Turkeys 2020

Me and my girlfriend doubled (shotgun) opening morning in Greene County. Was an awesome hunt that was really intense. We had at least 6 gobblers and as many jakes and hens in the field at once going nuts. Those two year old birds make you look like a rock star.

For the last couple of years I have really wanted to get a turkey with my bow. The frustrating part of this is you are basically relegated to a ground blind. This year I added the extra layer of difficulty by trying to get it on video.

Yesterday I ditched both and went out with my shotty and no camera. One of my friends from work has a goal to see ten birds hit the dirt this year and I helped him get closer with #8.

He works third shift and wasn’t able to meet me until 0600, so we hit a farm that his family has close to Lyons. He had been out with another co-worker earlier in the week and dropped a bird at the same spot. He’s been seeing a number of toms, so he thought we’d be able to get a bird to work. We got there shortly after sun up, so we eased our way along a tree line at the edge of the field to the spot to get set up. As we were walking in we heard a bird gobbling in the next field, so we knew we had a player. He got the decoys set at the edge of a recently planted corn field and I tucked myself up against a tree. He plopped down a couple trees away and after a few minutes he started working the HDC slate call (if you are in the market for a turkey call they really do make some great calls). The Tom was gobbling like crazy, but was not moving. Turns out he was still on the roost well after the sun came up. He finally pitched down and headed our way. One last yelp on the call and he sounded off right behind us. He came in on a string strutting the whole way. I rushed my shot a bit and hit him low, and had to put a second shot on him. That shot put him down for the count. We walked in at 0620 and I shot him at 0715. I wish they all went that smoothly.

I didn’t get a weight, but he sure felt heavy in my pack on the way out. I may have looked at the tape wrong, but his beard was only about 10” and his spurs were both around 1”.




As of this post, Greene County has more turkeys down than any county in the state with 383. Dearborn is second with 359. Hopefully Greene County can hang on through the weekend. I know it is always near the top, but it would be really cool to see our beloved county at the top of the list.

Way to go Eli! Really nice bird, thanks for sharing the story!