Beautiful sunrise makes turkey harvest extra special
I went hunting during the 2024 turkey season on some land in Union Mills, NC with my buddy Spencer Walker. We got to the spot at about 6 a.m. and had about a 200-yard walk to a field I hunt. We heard them gobbling as we were walking in, so we got set up fast. I have a half strut decoy with a fan of a turkey I killed a few years ago attached to the back. It works great! But I sat it out maybe 10 yards in front of us and sat back and got settled probably about 6:40 a.m.. It was still pretty dark and the turkeys were maybe 60 yards away max, still on the roost.
I called lightly and they were fired up. They knew I was there, so I put my box call down and got ready, and maybe 10 minutes later a longbeard and two hens flew down 30 yards to my left. He was flared up as soon as he hit the ground because he could see my decoy.
Once I saw him see the decoy, I knew it was on. He turned and came straight toward us up the hill. He got maybe 8 yards to my left, and another big gobbler came around the rock pile. They went straight in front of me headed for the decoy. The birds flew down and were on the ground for 10 minutes max. So I let them get all the way to the decoy, then I swung to my right and shot! I shot at maybe 7:05 a.m.
After we got him and started off to the house to take some pictures and to show my grandma and brother, I looked back and saw the sunrise, and was it beautiful. So I turned to Spencer and said “let’s take some pics right here. This will be cool. And God was with us that morning, because it turned out to be the best picture I’ve seen yet.
–Bryson Jarrell
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