May 3rd, 2021. Huckleberry Mountains - Pulled up alongside my satellite scouted, first turkey target at about 1:30am and snuggled down in the truck for a couple hours of shuteye before wild gobbling would awaken me. At least that was the plan and in fact I could hear a tom at daybreak (5:00... ughh, 3.5 hrs doesn't cut it anymore) but he was on the wrong side of the fence and the public land had recently been doused with herbicide. Maybe Velpar L adds a special spice to turkey breasts but I decided to let someone else make that culinary breakthrough.
Struck out twice by 7:30am but still plenty of daylight to head back towards where I had success a few years ago. On the drive over I spotted a few flocks and pulled over to test out if my box and mouth calls still worked and to practice the right moves on my new slate call. They were impressed that so many weird birds were driving a truck but not interested enough to leave their John Deere unguarded.
Once I was on the east side of the Huckleberries, I tried a new state forest parcel and was rewarded with a single gobble when I stepped out of the truck. A mile later and I never figured out what he wanted to hear or what direction he was patrolling. That was enough original ideas and I conceded that I should go back to where I found a bird in 2017. Next year I am going to skip all the foreplay and just park in my tire tracks from this hunt. Immediately out of the truck, even without calling I can hear gobblers going from two different directions. I picked the one that sounded deeper in the public land and started up the hill, planning to set up a decoy once I got close enough to call him in. Along the way I spooked a hen which might have tipped off the tom because I didn't hear him anymore.
Feeling pretty down but it was just lunch time so I headed out to scout some more new ground. The parcel I found is actively managed for transitional habitat with lots of mowed tracks between timber stands and there was moose and deer scat everywhere. Missing that turkey had one advantage - while I was moping around with my head down I spotted my fist morels and then a bunch more! Within 15 minutes I had filled up my beanie with what I was pretty sure were edible morsels. A total of 4.5 miles on that loop and not a single gobble so it was back to the truck and a quick trip into town for enough signal to chat with the kiddos.
For the evening hunt I returned to the site of my failure and followed some new gobbles. This time I set up the decoy as about 15 yards from my hiding place and maybe 150-200 yards from where the gobbler was based on the other side of some tall trees. What followed was a solid 45 minutes of dialog with what turned out to be two toms (maybe even the same two birds). This time they came in very slowly, in full display mode with all the spits and fanning you could ever hope for. Then they hung up at about 60 yards because I guessed wrong about which direction they would approach. The decoy was hidden behind a log from their downhill angle and they couldn't understand why there was no bird. Eventually the silent tom got uphill enough to see the decoy and work his way into range but he was still upset because the decoy was faced the wrong way. He circled to get in front of her face and that is right when I chose to miss another 20 yard shot on a puffed up tom even after telling myself I was going to aim more neck/upper body to ensure a kill this time... He flew off and didn't make a graceful landing so I headed that way to see if maybe the noise and nearby pellets had concussed him. No such luck but in my futile search I did run into a couple white tail does who were trying to lead me away by making obvious snorts and stomps. That is the first time I've run into deer protecting their new fawns and a small consolation to help with my deepening funk. Then at the truck for the night there was a whole crowd of turkeys roosted in just behind someone's house across the road. I probably didn't make a human friend but the turkeys and I had a grand time chatting until well after dark.
May 4th - Day 2 dawned with judging eyes from the decoy who had executed her part to perfection twice already. Given a couple months to stew on it, I can now appreciate that the first day was the closest I had gotten to the ideal of turkey hunting (good call work and bringing in the birds) compared to my normal call for a gobble and then stalk and ambush approach. However, the me of this morning was pretty down and looking for redemption. Besides my friends safely across the road, it was quiet for the first 3 miles besides a couple slinking hens that probably were already nesting nearby. But then I picked up a gobbler. This clown would never respond to my calls but he was shock gobbling at almost every vehicle that passed on a highway. I scampered through a creek and over the highway to hide in the bushes beyond. I could tell from his chatter that he was moving up and down a clearing that I had no hope of reaching quietly so I backed out to make a big circle and try to set up on the top of his circuit (and be between him and private land). 
