A Hazelcreek Day By Rick Philippi
May 10, 2008 - 3:40:00 PM
Decoys work, Blind conceals and Rick's BowTech drops another tom.
It was noon on Thursday when I realized I had all my chores finished. I told my wife I thought that I would head to the ranch to try and get in an afternoon turkey hunt. She said that would be fine and she thought she would go with me to clean up around our RV. So she and I loaded up and made the one hour drive to the ranch.
Typically we have lots of turkey's but this year it has seemed that they were widely dispersed and had moved to some other food location. With that being said, we still have a good population but not the huge numbers that we are used to.
Getting to the ranch I got my gear together and naturally grabbed my two new Hazelcreek decoys. I bought a hen and jake decoy. The Hazelcreek decoys are live mounts. Robert Hoague and Fred Lutger turned me on to these decoys last year. When I saw how they worked I decided I had to get a pair of them.
Decoys placed about 10 yards from the Double Bull.
Getting to my stand location I put out the decoys and climbed into the Double Bull ground blind. I hit the Cody slate call and immediately there was a gobble. Waiting a few seconds I let out another yelp and another gobble. This went on for five minutes. Eventually the turkey faded away and ignored my calling. O well, it was still early in the hunt.
Turkey in with the decoys at 6 yards. WOW
Some time had elapsed when four hens and a young Jake made their way to my decoys. The largest of the hens walked up to my Hazelcreek hen decoy and started pecking her head. After about 10 pecks I started to get irritated. These decoys are $500. per decoy. I almost ran her off because I did not want the decoy damaged, when all of a sudden off to the left I noticed three Toms making their way to challenge the Jake decoy. As the toms approached the decoy, the other turkeys backed off and just stood and watched the action. Getting my BowTech Guardian to full draw and sent the Carbon Express arrow through the biggest Tom. He was down and it was over. Everything worked like it should and the NAP Spitfire put an end to any thought of the bird going far. Man, what a hunt.
In summary, these Hazelcreek decoys are the real deal. They are expensive but if you are a die hard turkey hunter they are worth every penny. Believe me when I say, they work!
