Well...been talking to a buddy I met here on the forum a few months back about getting his first turkey. Rather than the rios in hill country and south Texas he wanted to go after the harder to hunt easterns so he came with me to one of my honey holes. I've killed plenty of rios, but I've been chasing easterns on this particular forest for years and managed to call in a few but couldn't close the deal for one reason or another. I came across an area that I really liked about 3 years ago and have researched, scouted and hunted for the past 3 years. I saw and heard a lot of birds in this area over the past couple of years so I'd been planning how I was going to get the job done this spring.

I picked my buddy up at zero dark 30 and we made the couple hour long drive and got there before sunrise. Was a bit worried because the wind was very high and the pines were swaying back and forth so I knew it would affect the birds gobbling and us hearing. We made it to a spot not too far into the woods where I'd heard at least 4 or 5 birds gobbling on last years opener. Set up for a while and heard nothing. I called for a while and after a short period we both heard a putt which meant that we'd been made before we even saw the bird. Figuring that he probably wasn't coming back if he'd seen us I decided to relocate about 7:30. We went to the forest on the opposite side of the road and walked in a good ways until we came to some beautiful scenery with grassy rolling hills under a beautiful canopy of pines in which the sun shined through. Then there it was... a big ancient oak on a gentle hillside overlooking a blue stem covered pine savannah bottom... The ultimate setup in prime eastern turkey habitat.

We were concealed by knee high grape vines with our back up against the massive oak tree and get up the decoys on an area that flatted out on a hillside making them easy to see coming from any direction. My buddy set on one side of the tree to my left to pick off anything coming from the /opposite direction while I set towards the bottom. I started working the slate in hopes of hearing a gobble but heard nothing. After about 25 - 30 minutes of periodic calling I see something look like a big roadrunner jet past a tree in the bottom and I whisper "Turkey"! My buddy looks around and spots him standing in the bottom as he had spotted our decoy setup.

He began to strut in place and stayed in the bottom for a good 5 -10 minutes. Finally he started slowly making his way up the hill towards the setup and I started positioning my shotgun as he moved closer. He started to pick up his pace and I turned on the red dot scope and took off the safety and once he made it about 25 - 30 yards I dropped him. We were too excited as this was my buddies first time experiencing a turkey hunt and this was the first time I managed to drop an eastern. We both took a picture with the bird We made a quick drive to the check station to check him in.

After leaving the check station and talking with some other guys who'd had success we headed right back to the area but this time we traveled in a lot deeper. We found another great setup area and came up with another plan. I figured if there was another bird in the area he would come out of a bottom land area as they like to travel creeks and low land areas, so I set up the decoys so they would be the first thing the turkeys would see once they crest the hill or if they came from a bottom below us. I set up a few yards in the brush behind my buddy and started to call periodically...not too often but just enough and loud enough to get the attention of anything in earshot. After almost an hour we had both almost nodded off and I leaned back against a pine tree and stretched out as I had planned on taking a nap soon. I must had sensed it because I looked up and to my left to see a huge gobbler running straight for the decoy setup ready to fight. I tried to whisper to my buddy because his head was down and he was still nodding and then he heard the birds steps. He logged up and saw the bird slap the decoy and he lifted his gun and BOOM! Bird 2 down! He was VERY excited as this was his first turkey ever and I was just as excited as he was as I had called in two great birds in one day. It was an awesome experience and I'm already ready for next year! LOL

Good Job . Sounds like you had fun.Congrats

What a day!

I couldn't have told it better. One of the best days in the field ever.

Awesome hunt guys. A Texas Eastern is a true trophy and y'all earned it.

My brother just texted me a pic of him and his first Eastern bird and it was on public land as well.

Post the pic if you don't mind. Seems to be a great year for easterns.

Wow those are some great looking Birds. Congrats on the hunt.

All I have is the old flip up style phone. I was also mistaken, he didn't kill the turkey. His preacher did. My brother called it in for him. When he sent me the pic of him behind the bird, I just assumed he shot it. Said it hung up about 100 yds out, so he left his preacher there and he slipped back about 200 yds and called softly. Guess that ole Tom thought his lady friend was leaving so he came on in right past the preacher. Bird had a 11+ inch beard and 1 1/4 spurs.