Opening Day Success

The opening day of Spring Turkey season in Kentucky turned out to be another exciting hunt for me.  This has been a great year, 2 hunts-2 dead longbeards (1 in Illinois, 1 in Kentucky).  The day started with a couple of longbeards gobbling on the roost.  They were on both sides of me and each was about 200-300 yards away.  I had scouted the area and knew where the birds should be that morning.  I set the blind up in a pasture field and set out my Peep-n-Tom decoy.  I called very softly with my Old Growth Spur.  The birds would answer back from the roost.  I decided to wait for them to fly down before calling any more.  I thought I was going to be dealing with some tight lipped birds, but one fired up down in the woods about 150 yards away.  He was on the ground.  I pulled out my Aluminum Magnum to let him know that I was there.  As soon as I played the call, I was cut off on both sides by gobbling.  I had the one down in the woods and 2 more in the pasture field to my right.  I called a few more series, they responded each time, then I decided to shut up and let them find me.  After 10-15 minutes, I see 3 jakes and 1 longbeard walking along the fence line.  I also have a hen pop out of the woods about 90 yards in front of me.  Another longbeard (the one that was hammering in the woods) came out and joined the other longbeard. 

The hen started to feed towards me and the other birds saw her and started my way.  The 2 longbeards came up over a rise and spotted my decoys.  They started to come in at a fast walk.  These birds were curious, but did not appear to want a fight.  They walked around him a few times.  The bird that was gobbling in the woods started to strut around the decoy.  Once he came out of his strut, I put him down for good.  He was 19 pounds, 10 inch beard, and 5/8 inch spurs.  This was a great start to the year.