My eleven year old son Sean and I quietly climbed into the camo turkey tent blind and waited for sun-up. This was his first time on a turkey hunt and although he couldn’t hunt yet, he was just as excited as I was.

My plan was to sit in the tent until I heard a gobble, than take off after the turkey and get as close to him as possible, than call him in and shoot him. If we couldn’t call a tom in, than we would return to our blind and hunt the strutting field.

The blind was set up in the middle of a wooded tree line with alfalfa fields on both sides. We had two decoys on one side of us and two on the other side. No matter which field the birds came into, they’d see our decoys. The day before we saw turkeys strutting and feeding in one of the fields, so we knew the area was good. The blind was camouflaged well with natural vegetation.

As it began to get light out we still hadn’t heard a gobble. "Were stuck in here until the birds get down from their roost" I told Sean. Just than, the first tom sounded off with a thundering gobble. Another tom answered him. I let the both of them yell at each other for about fifteen minutes when I decided to do a few yelps and clucks with my diaphragm call. They answered me immediately. I did a loud fly down cackle while beating on my chest imitating wing beats. They kept on gobbling. Now I gave them the silent treatment. No matter how bad I wanted to call I didn’t. I explained to Sean my tactic and making the toms think I’m not interested might make them jealous enough to come to us. This is provided they don’t have hens with them. If they do, than I’ll have to try and call the hens to me with the toms tagging along.

Sure enough the toms got off the roost and came into the field to investigate. They were over two hundred yards away in the field and couldn’t see our decoys yet. They gobbled and gobbled trying to get me to respond. Then I saw the two hens with them. I immediately began cutting excitedly and loudly trying to pull the hens in. The four of them came slowly closer and when they saw the decoys they were convinced we were the real deal. They stopped about thirty yards out and I sent my load of nitro mag number four’s their way. The big tom lay still and Sean thought that was about the coolest thing he had seen.

The day before turkey hunting opens I like to set up a turkey blind in a central location of the area I will be hunting. This blind is a two man camo tent. This was our base camp for the five day Wisconsin spring season. Usually I hunt with my son’s or Uncle and it gives us a good meeting place while staying in the woods.

Now that the hunting hours in Wisconsin go until sunset, it can make for a long day in the field. I’ve even taken it a step further this year. I will be putting out two turkey tents. Each will be fully supplied the day before with comfortable chairs, food, water, shells, decoys, a spare set of clothes and spare calls. Talk about being prepared.

Staying in the woods is a key in all hunting. You can’t shoot your animal if you’re in your camper taking a nap. If you’re taking a quick nap in the turkey tent you just might hear a gobble. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all eaten in the tent. The blinds are waterproof and camouflaged. Their comfortable and the turkeys can’t see you moving around.

You certainly can hunt out of them but you can also leave them to chase a gobbler in the morning or move on one later in the day. Instead of listening to a two way radio all day you can just meet up with your partner at a certain time at the base camp.

You should also keep in mind that the turkeys will notice this new obstruction in their territory. Break up the outline of the blind with tree branches, leaves and dead stumps. Keep the blind in the woods at least a few yards so a turkey in the field won’t zero in on it.

They range in price as well as size. For around $75-$100 you can get a two man dome that you can even shoot your bow out of. They are suppose to fold up for easy transportation but most are pretty difficult to close up. I just carry mine in the woods open.

Try the base camp turkey hunt and stay in the fields or woods all day.

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