ZZ Tops

This year hunting turkey was different. Normally I’d be north of Bay City on the first or second week of the season trying to outwit a THUNDERBIRD. My cousin Jojo got permission to hunt a farm in the thumb area of Michigan from his wife’s uncle. This is the ZZ hunt unit and offered 2 weeks to hunt closer to home. We knew there were birds around but didn’t expect the turkey LOVETHING that would happen opening day.

We used a combination of pop up and ground blinds to cover the farm. Expecting most birds to be on the north side of the farm 3 hunters stationed there and I went south. Opening morning was cold and crisp; rice crispy snow fell much of the morning. Jo set out his Flambeau decoy, she’s got LEGS and SHE’S A HEARTBREAKER. Right at 8:30 a nice tom came in all HOT BLUE AND RIGHTEOUS calling out GIMMIE ALL YOUR LOVIN’ to the decoy. Jo punched his tag with a little GUN LOVE from his Browning 10 gage pump shortly there after. A big bird with a 9 1/2“ beard and 1 1/8” spurs.

From Downriver Outdoors

After lunch there were birds in the field when Jay went to Jojo’s blind. He would be using the same decoy with the PENTHOUSE EYES. Just decided to stay in his SLEEPING BAG and I headed south again. Soon Jay was surrounded by birds and everything was GOIN’ SO GOOD. Jo informed me that Deuce wouldn’t be going out for the afternoon hunt and I should use his blind due to the birds being on that side of the farm. The only problem was being seen by the flock around Jay and causing them to leave the field. So I used the NEIGHBOR NEIGHBOR’s hedgerow to stay out of site and got set up without being detected. Now I was looking directly west and even with the cloudy skies I wished I had some CHEAP SUNGLASSES.

Jay on the other side of the field has a DEAL GOIN’ DOWN. He’s got the SHARP DRESSED MAN coming in to the decoys. A huge tom, definitely the boss of the field. He’s just 10 yards out of range and here comes the WORLD OF SWIRL. Three jakes, young toms, going spastic chasing each other in a tight circle and are about as wanted as rowdy teenagers in church.

LB2 is up now, Jojo and he are having a PARTY ON THE PATIO watching the action from a good part of a quarter mile away. They can see the circling jakes and the boss tom strutting to beat the band in front of Jay. Then like it always can hunting turkey, things took a turn for the worse. The pesky jakes got up close to the decoy and didn’t like what they saw. When they started putting, the turkey alarm sound, the boss tom got nervous and started moving off. A long shot was attempted and missed the mark but did push the birds to my side of the field.

I was just on the other side of a rise in the field from the turkeys. I couldn’t see them but I could hear them clucking and purring. Soon I could see the top of a turkey fan tail then a PRETTY HEAD. Just on the other side of the rise, a fan then a head, a fan then a head, DON”T TEASE ME like this. The tom can’t see me in the Ameristep pop up blind but he’s GOT ME UNDER PRESSURE with the head bobbing, now I see him now I don’t. A light purr on my Abbas A-Way box call and the curiosity was too much for him. DUSTED. I felt like a TEN FOOT POLE. The tom sported a 9 3/4” beard with 1” spurs. Thank you Uncle Chet!

From Downriver Outdoors