Great hunting memories in introducing a lady to a trophy swamp gobbler

The spring temperature, though cool, wasn’t uncomfortable and the ink black sky filled with bright stars and a partial moon gave just enough light to find my way through the dense cover with a lady following close behind. Pastel yellow and violet hues hinting in the eastern sky let me know we would be setting up at just the right time and we were in for some good weather. Our destination was a hunting blind on the high ground in a heavily wooded swamp, the perfect setting for a mid-May turkey hunt in the Thumb.

I soon spotted the two-person blind rooftop in the gray predawn darkness. It was like a cedar-log bunker and quite unique in being tucked into and just below a steep hilltop and offering a long and narrow shooting window facing an open ravine down below.

I opened the door and shined in my flashlight (which I had avoided using until then so as not to alert any nearby roosting wild turkeys) in order for Deb Robinson of Macomb to ease into the dark interior and get setup in a comfortable camp chair on the far left side. With my hen turkey decoy (that I have dubbed “Norma Jean”) in hand, I eased on down into the ravine and staked the decoy 15 yards from the blind’s window, for a known range reference, and quickly returned and got setup on a stool in the blind, with my back resting against the plywood door.

With the woods becoming more definitive in gray light, I told Deb to load her 20 ga pump shotgun, which she stoked with 3-inch number 6 turkey loads. On my recommendation, Deb left the gun barrel resting on the windowsill, with the buttstock tucked comfortably under her arm, and I then began my calling as it was starting time.

To keep matters simple, and to let Deb know that she didn’t need a whole bag full of calls to bring in a spring gobbler, I had brought only two calls; a vintage “Ben Lee” box call and a Quaker Boy “Easy Yelper” with the convenient to use pushrod. I started with the box call featuring its beautiful range, and threw out a series of hen yelps, interspersed with occasional “purrs”. After more than 50 years of turkey hunting, my instincts were telling me this was an occasion to be a bit “mouthy”.

We immediately got a response of 3 different gobblers at the same time from behind the hilltop directly across from us, while I continued to call. It became evident that the far right vocal gobbler was incoming and I strained my eyes to pick up the telltale “snowball” in the brush which represents the main coloration of a mature gobbler’s topknot. That is when a fourth gobbler sounded off real close by and completely out of sight behind our blind. I immediately put the Easy Yelper out the window in front of me and sent out 3 long purrs to let the gobbler behind us know that my hen decoy down below was fully interested in his amorous advances.

With my back resting against the door, I suddenly felt the vibration of the gobbler while he drummed and gazed at Norma Jean over the blind’s roof, letting me know he was standing right next to the blind’s door. I carefully whispered to Deb to freeze and the gobbler, a gorgeous representative featuring the striking red, white and blue head colors, and with a long and full beard, suddenly appeared by Deb’s side of the window, and stood less than a yard from her gun barrel protruding out. Thanks to the blind’s very dark interior, the gobbler couldn’t make us out as he cautiously moved downhill towards winsome Norma Jean.

This was a mature gobbler, and we obviously weren’t his first rodeo, because every time he fanned out and his colorful head disappeared, he would immediately de-fan before Deb could shoulder her shotgun and turn his head around to get a full sharp-eyed pan of his surroundings. This would happen about 3 times with me whispering “shoulder” and “freeze”, with Deb performing admirably on cue with a close range and very wary gobbler.

The gobbler was right next to the decoy and puffed up and fanning with iridescent feathers glowing in the new sunlight when Deb was finally able to shoulder her shotgun, but that is when I noticed the gobbler’s head peering from under his fan and he picked up the slight motion of the gun barrel. The gobbler immediately slicked his plumage down and began a quick exit to the left, and I let out a long and loud hen yelp from my throat which caused him to briefly stop and stick his head straight up, and I hoarsely whispered “shoot”, abruptly followed by the blast from Deb’s 20 ga.

The headshot gobbler dropped on the spot and Deb and I did an automatic “high five”. Deb Robinson had performed flawlessly on cue and without hesitation, with a very wary and wise gobbler which had suddenly appeared at pointblank range and finally allowed her to get an 18 yard shot. It was a distinct honor for me to be her mentor on her first ever spring turkey hunt.

This all happened in 2017 during the very first Wild Turkey Hunting Workshop for the Becoming an Outdoorswoman (BOW) program sponsored by the MDNR and held at the Thumb’s Cass City DNR Field Office. The BOW program has been showing women how to enjoy all facets of the outdoors for more than 25 years, and when it comes to hunting today, women represent the fastest-growing demographic, which through history, was once considered only manly pastimes.

The first day of the two-day seminar entailed speakers on all the various aspects of turkey hunting and I was impressed by how all the ladies remained attentive throughout and asked good questions, making it readily apparent they were very serious about absorbing it all. This was followed by a trip to a nearby shooting range to pattern shotguns on “turkey targets”, where they all listened to instruction and didn’t hesitate to touch the trigger.

When I arrived at the Cass City DNR Field Office the following morning at 4:00 AM, the ladies, all dressed in camouflage, were excitedly grouped up, having breakfast and filled with anticipation while eager to head out with their mentor/guides. It was a genuine “Wild Turkey Camp” I much admired.

This feeling of warm camaraderie would continue after the hunt back at the Cass City DNR Field Office, where turkeys taken were properly dressed out (a final part of the workshop) and hunting stories shared. Deb Robinson would discover her hefty “swamp gobbler” was 4 years old, and a distinct trophy. She made it clear that this was just the beginning of her hunting adventures to come, which sure made my day!

Yep, folks, I’ve made it a point to be a mentor/guide for the BOW Wild Turkey Workshop whenever possible and always consider it an honor to do so.

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Tom Lounsbury

Tom Lounsbury has been an outdoor writer and photographer for more
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.