Not all turkey hunts are created equal, and not all turkey video is created equal. What you are about to see is a textbook video clip of how decoys are supposed to work on giant gobblers. I almost forgot to mention there is also a decoy cam for up close and personal turkey action!
After a long week of turkey hunting, it was down to the last day in Illinois. I hadn’t had much luck with birds, but I also had to stay in a few mornings to do some real work, editing. Once all my projects were wrapped up I was able to rush out to a cornfield and throw up a blind before first light. Immediately I could hear gobblers on the roost, but that was not unusual. The area was full of them; I just had bad luck getting them within bow range the last few mornings I was able to get out. What I had good luck with were the jakes. They were in plentiful supply and really raised havoc with my little hen decoy whom I named Bubbles. Each morning they would stand on her, peck her, attack my jake decoy, and then go on their way.
This morning was different; there were no jakes to start the morning off, only hens. Shortly after first light, three hens came strolling through and investigated my turkey clan. Upon their approval they continued to eat, but the tom was back in the brush eyeing up Bubbles. He scoped her out from a distance then came in with only one thing on his mind. He did a little dance in front of her and decided that would be enough to seduce her. He put one foot on her back and I could almost see him smile. He was thrilled she didn’t run away so he got right down to business.
I have become one of the most patient turkey hunters you will ever meet, because once the gobbler is in range, I believe there is no need to rush. Sure I am a hunter and I love taking down turkeys, but what I really enjoy is getting great footage. I knew I had a little GoPro camera right in front of Bubble’s face hopefully catching all the action. I was almost afraid to look at the camera in my binos for fear that the battery would die or the card would fill up simply from looking at it. It was all too perfect, and in all reality I think I was more proud of my camera setup than my decoy or blind setup.
Either way I knew we were getting beautiful footage from in the blind and after letting him mount Bubbles for a few minutes I decided he had enough fun for one day. When setting up my decoys, I always face Bubbles at a perfect angle so any gobbler that hops on her back will be either broadside or slightly quartering away giving me the perfect shot at any time. I waited for this big tom to hold still while on her back and zipped an arrow right through his chest. He went down inside twenty yards and my heart was racing, anyone who thinks turkey hunting isn’t exciting and adrenaline pumping is crazy!
I ran over to my big gobbler but checked my little camera first, and sure enough it had been running the entire time. Nothing like a feeling of sweet success when everything works out, even if you have to wait until the last day!
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