I get to my spot this morning just as the sky is turning grey. I park the truck, grab the gear and gun, and start walking. Halfway to the spot I am heading two toms sound off.

I pick a spot I am pretty sure the birds will come to as there is a hidden field just below this spot. Birds still gobbling, I set up.

The spot I set up is a staging area we get equipment out and off trailers to work on the property. Bout as big as a double wide. I slink inside the tree line making sure I have front cover and rear cover to blend in. I take off my turkey vest and put on my ghillie top and head cover. Bent over some limbs out of the way and broke a few small ones off. Left enough to pick shooting lanes/holes and still have front cover.

Birds STILL gobbling and getting closer. There is that certain gobble that the bird gives when you know they are committed. One of the birds gave that gobble and my heart started racing and I could not catch my breath.

He kept getting closer and louder. The spot I was in was about 8 ft higher than the dirt road I was on. I was about 10 yards off the dirt road.

From his first commitment gobble I went silent. Birds KNOW where you are. They have GPS and you don't have to call anymore when they are close.

So my choice was to set up in the staging area. The zig.

Well, the bird's choice was to stay in the middle of the dirt road and gobble right past me. If you have ever been in super close when a bird gobbles, you hear glunks in between each staccato. I could not see him but his gobbles shook my eyeballs. The zag.

I consider this a fantastic hunt and one that will go in the books as a lesson to set up where you can see both the zig and the zag.

Turkey hunting can be so frustrating but it is nothing short of the most exciting hunting i think exists.

There is always tomorrow!!!

I learn way more from my mistakes than from my successes!

I was there with you this morning, through your words, what a great story!!

Haha!! Been there done that! Great story!
I’d roosted birds in Montana with each group on private ground and me in the middle. Only issue, like you, I set way lower than I could see. Birds behind me so close I could hear them breathing, but couldn’t see them to save my life without trying to peak over the edge and we know what that would’ve done! So I just sat there listening until they moved on off. Thanks for the memory.
That’s the cool thing about hunting, someone somewhere has either had the experience or most likely will experience it if they stick with it long enough. I felt that story!!

Amen to that Clay

Some of my most exciting and memorable hunts I did not harvest a bird. Thanks for sharing.

Love having turkeys so close that you can hear them hiss.

The sound when they get close is almost like a vibration to me. Great story.

Never thought of it that way but you are right. It is almost subsonic in how it sounds.