When I first started calling turkeys many years ago I had a hard time making a kill. I thought it was my calling but discovered it was that the turkeys would see me before I saw them. Once I learned how important camo and non-movement was to my success I started calling in boss gobblers on a regular basis. I then decided I would try and take a big Rio Grande gobbler with a bow. Now that was more difficult and took some real doing as they seem to always see me draw my bow when they were close enough to hit. I finally took several with a bow and became confident of my ability to call and shoot turkeys. My success rate was boosted by discovering hen decoys. All of a sudden I had something to take the sharp eyes of a gobbler off of me while I drew my bow. I hunted for many years with my bag of tricks and skills I had learned through the years of turkey calling and was happy with my success and methods. Many times I would go hunting with others and just call so that they could take a gobbler and I had just as much fun or even more.
Then the ultimate method to take a turkey was developed. I almost do not want to disclose this to those that have not yet learned this secret but I believe it will give more people the enjoyment and success of calling in a gobbler of their own. If your goal is to take a turkey with a bow this will help you get it done. This big secret is a simple pop-up blind or tent blind. I will not recommend any one brand as there are many good ones out there in all price ranges. The one thing you need to make sure of is that it is big enough to draw your bow and hold whatever gear you plan on using. I also like to have windows with replaceable, shoot through netting so I do not have to have an open window to shoot at anything. Deer and hogs seem to take a while to get used to a pop-up blind and many times you have to brush it in and make it look like a natural part of the landscape. It still may take weeks for them to accept it. Not so with turkeys, just pop it up, set out a hen decoy in shooting range and you are set. One secret I will give you is to use a gobbler or Jake decoy and face it directly at the blind. Gobblers almost always approach a rival head on, so a gobbler facing the decoy will allow you to draw your bow undetected. I have put a pop-up blind in an open field and called gobblers minutes after getting it set up. For some unknown reason turkeys seem to accept these camo tents as a part of the landscape. I have had turkeys actually come up to the blind when I was calling and put their head right next to the net windows and not see a thing. Of course you should not move when they get that close. I have found that black or dark green clothes work best when I am hunting or taking pictures from a blind. They do not show up as well as camo through the net windows because most of the blinds are pretty dark inside. Try one of the new pop-up blinds and I think you will find a new tool that you will want to use more and more. Good hunting, Wild Ed
