I have been turkey hunting for sometime, and I believe we have the biggest birds in Pennsylvania especially here in Susquehanna County . There are three excellent gobblers with hens coming into the property for a month, and as the cool days turned a bit warmer, several times during the day, each larger than the other. They are all chasing hens and making a racket. I have seen the "Boss Gobbler" mate several times before the season began.

The consent gobbling during the day was not helping my mental state at all. No matter where I went, I heard gobbling even in my Dentists chair. I began to make hunting plans for harvesting of two Susquehanna gobblers. It is a day before the season's opener and am having a hard time waiting for tomorrow morning. I have been pacing all day checking and re-checking my "possibles bag" and bow.

Well the opener is here, I woke up an hour earlier, which was not by my choosing. I showered, dressed, ate breakfast, and I was out before sunup. As the morning light broke through the chilly darkness, I waited for the usual naval barrage of shotgun blasts. To my amazement, I heard distance gunshots however; none in my immediate area and this remained constant for the season. We had good weather for hunting during the first three weeks. I have my "possibles bag" filled with two calls with other essential gear and my trusty tomahawk and my Father's WW2 bowie knife. I positioned my new Bob'n head decoys in front of my blind. I waited and shortly I heard gobbles coming from two directions. The first gobbler came in, appeared intimidated by the mating pair, and ran off with his hens. Fearing this decoy was going to risk me of getting a shot at a gobbler, I removed the decoy from my setup.

At 11am , a hen walked out of the woods with a large "love stricken" gobbler in tow. I waited for the gobbler to get into a good position before I released by arrow. He must have caught some movement, I released the arrow and hit the ground short of the gobbler and I watched him run into the woods. Many adjectives were said in the blind that morning.

It was not until four days later until I harvested my first turkey of the season. My luck played out the same for those previous three days. Today was my son's 27 th birthday. I harvested my first turkey on his 18th birthday. I made one series of yelps, a few cuts, using my Eastern Assassin Turkey Call. After I called, I first saw what I believe to be a bobcat, came bounding in looking around for the hen. Not finding a hen, it went quickly back into the woods. What a great sighting that was, it was my second Bobcat I have seen on my property since living here. A Short time after the Bobcat left a gobbler came in gobbling with a hen and jakes. The jakes were as large as he was. The gobbler was obviously looking for the hen who called. I could see the gobbler was unsure, thinking to himself, it was a dangerous place to be, he looked around, and he watched the other turkeys scratching the ground searching for insects. I waited until he turned and drew back on my bowstring. Nevertheless, he caught the movement and started to run. I released my arrow that flew with the precision of a guided missile that penetrated him in a quartering away. He somersaulted hit the ground running into the woods and succumbed. I was so happy I was speechless. After composting myself, I called my wife to bring the camera down and the Ranger to my hunting area. When I weighed him he was a bit over 25 pounds, eight inch beard and three-quarter of an inch spurs.

After taking a few days off from hunting, I went out one morning around 7:20 am . I was happy to be out and not worrying about anything else but, turkey hunting. I walk silently to my blind I planned my strategy. I set a decoy out and returned to the blind. I decided to use the shoot through mesh on the blind's windows. I do not like shooting from the mesh but I had to if I wanted to stop the gobblers from spooking and my frustration.

Iopened my "possible bag" to retrieve my Eastern Assassin Turkey Call. I made six to seven yelps and placed it back in my bag. I picked up my book and began to read. Sometime between when I began to read and when I looked up (a short time) a jake was standing in front of my blind. Putting my book down to grab my bow, another jake walked in. Leaned to my left to see a bit more to the right I saw a gobbler slowly walking in with another jake. I waited for a good position, which felt like an eternality. I next began to shake with anticipation. Once the gobbler was in close shooting position, I released my arrow that flew through the shoot mesh and into the bird. He flew up about eight feet, flew into a small wooded area, and crashed to the ground. I saw the gobbler was thrashing so I remained in my blind waiting for him to expire. When he gave his final thrash, I opened my blind slowly, nocked another arrow and slowly walked over to him. He piled up between two trees. I carried him out with pride; I called my wife, to bring the camera and the Ranger down to my hunting blind.

My season is best described as an excellent. This was for a few reasons. For my area in which I live, there was little if not any hunting pressure during the first three weeks. I noticed that the hens were becoming uninterested with the gobblers and when the gobbler heard a new hen in the area, they stayed around to find her. The birds remained on their pattern during that time and I filled both of my tags. One other reason is I saw how effectively my Eastern Assassin Turkey Call worked; I truly believe this call made all the difference for me to be successful this season. A friend of mine, Doug Totty makes this call. These calls are handmade and they are a baffle suction call of his design. I have two of his calls and I recommend any serious turkey hunter to invest in this call. You can contact him and visit his web site at, www.easternassassinturkeycalls.com. He will supply you with an audio tape with instructions how to use it. I will tell you, you will not regret it.

I will close my article with this best tip, practice, practice, and practice with your bow and calls. If you take my advice and buy one of Doug's calls practice with it before the season opens. You too will be able to hunt turkeys The Eastern Assassin Turkey Call Way forever, and be amazed with the results. Safe hunting!