Turkey season was off to a bad start when I was awarded my third choice D week. In New Jersey, segment D is the last two full weeks of the season. By then everything has greened up, the weather is hot, and the ticks and chiggers are out of control. The turkeys that have survived are call shy. They've heard every call in the book and have developed lock jaw. As soon as they fly down they go silent. Monday morning started off very slow and I didn't hear a thing until late in the day when I had a gobbler answer my call one time and go silent. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get him to answer again. Tuesday was even worse, and I didn't hear a thing all day. So, right before dark I went to the area where I heard the bird the day before. It turned out to be a good move. I saw three gobblers and a hen out in the field. I watched them until they entered the woods to roost right at dark. Right then I knew where I needed to be first thing in the morning. Wednesday morning my plan was to walk in without a light, set out two decoys, a hen and a pretty boy strutter, sit quietly without calling and let the decoys do the work for me. It was windy and just as it was getting light enough to see, one of my decoys blew over. I had to sneak out and set it up again. As I was sitting back down I heard something about 20 feet over my left shoulder. It was a hen! She started putting and carrying on, then flew out across the field. I thought I blew it and my day was over, when farther back I heard another bird. Within minutes the three gobblers started firing off one after the other. They stayed up in the trees gobbling back and forth for about 45 minutes, then all went quiet. I knew what that meant. I turned on my red dot sight and got ready. A few more minutes went by and I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Two long beards side by side, were making a B line for the decoys. They were just about to give the pretty boy a beat down when they separated enough for me to take my shot. I ended my season with a 16 lb bird that had a 9 3/4" beard and 1" spurs. 
