The expression on my face tells it all: After getting into position closer to the swamp -- where I heard one gobbler -- the rain started picking up again.
MAHFS photo by Mac Arnold





By Mac Arnold
MAHFS Editor

One day out and the turkeys kept the upper hand but there's still plenty of season left.

I'm not the kind of hunter that only goes out on the opener and then maybe a couple of days afterward.

But at the same time I need to stay composed and not get overly obsessed to the point of early burnout. There is however a fine line here because whereas the deer season is 90 days long -- at least for me -- the turkey spring season is just under a month.

I figure I can always get some sleep in June.

Then there's the work factor and it getting in the way of my hunting. OK, I'm joking here.

All of this was close to being thrown out the window on Monday's opener. In a leisurely first light gig, where I finally was set up and making calls between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., things didn't heat up until noon after I endured a smattering of rain and got up to wander in a small semi-circle on the Sanilac County, Mich., property.

After again hearing little in the way of gobbling, I decided to make some high-pitched calls on the H.S. Strut Lil Deuce Ring Zone  -- a new glass call I'm trying out this season. And it garnered some attention within 15 minutes.

A gobbler started up on one side and another to my other side. It sounded as if they were beginning to close in with me in the middle. I held steady with the 12-gauge in position to fire as the rain went from a sprinkle to a shower and then I began to hear the one bird's gobbles gradually tail off.

The other bird never appeared or made another sound.

So yes I was left holding the proverbial game bag -- an empty one at that -- but I realized I was also very close to ending the season on the first day.

During the soggy ride home in the blue Dodge pickup (which did make the trip like I promised it would in a previous post), my thoughts began to meander. I was reminded one more time of how spring gobbler is often a matter of do-si-do-ing around the property where you hunt until you either both meet in the middle or wherever and you connect or you don't for some reason, then the whole process starts all over again.

Like I said, there's still plenty of season left.