Help from above?

 Turkey season 2023 began with my youngest son hunting for the first time during the Illinois youth hunt, with big brother booked up with fishing team duties, Brec and I took advantage of decent early spring weather to get out.  Brec had gone through the struggles of a young outdoorsman, he was not sure if he was ready to take a life and harvest a bird and we made sure he understood there was no pressure.  We had lost his grandfather (my father-in-law and second dad Jesse) a couple months prior and my renewed appreciation for time spent with family led me to be thrilled just to be in the woods with Brec.  I made sure he knew if the time came and he decided to shoot it was ok, if he decided not to shoot that was perfectly ok as well.  We made a late morning set up on an oak flat at the top of a ridge after hearing one distant gobble.  Close to 20 minutes later, Brec was ready to move around so he went out to grab the decoy while calling with his push-button yelper.  As I packed my ridiculous amount of turkey hunting accessories into my vest, I looked up to see Brec in a hurried "sneak" back to me with a crazy look on his face.  He then whispered, "I heard a hen."

The dad in me was like that is awesome that he thinks he heard a hen and is excited about it, the turkey hunter in me processed it quickly, Brec has never heard a live hen in the woods, chances that he recognized a real hen are slim to none, just as I was about to joke with him about hearing a hen...a hen yelped just over the ridge at 60 yards!  A quick scramble and Brec was back on the tree with me and I hit a series of quiet yelps, answered quickly by a raspy hen, which I promptly cut off with some light cutting...I was just about to whisper to Brec that I was gonna make this hen mad when a loud gobble surprised both of us from 75 yards away just over the rise!  The look on Brec's face was worth the price of admission!  I worked the hens hoping they would tow the gobbler into range and they popped out and closed to within 7 yards of us!  They didn't see the hen they were hearing so they crossed the fence and went into a field, ran across the field and then all the way back to us and back within 10 yards.  They eased back over the rise and the gobbler gobbled one more time headed away from us.  That was the extent of our action for the youth season, but what Brec said after the birds walked off was perfect...he looked up at me and said "That was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen!"

Side kick

Fast forward to the first season in Illinois.  My dad and I both with turkey tags.  We started in a blind in a hay field where I had heard birds a week prior, the morning opened with a group of birds gobbling to my blind opening, so we decided we were close enough and set up.  A few light series of yelps and a bunch of gobbling later, birds flew down in the field.  Unfortunately for us, it was a group of 3 jakes and they did it right, coming all the way to the decoy, jumping on the decoy, jumping on a live hen, and fighting each other at 15 yards for 45 minutes.  There were other birds hanging in the distance as well, but unfortunately, a mature bird never showed. (insert video).  We spent the next five mornings telling stories and bouncing from timber stand to timber stand, and spending father and son time together.  We called some hens and more jakes into range but never found a gobbler.

Old man and older man

Jakes pretending to be Toms!

Third season was my wife's turn.  I was very excited for this hunt, as two days prior I was able to locate a bird that was alone and fired up and in a great place for us to set up.  The hunt was anti-climatic as the bird gobbled briefly on the roost and then went the complete opposite way that we had planned.  The rest of the day was uneventful and the "turkey doldrums" were setting in.

The boss

I was up again with one last tag for 4th season Illinois and despite near-perfect weather for the first two days and full days of hunting, I did not even hear a turkey.  On the third day I hunted, I finally found a farm where I could hear a turkey but unfortunately, they were nowhere near a spot I had permission to hunt.  With three days left, I resigned myself to the high likelihood that I was going to have the first year that I did not call a turkey to the gun in over 20 years.  I was not happy about it but I was thankful for the time spent with family during the season.  The next two days I shut my alarm off and went back to sleep without stepping foot in the woods.

May 3, 2023, was my last day to hunt.  The prior evening, I talked it over with my youngest son and asked if he thought I should go to the north farm or the south farm and he confidently told me to head south.  I asked him for some good luck, and he called me to his bed, grabbed my face with both hands and whispered "You will have Grandpa Jesse's spirit with you tomorrow!"

The following morning while rummaging through my hunting room, something caught my eye.  It was not my lucky hat, but a hat from my late father-in-law.  I put the hat one, reminisced for a minute and headed out the door.

The Hunt

I walked into a perfect pre-dawn, clear skies, the eastern horizon just starting to glow, winter wheat along the laneway lightly blowing in the slight breezes.  The air smelled like spring, and as I walked in silence I thought about that hat, how different it felt on my head, how much I missed the previous owner, and the words of my son the night before.  Alone in the awakening darkness, I said out loud "I could really use some help here, I can't buy a bird!"  I didn't have much hope as by this point of my journey I would typically be able to hear a bird if there was one around, but I continued on to the end of the lane, and started across the freshly worked "back field."  

As I made my way along the edge of the planted field an owl sounded off in the distance, and a gobbler answered!  Immediately I am back into turkey mode, running scenarios as I close the distance to where I thought he might be.  The second time he gobbled he was MUCH closer than what I had originally thought.  I moved using the thick fenceline as cover as he gobbled on the roost two more times and then did the unthinkable!  It was still very dark, but the next time he gobbled he was on the ground.  I had played this game before, and I knew I was at a disadvantage, the bird was in open timber on ground I did not have permission to access, and there were two fences between us with extremely thick honeysuckle bush on the fencelines.  He gobbled a second time on the ground and sounded farther away so I hit him with a call as I set a lone hen decoy in the field, he answered immediately and I guessed him less than 100 yards!  

I quickly eased up the fence line and dropped into the brush against a tree as he gobbled at 75 yards.  I was buried in the greenery, with my left shoulder (lefty) pointing at the fence line facing down the field edge where I knew there was a deer trail that he may use to access the field, as I pressed my cheek on the gun stock to see my sight picture I realized I had a large bush blocking my view of the field with the exception of one hole the size of a softball.  I decided to quickly trim a lane but as I started to move, I was interrupted by another gobble....I had no choice but to stay put with the bush in the way.  I hit a quiet series of yelps and he cutt me off on the third note.  He spent the next several minutes walking back and forth from about 75 yards to 100 yards and gobbling every once in a while.  I turned my head and called away from him in an attempt to sound like a hen walking away across the field.  He did not answer, and my heart sank,...did I call too loud, did he see me turn...is he still there; all thoughts going through my head.  I sat in silence listening for footsteps or drumming or any other clue, and he gobbled from less than 50 yards!  I did not make another sound, just buried myself on the gun and waited.  What seemed like 20 minutes passed and I heard a "twang" on the fence to my left and I knew it had to be him crossing the fence.  I could hear my heart beating and had to force myself to calm my breathing down, as I heard him spit and drum...he had crossed both fences and was in the field edge nearly on top of me, but I couldn't see him at all due to that bush.  I decided just to focus the gun in the hole in the bush and as I did, I saw movement, and then a red white and blue head, as he popped out in full strut at 15 yards!  I took a breath and pulled the trigger.  The bird dropped in his tracks and I was completely overwhelmed with emotions, I thought to myself there is no way that just happened.  I was shaking and crying and unable to get up, so I just stayed against the tree and thanked God and my father-in-law...for help from above.

The result of help from above!