Pennsylvania Game News - March 2021 - 10

My friend Dan Kuzma called a few
days later to see if I wanted to hunt with
him on his family's property. He'd gotten
photos of nine different longbeards there.
We'd meet at 5 a.m. on the season's
second Saturday with plans to shoot video
of the hunt - Dan with his camera, and
me with the scope on the 20-gauge I was
using, which has recording capabilities.
Arriving at Dan's, there appeared to be
a million stars in the sky and the temperature already was in the 50s. When Dan
showed up, he said he had a surprise for
me. And as I helped him unload his blind,
there it was - a full-strut gobbler decoy
he'd brought along.
Walking across an open field in the
dark to a gas-well road. Dan set up the
blind where two trails meet, and I placed
the decoy about 15 yards away. We settled
in, set up Dan's camera, and waited for the
first gobble, and the sun to rise.
Dan told me some stories of successful
hunts he'd had using the gobbler decoy.
And just after the first streaks of orange
appeared on the horizon, a thick fog settled upon us, making it nearly impossible
to see. We doubted whether the turkeys
would gobble at all, and after making a
few calls, none responded. And the fog
seemed to get thicker.
For nearly four hours, we sat in the
blind, essentially blinded, just talking
about old hunts and places we'd been.
I'd send out a few calls, with nothing
answering back.
Around 10 o'clock, we discussed
going to another property, or even just
calling it a day.
I needed to stretch so I slowly unzipped
the blind and got out. Dan followed and
as I walked over to grab the decoy, he
stopped me, telling me to call one more
time before we packed up.
I sent out a few sultry notes on my
10

mouth call. Immediately, a tom gobbled.
And he was close.
We scrambled to get back in the blind
and could only hope he hadn't seen us.
Then a loud gobble erupted from
behind us, providing assurance the gobbler still was interested and had closed
the distance. The fog wasn't as heavy
as it had been, but I still couldn't see the
bird although I could hear him drumming.
Another gobble sounded, then, finally, I
spied the bird, heading through fog toward
the blind.
The tom strutted in and, spotting the
decoy, charged his perceived competition.
I had the 20-gauge shouldered and was
tracking the gobbler, and Dan whispered
to shoot before it got to the decoy. But
the bird stopped before it got there, pausing on the gas-well road, still eyeing the
decoy, only 15 yards away.
I made sure of a beard, found the gobbler's head in the scope and shot.
Everything seemed to go dark and I
remember Dan saying, " Nice shot! You
leveled him. "
Meanwhile, my head was throbbing,
and I felt as if sweat was running down
my face. Slowly, I turned to Dan. He asked
if I was OK. And as I wiped my brow, I
looked at my hand to see blood. There
was a large gash above my eye, left by
the scope when the gun recoiled.
After a few minutes, the cut stopped
bleeding and, while I still had a headache,
Dan and I went out into the fog to take
photos with the gobbler, which had 1-inch
matching spurs and a 9-inch beard.
When I got home, I cleaned out the cut
and put some antibiotics on it. I knew it
might leave a small scar, but every time
I look in the mirror, I'll remember my
foggy morning gobbler.
Pennsylvania Game News - March 2021

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