After a fairly slow morning off the roost, John Hafner made good on a mid-morning hunt when he belly-crawled into range of a big Montana longbeard.  Montana turkey tag punched on day one!  Congrats John!
Check out John's work at www.johnhafnerphoto.com

Redemption came for me on the opening afternoon of the Montana turkey opener.  After blowing an opp on a big bird on the morning hunt, I managed to get in the right place to catch a tom on his way back to the roost.  Late in the afternoon, a pile of jakes and hens quickly made their way in to check out my Avian-X hen decoy...and then came the boss.  He didn't want to be left out of the mix, so he strutted right up in the midst of the flock to check things out.  I shot him at 8 yards as he strutted around the decoy.  After two years of opening day blunders, redemption was finally mine on day one.
Gear for this hunt:
Mathews Helim - www.mathewsinc.com
Black Gold Ascent Ambush Sight - www.blackgoldsight.com
Trophy Taker SmackDown Pro - www.trophytaker.com
TightSpot Quiver - www.tightspotquiver.com
Easton Axis Arrows - www.eastonarchery.com
Primos Double Bull Blind - www.primos.com
Avian-X Breeder Hen - www.zinkcalls.com

Aside from one major malfunction, I couldn't have asked for a better start to the Montana turkey season than what we experienced this morning.  Everyone did their part...except for me.  My scouting run yesterday revealed the LZ for where the gobblers would hit the ground.  They did the exact same thing this morning.  They responded to every call I made, and then ultimately strolled to within 8 yards.  My 7-year-old cameraboy, Aidan, rolled the camera and captured some beautiful footage.  But at the moment of truth, my arrow didn't clear the window of the blind.  It dumped way low and blew up on a boulder at the feet of the gobbler.  I was sick!  It was the second opener in a row from this same spot that I've come up short on gobblers in bow range.  The opening day curse lives on!  
There are a lot of birds in the area, and with shotguns boomin' this morning on neighboring properties, I'm sure more gobblers will make their way in to this spot.  It's now time for redemption! 

Me and Aidan got out to sling a few arrows at ground squirrels the other day when the temps warmed up nicely in the Bitterroot Valley.  Aidan has come a long way this year on his shooting and his arrows are bombing closer and closer to squirrels standing at the hole.  I drew first squirrel blood of spring on a fatty that didn't dive quite quick enough.  I love this time of year as things warm up and bowhunting opps are breaking loose.