Hiding in Plain Sight

Once again the fall turkey hunt was upon us. Our plan for this hunt would be to try for both turkeys and pheasants. And with the new Utah law in effect which allowed for the use of smaller bore guns, Carson was 100% determined to shoot his turkeys with the ol’ .410 shotgun.

The drive to southern Utah, for where we held turkey tags, was a long ways away. So as soon as Carson was out of school on Friday afternoon, we jumped in the truck and headed south hoping to arrive in time to hunt before dark.

As we pulled up to our hunting area, I looked at the clock and noticed we only had thirty minutes until sunset. Wasting no time, we grabbed our gear and headed into the field. Twenty minutes later we found ourselves in what we figured was prime turkey territory. To our south rose a huge grove of cottonwood trees. Adjacent to the cottonwood stand was the field where we stood. Our thinking was that turkeys might use this area to feed before flying up into the roosting trees ahead.

Fall turkey hunt hiding in plain sight
                             Didn't think to take a pic down at eye level, but here's our attempt to hide in plain sight

 

Without sufficient cover nearby in which to conceal our presence, we instantly decided to employ a never-tried-before-by-us hunting technique, we’d attempt to hide in plain sight. Within five minutes our decoys were set and we lay tucked flat on the ground beneath our sheet of camouflaged burlap. With our decoys positioned 25 yards away and closer to the edge of the timber, we hoped all attention would be directed away from the slightly unusual hump that now existed.

We hadn’t been covered up for more than a minute when we noticed two black dots about 300 yards away at the far edge of the field. Instantly I knew they were turkeys, but I pulled up my binos to confirm. As I watched for a few seconds, I saw other turkeys inching out into the field. I grabbed my mouth call and made a couple of yelps, just enough to get the turkey’s attention. We waited.

i went turkey hunting  Pheasant hunting

   Our four turkeys came from far side of field at the top of pic            Cottonwoods where a few roosted before we shot

Within minutes, thirty or more turkeys had filtered out onto the tract of land and were now feeding our way. A couple of times I was tempted to again call at the turkeys because we watched as a few slipped back into the cover of the brush during their approach. But I resisted. Now the turkeys were close, they were totally focused on our decoys. Then a couple flew up to roost in the trees ahead, Carson looked over and I gave him the nod. Seconds later we had four turkeys down a few yards in front of us! I pulled out my phone, 6:33 p.m. and both of us had each filled our two turkey tags.

i went pheasant hunting
    Got an early start next morning, Carson dropped his bird right out in the middle of the water, waders came in handy

i went pheasant hunting  Pheasant hunting

             A couple of long tails on these birds                                        Finished up quickly with our limits

Couple of turkeys with .410 shotgun
                                   Figured we'd pull out Carson's turkeys for a picture in better light