HuntingNet.com Forums - Success in the turkey woods on day 2

After hunting yesterday, the first day in Maryland, I thought I was snake bitten! After scouting for the last few months and not seeing anyone on the public ground that I was going to hunt, I set out to my favorite spot and made sure I was the first to arrive (parked at 4:20 AM and got to where I would listen for gobbles at 5:00 AM). With daylight coming on and no gobbles heard, I set up in the area I was at, having seen gobblers traveling through this area during my scouting trips. I called fairly conservatively during the morning and didn't hear any answers (not even from a hen). What I did hear early was 3 shots up over the ridge from me followed by a delayed 4th shot (how do you get 4 shots at a turkey?). A bit later I heard another distant shot. An hour later, a shot rang out about 200 yards to my right and after another hour I heard a blast directly behind me about 100 yards. Not only was I beginning to think that my secret place wasn't much of a secret, but I was also wandering if I sounded more like an elk than a turkey. My first day ended with 2 more hours of intermittent calling followed by silence.

Determined to stick with it, I went to the same area this morning and was set up at 5:20 AM with just a hen decoy about 10 yards to my left on the ridge. I got 4 calls ready determined to vary between the calls a bit more agressive than yesterday to convince something to come in . When I figured it was light enough for the turkey to be on the ground, I left out some yelps with my box call. After a few minutes, the hit my push button call which really echoed through the valley. A while later, I yelped and clucked with my mouth call followed shortly by clucking,purring, and yelping on my Kaiser glass call. After the last set of calls, I heard something walking to my left. First I thought another hunter was coming, then I thought maybe a deer. The noise kept getting closer so I quickly spun in that direction and raised the gun. To my surprise a hen came around a downed tree and walked right up and stood beside my decoy. The best part was I could hear move footsteps coming behind her. Trying not to have her bust me from 10 yards, I tried to focus on the downed tree and then I saw it. The white head came around the tree and stopped and looked at me. I could see a short beard and he was 25 yards away. Since I've only been doing this for 3 years counting this year, I took the shot before he decided to bust me. He did back flips down over the ridge about 30 yards and then stopped. He was a 16 pound jake, but this is the first one I've called in and killed by myself. Wow, what a feeling!

I'll be back out after #2 tomorrow!!