I joined a hunt club in Virginia, mostly so that I would have a place to hunt with my turkey dog in the fall. I know there is a good bird population there. It was my first time hunting the club, and one of the other members was kind enough to team up with me and show me some hotspots. We heard quite a few birds gobble on the roost, but couldn't pull any our way after flydown. Around 8:30 we decided to move on to greener pastures. At the next stop, we made a couple calls and heard 2 sound off. He headed for the closer gobbler, I took the further one. I knew the bird was in a field over the top of a small hill, so I stayed as low as possible until I got even with the field, stopped calling about 200 yards before I reached the field. Once I reached the top of the hill, I peaked my head out and saw (and heard) the tom, he was about 75 yards past the woodline out in the field, gobbling, strutting, and heading my way! I got in place at the crest of the hill (on my belly) and just waited for him to come in, scratching the leaves and letting out a putt once or twice. I let him get as close as I dared (25 yards) before I let the lead fly, he was in full strut but had his neck way up high, I know he was looking for me. The whole time I was moving on him and waiting for a shot, he would let out a gobble every 2 minutes or so, one of those kamikaze birds.

I would have liked to kill my first bird in VA with my dog, but it wasn't meant to be. I still have a lot of season left, will probably get back to VA at least one more time this season, and I'm headed to the PA mountains for a few days next week, I'll probably make it to NJ and NY once or twice before May is over also. With some luck, I will have another picture or two to post up.