PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF DOWN ON THE BAYOU

The lead up to the 2017 turkey season wasn’t so promising for Harmon Carson. The Haughton, Louisiana, resident had trail cameras monitoring sections of his lease for several months prior to the March 25 opener in hopes of capturing turkey activity. Other obligations kept him from scouting extensively, so he hedged his bets on getting some quality pictures. Turns out, he had none. Saw no birds. Heard no gobbling.

While the 30 year old has harvested dozens of big game animals with traditional archery gear, turkeys in Louisiana have eluded him for the three years. “I’ve knocked feathers off of them, shot and hit the blind once,” he said. “Two years ago I shot a bird and he flew off with my arrow. I haven’t been able to close the deal.”

Carson isn’t one to be dissuaded. Despite his less than ideal luck in the past and the lack of turkey activity this year, he headed to a spot on opening morning where he knew birds were the previous year. “I walked a couple hundred yards toward my blind,” he said. “I started owl hooting and immediately had one gobble between me and the blind. I tried to get around him, but he was already down on the ground.”

The gobbler eventually moved, allowing Carson to reach his blind. Before settling in, he deployed the PURR-FECT PAIR 15 yards in front of the blind. He set the hen in a feeding position, with the jake nearby, facing away from the blind. “I knew there was a mature tom in the area, so I wanted the jake to tick him off,” he said. “I set the jake to where the tom would have to come face to face with it.”

Carson settled in for the long haul. He clucked, purred and let out soft yelps for the next few hours. But his attempts to lure in the tom failed to produce even a single gobble. He eventually dozed off. “I woke up and just let out a soft yelp on my slate call to see what would happen,” he said.

Almost immediately, a gobbler sounded off within 60 yards. By this point, Carson was still waking up and caught completely off guard. He heard gobbling again. Turns out, it wasn’t one longbeard, but two.

“They were coming down the edge of a pipeline,” he said. “One hooked out farther, and the other walked right into the middle of the decoys and strutted like he wanted to fight.” Carson ranged the distance at 16 yards, took aim and let fly an arrow. The turkey flopped and expired not far from the decoys.

After Carson settled down, he thought just how lucky he was that the hunt played out the way it did. He said the tom likely wouldn’t have come in if it wasn’t for the visual provided by his Montana decoys. “The realism of Montana decoys is hard to beat,” he said. “They’re so lightweight and compact; they’re just simply easier to use.”