When I was invited to a turkey hunt in Iowa last fall, I had no idea that I was in for the hunt of a lifetime. Chris Leppert is one of our staff members at Columbus Road Church in Quincy, Illinois. He was fully aware of my love of hunting and passion for mature toms. After applying for a first-season tag and a quick trip to his parent's farm, I was pretty excited about the possibilities.
Passion week is not the best time to take an out-of-state turkey hunt but having the opportunity to hunt in Allamakee County, Iowa in the middle of April was too hard to pass up. I could not make it in on opening day due to work responsibilities, so I drove up to the farm from Illinois, getting in around midnight.
Chris gave me a quick review of the Grand View Farm layout from a satellite image as well as where he had seen the 30 turkeys the day before. The farm has deep ravines and arching pastures surrounded by mature trees. Chris also told me that his dad Duane had just spread manure on the top of the ridges of the pastures. My dream of hunting in my home state was about to come true.
We got up plenty early after a short night of sleep. Chris and I decided to hunt across from each other, having just a crowned pastures and three hundred yards between us. As we got close to the place we were to split off, he gave me a general idea of where to set up. We said our well wishes and broke off, leaving me to find my set up tree in the pitch dark. Not to mention, it was the first time on the farm. I walked in and found a tree with two bushes on both sides of the tree creating a perfect window to set up my decoys at twelve steps.
My setup was a submissive hen a Jake approaching her, and two other hens one feeding and one upright. I got my set up the way I wanted it and got settled against the tree facing the pasture. It is April 12th, 2022, the second day of the first season in Allamakee County, Iowa and my dream is coming true.
As it began to get a bit lighter, I heard my first gobble. It was over my left ear about 200 yards. Quickly, another one directly behind me, then another over my right ear. At this point, I am not believing what I am hearing. My heart begins to accelerate. Another gobble to my right, and another and another and another and another and another and another..... you get the picture? I was sitting in the honey whole of honey wholes. Turkeys were in every direction, a three-hundred, and sixty-degree enclosure. I was exciting and the smile on my face had to have shone through my face mask.
The gobbling continued for a good bit but as the Tom's found their dates the gobbles faded. I did hear a lone gobble at 7:00 that was worth noting. He seemed to have made some steps closer to my position. This made me turn to my left a bit more and kept my attention. I waited for the next hour with an occasional Jake cluck and hen purr.
After what seemed to be an eternity, I see a mature Tom to my left pop over the crest of the pasture. He saw the setup and heard my date with his own eyes. He began making his way down the hill toward me.
This is it, I thought. Get your gun up and be ready to seal the deal.
He came right into the decoys but a little left, right in front of the bush I described earlier. He stopped, looked, and did an about-face at fifteen yards and walked back up the hill.
I wondered if that was going to be my only chance, but something in the back of my mind told me that I would see more action. A half-hour later I saw four Jakes walking at the top of the pasture, about eighty yards out. It then dawned on me what was happening. All those turkeys that I had heard earlier, had made their way to the manure. They were feeding on the top in the manure. All I needed was for another Tom to come to my side of the pasture to see and hear my set-up.
What needed to happen, happened! At ten o'clock he popped over the hill. He looked big from a long way away. The beard was super thick and it was evident that was a shooter. I hit the box call followed by my Jake cluck from my Mountain Screamer box call. He slammed with a hard gobble that I could see. He then made his descent down the pasture and directly to my setup. I got the gun up and my eyes on the prize. Moving from my right to left, he walked right into my window at twelve steps and stopped. It was over. I nailed a twenty-three pound, ten-inch beard, mature Iowa gobbler at ten a.m. coming off the manure at Grand View Farms in Allamakee County, Iowa. My dream had come true.
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