I skipped Opening day and had problems getting to my desired location on Tuesday morning when I walked through a swale that I thought was dry (it has been very dry for a couple weeks and I had walked through a part of it the afternoon prior). Well, the part I picked in the dark was pock-marked and sloppy due to the cattle and I got mired in the muck and came close to falling numerous times while pulling each foot - with boot - from the mud. Not fun!

The turkeys haven't been hanging around the land I have access to for the last couple years - at least not around turkey season - and I hadn't seen much during my scouting trips or conversations with the landowner to convince me that this season would be different. So I sat at the same tree where I killed a nice gobbler a few years ago.

About 6:10am, I was getting ready to cluck a bit when a gobble rang out from behind me . . . UP the hill, ACROSS the stream and on property owned by a hunt club -- DARN IT! He gobbled at my calls though and then a real hen on my side added to the allure. He started coming my way, but I knew he'd stop at the creek -- I've only been able to call one or two across it over the years. The hen left before he got there, but he kept coming . . . and then I heard him plop down on MY side! I couldn't tell where he landed though and a good part of my vision is obscured by a giant rhododendron bush that gives me excellent cover. He gobbled again about 30 yards in front of me, but I couldn't see a thing. He started spitting and drumming along with his gobbling and after a few minutes of this, I saw parts of him strutting to my left - but no shot. Eventually he started to my right and came out of the obstructions and I was able to get a clear shot at about 20 yards. He dropped like a rock and never even flopped - just like the one I shot from this tree a few years earlier! I checked my watch and saw that I was done by 6:45am!