Welcome to my 2009 Turkey Season Journal.  The Maryland turkey season begins this coming Saturday, April 18 and I am fired
up!  Friday I have John Brown jr of BOSS Outdoor Productions coming into town and we are going to be filming another turkey
hunt for American Hunter Television.  Last year we were successful on day 2 and captured some phenomenal turkey hunting
footage.  It is going to be very, very tough to beat that one.  That hunt will air sometime this summer on Outdoor Channel and
when I get the word as to the date, I will post up.

I will try to update this section after every hunt and include as many pictures as I can.  For the time being, check out my 2 new
friends that arrived yesterday from DSD Decoys in Oregon.  These are the most incredible custom turkey decoys I have ever
seen.  The attention to detail is spectacular and although they don't collapse like some other manufacturers decoys, they are light
weight yet heavy duty and very transportable.  Each come with their own carry bag.  If these can't fool the smartest of Tom's, I
don't really know what will!!
My 2009 Turkey Season Journal
April 15, 2009
April 18, 2009
What a turkey opener!!  John Brown jr and the family came up from South Carolina and we managed to get his little girl her first
turkey and it was captured on film.  As we were going through the post kill interview we could clearly hear several gobblers in the
distance but one was really close.  So we got back in the hunting position and didn't have to work to hard to convince the next Tom
to come in and check out the spread.  My good friend Denny was along with us and we managed to get him is FIRST Tom as
well.............all on film!  

I absolutely love turkey hunting but I really enjoy taking first timers.  It was a special privilege for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the
experience!!  Congratulations Brice Brown & Denny Quillen!!
Congratulations Brice!!!
I teamed up with Jim Thompson of Tuckahoe Video Productions this week and it was a tuff couple mornings.  The birds were not
very vocal and what was vocal had hens.  They were simply being turkeys.  The last 2 days of hunting never even produced a
gobble!!  Thanks for all the hard work Jim.
April 21-25, 2009
April 28, 2009
Of all the days not to have a video camera in the woods!  I have been working hard the last couple sunny days working ground and
planting food plots for customers.  My two guys that work for me have been non stop prepping ground so I can move in and plant.  
So trying to turkey hunt the first hour of daylight then hopping on the tractor has been taking its toll.  Since this morning was going
to be the last day of sunshine for a few days, I headed out on my own.  I decided to try and move in on a bird I have tried to kill a
few mornings last week, but approach from a totally different angle.  Rather than trying to call him into open timber, I opted to try
the swamp approach.

He was gobblin pretty good on his own by 530am and I quietly slipped through the swamp to him.  Got within about 100 yards and
setup with the decoys only about 10 yards from me.  The swamp skunk cabbage had grown up the last couple days and I had just one
small clearing in which to setup.  I never picked up the call till about 10 minutes to 6 and after a few tree yelps he turned on the
limb and started gobbling to me so, I backed off the calling completely.  Around 6:05 I could hear hens yelping in the same tree he
was in so I decided to pour on the gas began to cut hard.......he responded with double and triple gobbles.  The hens started cutting
and carrying on and at this point I figured my chances of pulling that bird was slim to none.  

The Tom never stopped gobbling regularly and he suddenly busted out of the tree and literally soared down INTO the decoys from
100 yards like a goose and puffed up right away in full strut.  I had the gun on him and "click!"  I knew I had a shell in the gun but
it did not fire.  I pulled the hammer back again and BOOM.........she fired and he hit the dirt.  The shot was about 15 yards and for
him it must of felt like getting hit with a roll of quarters.  I have never had a shell fire on the second try and in all honesty I can't
believe it actually went off the second time around.  Absolutely and awesome, awesome experience!!