Sumter outdoors columnist Dan Geddings: Another one

The wind was howling and whipping the pines around me. I was tucked into a ground blind overlooking a small food plot. I had put a hen decoy out about 15 yards into the plot. Daylight was coming. I was surprised to hear turkeys cackling and cutting out in front of the blind, behind the pines, on the edge of the big swamp. I called back and was surprised to hear a muffled gobble toward the swamp.

There were more calls, and I answered with some loud yelps, but I didn't know if the birds could hear me over the roaring wind. I felt pretty confident that the turkeys would head in my direction; I just didn't know when. Turkeys don't operate on our time. They operate on what my late brother Matt called "turkey time."

I was comfortable in a good seat, out of the wind. In a good blind that I knew was in a good spot. I was prepared to sit awhile if I needed to.

Around midday the day before, I drove into the area to scout and pick a spot to place a ground blind. I noticed that the landowner had recently plowed fire breaks and conducted a prescribed burn on a nearby block of big timber. A lane had also been plowed along the edge of the food plot down toward the swamp.

Turkeys love to feed on newly burned ground. New plants are sprouting after a few days, and the top layer of leaf and straw litter has been removed, giving better access to the earth below. Earth that harbors insects, larvae and grubs. All favorite turkey foods.

The lane plowed along the food plot was stomped with turkey tracks. I figured they were trading back and forth from the swamp along the fire break to the burned ground. I put my ground blind up in the pines at the edge of the food plot. I forgot the seat but made a mental note to pack it in when I came back the next morning.

The next morning, I went super early. I was sitting at the gate when sign-in time came, but no other hunters showed up. I drove in to the edge of the burned block, got my gear to include a chair for the blind and headed to the food plot in the dark. There was enough moon to see without a light.

At the blind, I put the chair in, then my gun. I took my turkey vest off and set it inside. I stood for some time in the dark outside the blind listening to the roar of the wind and watching the dim light of day come ever so slowly. The sky was cloudy, and rain was threatening. It was the kind of day that would cause many hunters to just turn over and go back to sleep. I knew the ground blind would keep me out of the wind and out of the rain if it came.

After the early round of turkey calls, the woods were quiet other than the howl of the wind. I called a few times then also got quiet. Movement out front caught my eye, and I saw two hens come trotting out into the food plot. I sat very still and watched. It was early but good daylight now. The hens fed through the plot then headed on toward the burned ground behind me.

After a few more minutes, something caught my eye down the fire break to the right. Big black turkeys. Gobblers! I leaned over and got my shotgun that had been leaning up in the corner of the blind. I laid the gun across my lap. The gobblers stopped and seemed to be eyeing my blind. I eased out my binoculars from my vest and looked. They were jakes. Three of them. I knew I could move a little without getting busted, as the interior of a blind is dark.

The jakes didn't like the blind and turned through the pines toward the burned ground. I remember thinking, "I hope there's something coming along beside those jakes." I picked up my box call and made some yelps into the wind. I thought I heard an answering yelp.

When I looked back down the fire break, I could see more turkeys coming. I knew instantly one was a big longbeard. There was also a hen and another jake. They came straight on toward the food plot and the decoy. The big gobbler was in full strut with his head of red, white and blue shining. He hurried toward the decoy. I lifted my gun, put the bead on him and squeezed the trigger. The big bird rolled and flopped out beyond the decoy into the food plot. I remember thinking, "Well, I got another one."

Reach Dan Geddings at cdgeddings@gmail.com.