It was 5 am on May 2nd, the opening morning of Michigan’s recent 0234 spring turkey season in Arenac County. Stars sparkled in a clear, predawn black sky and frost covered the ground. We quietly eased our way through dense cover to a hunting blind placed there the day before, and there was no wind to speak of, which was blessing after having a steady supply of strong winds statewide this spring, not to mention plenty of rain as well. Once in the tent-blind, we sat down to patiently wait for daylight to slowly ease in, and any conversation was done in very low whispers, because of the possibility of turkeys roosting in nearby trees, and yep, folks, we were in prime turkey country and they could be anywhere.
The first thing to occur was a multitude of various songbirds waking up to greet the first gray hint of daylight, and then the stars disappeared as the eastern sky began easing into a deep navy-blue color featuring streaks of yellow which signaled it was going to be a brisk and beautiful sunny day. It turned out to be spectacular sunrise, with temperatures remaining in the low forties, giving me high hopes of a grand day for turkey hunting. Our vigil included listening for any turkeys sounding off just prior to performing a fly down from their roosting-trees, and the flapping fly downs can often also be heard.
In the blind with me was my good friend John Jones who is a bear, elk and turkey hunting guide based in Atlanta, Michigan. Atlanta hunting guide Gary Morgan and I first met John by happenstance 11 years ago in the spring turkey woods and we formed a lasting friendship and have shared many hunting adventures since then, as well as John Jones was my hunting guide for a successful 2020 Michigan elk hunt. After 36 years of devotedly applying each year for a Michigan elk hunt, I knew who to call when I finally got lucky!
His being already familiar with the present ground, John was my guide for this turkey hunt and had a battle plan already in mind regarding weather and how the turkeys were acting when he and Gary Morgan had setup up the hunting blind the day before near a couple apparent turkey travelling corridors. The gobblers at that location were all “henned-up” with receptive hens and none too responsive to any calling efforts, so during the very early morning portion of our hunt, we would simply sit, wait and listen and see what transpired. Calling would be done later when it felt right to do so. Nope, folks, I don’t have a problem ambushing gobblers which don’t respond well at all to calling efforts.
For the first hour after daybreak, we never heard anything other than one faint and distant “gobble”. Then we thought we heard a nearby “fly down” (turkeys perform an audible wing-flapping motion to basically flutter down to the ground, especially in heavy cover). But all remained quiet for a while, and then John and I heard the drumming sound of a gobbler close to our blind (it is a drawn-out “buzzzz” followed by a quick “ph-i-i-st” spitting sound), and two turkey hens suddenly were walking closely by the window on our left. I started out in the morning facing a travel corridor from a window on the side of the blind, but upon hearing the fly down, John had me reposition to the front window and I had my shotgun ready and waiting on the shooting sticks. Both hens were within only a few feet from the blind when they passed on by, and it is a moment when you don’t twitch or even blink and glad you had used camouflage facemasks to coverup your white beards!
Then a large gobbler suddenly materialized to our left and slowly ambled by only a few feet away, and I could see it had a very thick and lengthy beard and was clearly a wise old bird. At only 25 feet away, he turned right, was fully broadside, and I was able to ease the safety off as I carefully centered the fiberoptic Truglo turkey sights on my 20 ga Remington 870 for a higher percentage lower neck shot, and touched the trigger (when extra-tight shotgun chokes are used for shooting very closeup gobblers, precise aiming is required or the tight pattern can completely miss the mark).
Author sporting a grin posed w/a tom called in by John Jones.
The Winchester “Longbeard” number fives did the trick and piled the large gobbler “spurs-up” on the spot and the sudden loud shot sure woke up the two hens not far away to our right which made alarmed “putts” while flushing straight up and flying away in utter panic. The gobbler turned out to be a heavyweight, with a respectable thick “paintbrush” beard and its long, curving spurs were amber in color with black tips. Yep, John Jones and I sure enjoyed giving the big gobbler a thorough check-over and were very pleased with the successful hunt we had just shared together on a splendid spring day. Gary Morgan was hunting not far away and soon joined us to share in the celebration and assisted in getting everything, blind and all, out of the woods.
Also taking place on this spring gobbler rendezvous in Arenac County was expert turkey hunter Rodd Little of Standish, who was a 9-time turkey calling champion and on the Quaker Boy pro staff for a time, and I discovered he is a literal “pied piper” when it comes to turkey calling. I first met Rodd 3 years ago when Gary Morgan got us together and filmed the hunt for his Wild Game Dynasty blog, which netted one of my largest gobblers in short order. Even though I’ve been at it awhile, I sure learned some new calling tricks.
Rodd Little was elsewhere in Arenac County guiding my longtime friend Vince Rodgers from Alabama, who had come north to join our turkey rendezvous in the high hopes of bagging a Michigan longbeard. Vince is a devoted small game hunter, has a passion for squirrel dogs and has never had the desire to ever go deer hunting, with wild turkeys representing the largest game he pursues. Having turkey hunted in Alabama, Louisianna, Georgia and Florida, he was eager to give the Michigan variety a whirl and had brought along his beloved 20 ga side by side double barrel shotgun.
Vince smiling with his harvested tom called in by Rodd Little.
Rodd Little lives and breathes spring turkey hunting and knows his stomping grounds, which includes spacious public land, like the back of his hand. He and Vince did some “run and gun” in the morning and mid-morning found them setting up on the edge of a large clover field filled in the back with responsive turkeys. Vince was able to film a bunch of gobblers coming in fast thanks to Rodd’s skilled “sweet-talking”. In short order, Vince was able to drop the largest gobbler right next to the decoys with a 25-yard neck/headshot.
Not long after, we all joined up to share how everything went down that day and to revel in the successful teamwork which accomplished it all.
A spring gobbler rendezvous is like that!
than 40 years and has had his weekly radio show, “Tom Lounsbury
Outdoors” for more than 20 years. Tom grew up on a farm in
Michigan’s Thumb, and it is where his first outdoor adventures began
as a kid accompanying visiting pheasant hunters into the field during
the “pheasant hunting heyday” of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a passion
he still has to this day and being the 4 th generation to own the family
farm, he has put most of it into conservation programs with a focus on
wild pheasants, which in turn helps all wildlife.
Being an outdoor communicator, Tom appreciates all the outdoor
adventures he experiences in different places, and especially the
people he meets in which to share them.
- A spring gobbler rendezvous - May 6, 2026
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