by Lee Powell
After baseball practice, I picked Thomas up to go feed one of our friends’ dogs while they were out of town, and then to go scout for turkeys at Thomas’s field in Edgecomb. Since we were leaving from a place different from our houses in the City of Wilson, were inclined to take a new route on a road I had never been on before. At this time the late afternoon, the sun was setting behind us, with storm clouds casting partial shadows on the newly hydrated fields on either side of the unfamiliar backroad were travelling on. It was a beautiful sight.
We arrived at Thomas’s field that resided in rural Edgecomb County, on the outskirts of Pinetops. It is a large, tree-enclosed field, essentially shaped like a square, with a square cut out on the right side of the field, and another square cut out that makes up the back right corner, which is known simply as “the back." The back juts into the woods behind the field, so the back of the back is farther back than the back of the main field. The lay of the land is inconsistent, with a large rise in the middle, and a smaller rise that serves as a visual boundary between the main field and the back. An irrigation ditch curves through the main field. The back left is very low and can only be seen once the hunter walks far enough up the middle rise to see over it. A tall person would see the back left before a short person would. The cut out in the middle of the right side of the main field is consistently lower than any other part of the main field, therefore known as “the low field." A three foot drop off separates the low field from the main field. The drop off is not very steep, but a person kneeling at the bottom of the drop off would not be able to see a person laying down at the top of the drop off. There is also a gradual yet brief decline in elevation in the middle of the low field.
Thomas and I arrived in the early evening in an attempt to determine where the turkeys were roosting during the night. We were doing this so we wouldn’t have to look for them the next morning when we planned on hunting them. As we walked up the middle rise, and as soon as our eyes were able to see the woods line from the back left corner to the corner to the point where the field opens up to the back, we saw a rafter of turkeys congregating about halfway between the two corners, and they were very close to where the ditch ran into the woods. Thomas and I crouched down and slowly backed down until we could stand up while still being below the rise so this way the turkeys couldn’t see us. Then we made our way to the left woods line and walked up it until we could comfortably watch the turkeys without them seeing us. As the evening passed, the hens moved into the woods, and a few minutes later, the Toms followed. Thomas and I walked back to the truck knowing that we would set up where the ditch meets the woods, giving us the best chance of killing one of the Toms when they came into the field that morning.
We left Wilson the next morning at 5:50, we thought that we had ample time to the field and set up. However, we realized that we had been given the wrong sunrise time, meaning that the turkeys would wake up earlier than we thought. But we made good time to the field and we didn’t hear a gobble as we walked to our spot, feeling relieved that they hadn’t woken yet. As soon as we set the decoys out and crawled into the ditch, we heard a gobble in the woods beside us.
A Tom had woken. Thomas started calling and got many responses. After ten minutes, we had concluded that there were three Toms that had just come down from their roost in the woods beside us and Thomas tried to call them in. They never seemed brave enough to seal the deal and come into the field. Perhaps they were already with hens and had no incentive to leave them to find another hen. This theory was confirmed when we heard hen chirps in that same area as the gobbles got farther and farther away.
We decided to stand up out of the ditch and walk around the corner to peek into the back. As soon as we began to get up, we saw four turkeys standing on the rise that is the unofficial border of the main field to the back of the field. We froze in our positions, somewhere between prone and standing, and slowly slinked back down into the ditch. These turkeys must have seen movement, then seen our decoys, because they immediately began to hurry in our direction.
Thomas and I were still trying to situate ourselves into a shooting position while remaining out of sight, for we knew that they were males because of their aggressive action. Whether or not they were Jakes or Toms, we wanted to have the option of a shot because we were disappointed the previous Toms hadn’t shown themselves. They quickly became within thirty yards of the decoys, but their quick and surprising arrival didn’t give me enough time to have a clear shot. However, they saw our Jake decoy, built to anger Toms, and scurried off. It was a group of four Jakes looking for love, but intimidated by our Jake decoy.
We spent a little bit more of the early morning trying to find turkeys in other areas, but came up with nothing. We began to regret not shooting at least one of the Jakes, but we still had faith that we would find a mature Tom. We took a brief sabbatical for breakfast at a gas station that shouldn’t serve good food but does. We had come close in the early morning hunt, but came up empty handed.
Thomas and I learned from the previous week’s hunt that the hens leave the Toms in the mid-morning, which makes the Toms aggressive again with a sense of urgency now. We arrive back at the field and as we come up on the rise, I see, or have the perception of, turkeys in the back. Of course, this is a very large distance, but I see dark spots moving, making me believe that there are turkeys. Thomas and I go back down the rise and decide to move along the right woods line, staying up against the trees for camouflage. We are making good progress, but I keep looking towards the back and doubting that there is something there. Still, it is a very long way away and at least worth an attempt. We are crossing the opening of the low field in a single file line, me in front of Thomas. Not necessarily trying to be stealthy because were are below the rise between us and the back, I casually look to my right and see a gang of turkeys at the back of the low field, about 150 yards away.
Without thinking or speaking, I hit ground on my stomach and Thomas follows. We aren’t sure what to do, were lying in the middle of the grassy path that separates the field from the trees. We're about 5 yards from the drop off that is the boundary of the lower field, with a lone tree in the middle of the opening. We had to lay down in the spot with the one tree right in front of us.
Thomas quickly formulates a plan. He hands me his gun and tells me to crawl to the edge of the opening where the woods begin and set up while he puts up the decoys. But as I am crawling and Thomas is trying to set up the Jake decoy while laying down, the turkeys turn our way and begin to make their way towards us. It is still a mystery to me why they did this without us having a decoy out or calling to them, but there was no hesitation in their actions. It was a group of at least five heading towards us, and a few of them were strutting, which told us that they were Toms.
I stopped crawling and just laid on my stomach hoping that the thick grass and height advantage from the drop off could keep me and Thomas concealed. I put my gun up and pointed it to where I thought they would come within shooting range. Thomas was about five yards behind me and hiding behind the jake decoy that he had just set up. The Toms had just entered the small decline in the middle of the low field, making them invisible to us. When they came back out of it a few seconds later and few yards closer, they spotted our strutting Jake decoy. Still about 80 yards away, they began to sprint at us. They were so confident in their decisions, taking almost no time to make them. They were aggressive, large, dominant Toms sprinting right at us. They came right up to the bottom of the drop off sprinting and then stopped, well within range, but shielded by the singular tree in front of me.
Thomas, thinking I had shot, whispered for me to shoot. I gave a quick shake of my head, and another when he told me again. The Toms finally finished debating whether or not to come up the drop off and did with confidence. The two that came up were looking for a brawl with a Jake. If I let them come all the way up the rise they would be within 10 feet of us and see us. So, as soon as the first Tom’s head was visible as it stormed up the drop off, I pulled the trigger. His fellow gangster instantly took flight and my victim fell to the ground, undoubtedly and instantly killed.
Thomas started yelling in excitement and I got up and did as well. We observed and appreciated the turkey. He had a large, 15.5-pound body with an 11-inch beard hanging off it, with 1.5 inch spurs to finish it off. His feathers became green and orange and turquoise when the Sun was laid on it the right way.
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