. The hope was that the birds would come out on our left, and my calling would bring them right to the decoys.
Satisfied with the setup, Kelsie and I headed into town to get some food from the local Mexican restaurant. We got back to camp about an hour before mom and dad finally arrived, which gave me time to make sure all my turkey gear and shotguns were in order and ready to go the next morning, while Kelsie played with the dogs on the porch. The sound of both dogs barking told me my parents had just pulled in the driveway. After helping them unload the truck, we spent the next hour catching up, drinking some beers, and talking about our plan for the morning hunt, before heading to bed.
The alarm went off around five-thirty, I got Kelsie and my dad up and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. We all got dressed and threw our turkey vests, guns, and decoys in the truck. After about a twenty-minute drive across town, we finally arrived at the cotton field. It wasn’t completely dark, but I didn’t need a headlight to see what I was doing. I parked the truck and grabbed the bag of decoys, handed Kelsie my chair to carry and we headed off towards the blind. It was probably a good four-hundred-yard walk from the truck to the blind, but we lost sight of the truck after we went over the first hill.
I told dad and Kelsie to go ahead and get situated in the blind while I put the decoys out about twenty yards in front of the blind. I walked over to where I was going to set up my chair, got it ready to go, leaned my gun up against a small tree within arm’s reach. I was about to sit down when I realized I didn’t have a water bottle, so I walked over to the blind to ask dad for one, leaving my gun by the chair. I was in the process of grabbing the water from Kelsie when I hear dad whisper “don’t move there is a bird in the field”.
Luckily the turkey was about a hundred yards away down the hill and I had the blind between me and the bird. So, I eased back over to my chair, and slowly sat down. At this point, we have no idea if it is a hen or a gobbler, but dad was looking through the binoculars, and I could hear him whisper he thought it was a hen. I am finally able to get my call out and scratch out a yelp call. When she didn’t respond with a gobble, or start strutting, we knew she was a hen. Well, I decided to play around with her a little bit and just see if I could bring her in close to the decoys. After a little bit of calling and playing around with her, she gets about forty or so yards in front of the blind.
Now I need to mention here that when the hen starts to walk across in front of us, I lose sight of her when she crosses in front of the blind because of where I am sitting. Well, she finally gets back to where I can see her, she is going over the hill and disappears. As we all sit there wondering if this would be the only bird of the morning, I let out another yelp call, and not only does a bird gobble back but one comes running from the tree line out to our left. He runs to the bottom of the hill we are sitting on. At this point, we have no idea if this is the bird that gobbled or not, so dad is looking through his binoculars to see what it is. He looks back and says he thinks it’s another hen.
Well, it’s time to figure out what it is! I scratch out a loud yelp trying to get the birds’ attention focused on the decoys. The bird breaks instantly into a strut and lets out that all telling gobble to let everyone know just who he is. Jackpot! Just what we were looking for, now for the difficult part getting him to come in range. We go back and forth between me calling and him answering till he finally catches a glimpse of the decoys and starts to walk in a full strut up the hill. I could see him coming from my position behind the blind as I let out a couple of aggressive fighting purrs. Once he got within about 40 yards of the blind, he paused for a moment just looking at the decoys paying no mind to the big random square ground blind at the edge of the field.
I could see dad’s hand motioning through an opening in the ground blind to stop calling. So, I put the call down and grabbed my shotgun. I had no intention of being the one to shoot the bird, but I would be there as back up just in case. At this point, the bird started to walk at an angle up the hill towards the decoys, which put him out of site to me behind the ground blind. I took this opportunity to raise my gun and prop it on my knee. It was Kelsie and my dad’s show now, and I was out of the fight.
As the bird made its way towards the decoys Kelsie stuck my Remington 870, with a camo vinyl wrap out of one of the openings in the blind to try and get the shot. Dad was asking her if she was on the bird, but the way she was having to hold the shotgun did not give her the best shot, so she told him she needed to move it to a different opening. As quietly as they could they moved the shotgun to the front center opening. The whole time this is going on I’m sitting there wondering why I haven’t heard a shot yet as I can’t see anything going on. Then I heard my dad whisper to me “back her up”. Even though I couldn’t see the bird I shouldered my shotgun ready to shoot.
Finally, the bird steps out just to the left of the decoys and into my vision. I put the bead on the bird ready to give him a second blast if necessary. I sat there whispering to myself “shoot guys shoot”. The bird standing in full strut, I knew dad was telling her to wait for him to drop his fan so the pellets wouldn’t ruin the bird’s fan. The bird had only dropped its fan for maybe a second when. BAM! Perfect shot. The bird hit the ground flopping. Dad was yelling at me to go get him, which I was in the process of doing, but my chair wasn’t that easy to get out of. Finally, able to flounder my way out I ran, to the bird shotgun in hand. Picking up the bird, I gave his neck a quick twist to finish the job. I was ecstatic, and in my best Michael Waddell, I scream “You can’t stop the flop baby”. I couldn’t contain my excitement and was grinning ear to ear.
We traded hugs, and handshakes with each other, laughing and smiling the whole time.After taking some photos of Kelsie and her turkey, we collected our decoys, blind, and gear and headed back to the lodge to share a few celebratory cold beers, and cook up some fried turkey bites. It’s always special to be there to witness someone harvest their first turkey, and for me to be the one that called it in for them, just makes it mean so much more.
Congratulations Kelsie!
Written By Rick Stewart
Racks Or Tails Outdoors 