Westerners often take it upon themselves to just “do it.” We did it this weekend, turkey hunting the Western way. I apologize for not having a video of the event. I only have two hands and both were busy holding decoys up so wary turkeys could see some movement for my son Cole to get a shot. I’ll make this short and sweet.

Cole had another turkey tag so we’ve been trying to fill it. He wanted to bypass the blind so our setups have been on the ground and in the open.

We worked a stubborn gobbler for about an hour to no avail. To give the gobbler better visibility of the decoys, I borrowed a horse from a nearby corral and hid behind it to get into some grass 20 yards from Cole so I could work my mounted hen decoy like a puppet. It perked the tom, but he still held tight. Suddenly, my commotion grabbed the attention of four jakes we hadn’t seen. Cole was hunkered and ready as the jakes eyed my hen and came running to the rescue. As they sized up the situation, Cole let one fly with his Mathews HELI-m and dropped a lover boy in his tracks.

To make up for the missing video, take a look back at Cole’s first archery turkey last season. We were surrounded by gobblers, but even with the odds stacked against him, Cole prevailed. Keep the faith. The birds may be warier, but they still can be duped with some ingenuity.