This time of year with the foliage being pretty much full, if you're not on-top of the birds and they're not vocal, you won't see a thing and you won't learn anything for future hunts. So rather than hunting an unscouted spot, I slept in and decided to do some driving around in hopes of locating some present roosting locations.

Morning was slow. There wasn't much field activity at all. I didn't feel very much ahead of things, so I was getting caught up on some chores at home. While putting in some can-lighting, I looked out in my back field to see the thick-bearded tom again! I would need to act fast.

Still in shorts and sandals, I threw on some camo and blasted out the door for my popup blind, already situated in a know travel corridor for the birds that travel my field. Wife and baby were gone to a baby shower so I'd have a couple hours to wait him out. It's early in my season yet and I intend to crack one on video with my bow, so that certainly adds difficulty, What would ordinarily be a belly-crawling, shotgun stalk, becomes a sit-and-wait game in my Double Bull...both have their plusses and minuses.

Two hours later and the tom was a no-show. He'd given me the slip. I headed into the house to regroup and head to my evening spot, but Jennie was hurting from a bad headache so I stayed in to watch Jacob (our 3-month old baby boy). Better days ahead!