After 3 seasons of very few spring turkeys about due to severe winters and a bout of avian pox in the area, some birds finally showed on the rebound. I managed to telephoto some pics of a nice tom on my land....

So on May 3 I got into my blind early after setting out a jake and breeder hen decoys. A little light calling and 3 jakes silently approached. The dominant bird thrashed my jake deke, bending its stake to the ground, and then spent a full 45 minutes trying to coax a response from the synthetic hen....

Eventually the trio lost interest and wandered off. A couple hours later, a single gobble in the woods indicated something else inbound. When the tom appeared, he made a bee-line for the jake deke which I had repaired after the earlier assault. He was accompanied by the previous 3 as his wingmen. They respectfully stood by as the big boy went to work on my  deke (again!) I was forced      to save my embattled imposter!

Congratulations,excellent job!

Wow!  Nice pictures!  Congratulations and thanks for sharing with us!    

Bernie

Nice Todd! I have been out once, for an hour before work. Hope to do it again once or twice this week.

Congrats!

David

   

Great job!

Nice pics and story....Congratulations!

Well done and congratulations on what must have been one fun hunt!

Awesome brotha a turkey with my bow is deff on my to do list

Nice work!  

I've got to get a turkey with the bow!

Congrats Todd!!!

Great pics and story.  Congrats!

Fantastic!!!  Congratulations!

Congrats!!

Nice Bird!

Thanks all!

As a postscript: I was using Avian X decoys which consistently, over the seasons I've used them, get superior reactions from the turkeys.

I was shooting my Big Jim TC LB, 60#, carbon arrow and a Centaur SB Big Game broadhead. My shot was low, a pass through, through the upper thigh which shattered the leg bone and artery leaving a very easy blood trail.

Was also using a Drifter string tracker which worked fine for the first 60 yards before the string broke. No fault of the tracker - the string was pulling through the mess of shattered bone as the tom hobbled away.

Good hunting to all whose season is still open!