[Introduction]

0:36 You know, what another awesome hunt today. This morning, when Matt and I got out, you know, we got the birds gobbling on the roost. (turkey noises) One bird actually, we only heard one bird that we think this morning gobbling on the roost. And what really made us successful today was that kept one thing in mind and that was variable change.

1:05 When we set up on this bird, we set up in a ravine that backs up to a field and basically (turkey noises in the distance) nine times out of ten, the, you know, the dominant tom is going to come through that ravine and he's going to come into the field using that ravine.

We've hunted this area many times so we set up in that area but we set up with one thing in mind and that was variable change. What that allowed us to do was we set up so that if the bird did something that one time out of the ten that he does something different, that we could move. We could change and we could get ourselves into a position that might be better set up on the bird. And that was exactly what we did today.

The bird pitched down out of the roost. We called a number of times; he didn't respond. After probably 15 minutes, we got up. We were very cautious. You have to be very cautious and careful anytime you've been, you've had a bird gobbling on the roost, you started calling to him, seems like he's gone off with hens or left the area, the bird could be right on top of you and many times they are.

2:22 And what we did is we got up, we might have gone 20 or 30 yards. I gave a call and the bird gobbled. But, he gobbled behind us. He had gone 180 degrees up and around and above us, (turkey call) and basically gone all the way around us. So what we were able to do because of the way we set up, we were able to position ourselves and get set up on another tree and try to call the bird in again. And obviously we were successful in that manner.

But what really helped us, if we couldn't move, if we were set up on that field, it's so appealing to set up in fields and don't get me wrong, many times, I've killed many great birds in the fields. But if I have my choice, I like to set up where if the birds get into a different area, I'm going to be able to get up and move. And you have to keep that in mind. You don't want to set up an area where the birds are going to be out in front of you 50 or 100 yards and you can't get up and move to a better tree or a better location to where maybe the hens are headed in the field. Or, you know, maybe the hens have gone into the woods.  

3:37 This bird this morning was all by himself. But because we could change and we could move, we were able to get into an area that this bird wanted to come into today. For whatever reason he didn't want to come through the ravine this morning. But he did want to come to the top of the field, I can tell you that, behind the ravine and the woods because that was where we were able to call him back into. And even that was difficult. The bird swung out 180 degrees behind us and he spun up above us and came down on top of us. And we were fortunate enough that with the camo that we use and the way that we were set up that we could move enough on the bird and be able to harvest a bird successfully.

And next time you're out there in the woods, I hope that you can use this tip to your advantage to be successful and have another great turkey hunt.

4:30 [Closing]