The decoys were set up so they could be seen from an old 4-wheeler trail that came off the mountain.

Just a few minutes after getting them out, Phillips heard a gobbler about 100 yards up the hill. Then he heard some hens and two gobblers responding. Phillips made some calls on his Lynch Jet Slate, and the turkeys gobbled like thunder.

"The hens that were near the gobblers obviously didn't like the competition and pitched down in the direction of the gobblers," Phillips said. "Another gobble indicated that the hens had taken him in the opposite direction."

But then another gobbler sounded off a whole lot closer.

"His next gobble indicated that he was on his way," Phillips noted. "A few minutes later, I saw his black silhouette coming down the 4-wheeler trail."

The gobbler came in a hurry and quickly passed Chip Troy's line of fire before he was ready to shoot.

"This gobbler was ticked off to see two jakes with several hens," Phillips recalled. "His head was cocked and he looked ready to jump on the jakes the whole 30 to 40 yards across the field."

A few steps before he got to the first jake decoy, the gobbler "bowed up," and that's when Phillips let him have a 3 1/2-inch load of copper-plated No. 5 shot.

Phillips said he couldn't think of better medicine than outsmarting a nice gobbler on April Fools' Day.

The tom had a 10 3/4-inch beard and 1-inch spurs and weighed 19 pounds, 2 ounces.

"He's not the biggest bird I've ever taken, but due to all of the adversities, he ranks right up there as one of the best," he said.

Quieter-than-usual toms were reported across the entire Cotton State last year, but this Guntersville hunter's success demonstrates how flexibility and unusual tactics can pay off. Being a good woodsman and observing and understanding what the turkeys are doing is always important, but even more so in a tough season like the one last year.

THE TURKEY SEASON
Alabama continues to be one of the most blessed states in the nation when it comes to hunting spring gobblers. We've got a long month and a half season with a five-bird season limit.

There are thousands of acres of public land on which to pursue the sport if you don't have private ground to access. Even when the action is slow and the toms aren't gobbling their heads off, it's still pretty good.