Opening day of the 2022 turkey season in Iowa, I confidently purchased the initial season. This is a risk as it only lasts three days, but my confidence was high. I am the only hunter allowed on this ground other than the land owner and it is a general meat market.
There is my man “Funky.” He is doing his thing standing like a statue waiting for some big tom to come and beat him up. He has a defender, however sitting back to the one side of the tree, and if a tom gets close, he goes to the oven.
An old turkey hunter told me that most big toms are harvested between and 8 AM and 1 PM. Over the years, I have found this to be true and no longer get up before it is daylight to be on a spot before they come off the roost.
On the farm just before 8 AM, I was set up by 08:30. It is mid April in SW Iowa and there is little cover as the cold has lasted later than normal. What is really interesting is we only had one snow storm, otherwise there was no moisture. If you are farming this is not good.