“YOUR ADVENTURES” with Edwin P. Shirts of Mr. Wingbone’s Calls
October 19, 2014 started out like any other day for me, that I was going to go hunting on. But, for my nephew Lucas it was the very first time he would get a chance to go hunting in his life. He spent the night at my house the night before and we got to practice a little turkey calling before hitting the sack. “Tomorrow comes early”, I told him. The next morning I woke up a little after 4 am, sunrise was around 6:20 am. I grabbed a turkey call and walked to the couch where Lucas was sleeping, and did some clucks and purrs. His eyes opened and he immediately had a smile on his face. He was up and getting ready to go hunting. Full of questions, I was eager to help him understand the type of hunting fall turkey can be. I explained to him that the only thing on the turkeys mind is food, and that the spring time is the time they are in love.
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It was still plenty dark when we got to our setup. I went the night before and set up my Double Bull ground blind and blended it in under this pine tree next to an old windmill in between two fields. They were picked and one was beans and the other corn. We faced a little strip of timber to the west, so the sun would be at our backs in the morning. I took some brances off of another pine nearby and brushed in the blind enough to break up the outline. I also added a couple of oak branches to mix up the color, and it seemed to do the trick. We set up all 7 of our Delta decoys by H.S Strut. I have always used those decoys and I just like them. I had a few feeder hens, and a few upright(old style and new). I also had the newest decoy (Suzie Snood) in the mix. Daylight was upon us and Lucas was still smiling and full of questions. He asked me if it was time to start calling and I reassured him that it was close.
In a few minutes I started to do some tree yelps, then I was quiet for a few minutes. I was using my double glass call that I made in my shop(Mr. Wingbone’s Calls), and it was sounding great on this quiet fall morning. I then proceeded to imitate somewhere around 5 fly down cackles, as I had 7 decoys spread out in the beans in front of us. Shortly after that I did an assembly yelp a couple of times. Lucas was very inquisitive as to what I was doing and I whispered to him what and why I was calling like I was. He asked me if he could do a little calling with the cedar pot call I made him. I said, by all means, I would like it if he called. He is a beginner, and my thoughts were that he would sound like a young turkey learning how to yelp and such. He was squeaking and popping from time to time. He would let out some yelps every now and then that would sound really good. I cut him off one time to try and pretend the boss hen was keeping the flock in line. When Lucas started to squeak and pop again, we heard a half hearted gobble. I think it was a newborn jake trying to learn how to gobble. Then we heard some kee kee’s and yelps. We both looked at each other and smiled.
Excitement, was the mood that now filled the ground blind. I grabbed my double glass walnut pot call and started to kee kee back with some yelps. After about 20 minutes, she popped up on the grass berm out in front of us and surveyed the situation. She stood there for about five minutes and my hunting partner could not quit watching every move she would make. It looked like she was going to leave so I grabbed the call and gave her a few clucks and purrs. That was all it took and she came running in to the decoys.
She got to about 20 yds, and I already had My Mossberg .500(Mossy Oak) shotgun up to my shoulder and sighted on her neck. She stopped and stretched her neck and I slowly squeezed the trigger to send a hot load of 6’s her way. She folded up like a napkin, and laid there on her back kicking her feet and Lucas was kind of shouting with glee. He wanted to run out there and I told him to wait a minute and let’s call a second or two because we had heard other turkeys talking. I wanted to see if there might be another one to come in. In Iowa you are allowed two tags in the fall season, consecutively. After a minute or two, we got out of the blind and checked out or bounty. Lucas, told me that now he definitely wanted to go again. I told him that he could hunt with me anytime. Maybe next time, he will be behind the trigger.The morning for Lucas started out with clucks and purrs, and the hens morning ended with a few clucks and purrs. Ironic, but bliss.
