THE CONCLUSION
It was midafternoon and the April sun was hot when I arrived at my favorite perch to begin looking for "rutting" turkeys below. Next to me lay a daypack full of calls, decoys, water, and snacks, and resting against the bulging pack was a short-axle-to-axle BowTech bow set at a comfortable 54 pounds. A high-quality binocular hung around my neck, and my spotting scope stood on a tripod in front of me.

In less than five minutes of looking through the binocular, I had a strutting gobbler, all puffed up and as black as coal, in my view. Switching to the scope, I could make out the striking colors of his feathers and head, and I could see that he had four hens with him. The flock milled around a small opening between cedars at the edge of the creek for a few minutes and began slowly moving south. After noting some solid landmarks, I gathered my gear and set out.

For the first half of the stalk I ran down steep canyon trails with my backpack flopping against my sweaty back. Once at the canyon floor I scoured the distant ravine through my binoculars to try to relocate the birds. Nothing. Then, I got lucky and heard a gobble. It was him, still in the same depression but hidden by thick cedars. I trotted on.

Seeing birds near this location before the season, I had set up a ground blind there. Heading straight to that blind, I staked out a hen decoy and a Jakester tail fan and then slipped into the dark blind and nocked an arrow.

The first rub on my box call produced a loud, aggressive gobble, gobble! The bird was close. But I could not see him, and for the next 20 minutes, the river bottom was silent.

Then two hens appeared in the shadows of a cedar tree, pecking at bugs, and I could hear a hollow drumming and the sounds of wing tips dragging across rocky ground. Finally the strutting gobbler walked out from behind a screen of cedars, and other turkeys continued to appear until I could see five hens, three jakes, and the boss tom.

I took this nine-inch longbeard with an 18-yard shot in April 2004 after first spotting the bird from a bluff and then quickly stalking to a blind I had placed earlier in the canyon. (Photo by Brandon Ray)

I made no sounds. Clearly they had seen my decoys and were headed my way.

At 40 yards two of the jakes went into half strut and advanced toward a hen. The gobbler made a mad dash at them, neck outstretched, angry, chasing the two punks three laps around a cedar tree!

In the fracas they got closer, and at 18 yards the boss stopped to watch over his contented hens. Slinking back into the shadows of the blind I eased the bowstring to my cheek. The tom was broadside, directly in front of my primary shooting window, thick beard swinging from his bronze-colored chest.

The arrow blasted through the boss tom in a blink, and he wobbled scarcely 30 yards and fell over, flapping on his side. The other birds paid little attention until I exploded from the blind to pounce on my prize.

The tom sported a nine-inch beard and spurs exactly one-inch long. The 20-plus-pound Rio added some pleasant heft to my already full backpack as I carried him to an old wooden corral that seemed like a suitable place for some photos. I had thumped a nearly identical nine-inch gobbler the previous spring, almost to the day. It seemed that history had repeated itself. But that's not unusual when you have a solid plan for river-bottom turkeys.

Author's Notes: On the hunt described here, I shot a 54-pound BowTech Liberty VFT bow, Easton Axis shafts, and Rocky Mountain Xtreme 100-grain mechanical broadheads. For concealment I used a Double Bull T5 ground blind and Mossy Oak Obsession camo and Cabela's Camo Tex Leafy 3-D in Mossy Oak Break-Up clothing. For peace of mind in this rattlesnake country, I also wore Cabela's Microtex Snake Guardz.

For spotting I used a Leupold Wind River RB800 8x32 binocular/rangefinder and a 15-30 x 50mm spotting scope. For calling I relied on Lynch and Primos box calls, and enhanced my setup with Delta and Flambeau decoys. All of this gear I carried in a Master Guide Backpack by Crooked Horn Outfitters.

Brandon Ray, 33, lives and stalks turkeys in Texas. For more details on and photos of Brandon's turkey hunting successes, visit www.brandonrayoutdoors.com.