That Monday afternoon, I met Michael and Phillip in the big town of Powderville, MT. They had made the three hour drive up from Sundance, WY after slamming 3 birds on camera that morning. I don’t think anybody actually lives IN Powderville. If they do it is inside the post office which is unlike any post office you’ve ever seen. Also, it’s the only building where two dirt roads meet.

We had just enough time to get their gear unloaded and hook them up with Kenny Boschee, one of Bill Perkins’ guides, who had seen some turkeys the day before just downstream. Meanwhile, Dan, Hugh and I returned to the big cottonwoods where we’d gotten on turkeys that morning. While our afternoon was fairly slow, the sound of Michael’s Benelli waking up down river gave us hope that we’d be watching free turkey hunting video on the camp television later that night!

Sure enough, Waddell and Culpepper weighed in with an awesome hunt! I accused Phillip of breaking out the paint and brushes. His footage of the kill looked like a masterpiece. Absolutely beautiful!

Sure enough, Michael hadn’t been in camp more than two hours and his first Big Sky bird is being skinned out back.

That night I had a hunch. There was talk of weather moving in on Wednesday and from experience I knew that weather fronts bring lots of wind. Something I don’t like. So anyway, I talked Bill into driving us all the way around to the other side where Harman and I had hunted the year before. I loved that place and there were definitely turkeys there.

It wasn’t as simple as it sounds. As a crow flies, the other property was probably only 10-12 miles away, but you had to drive North to the closest river crossing and back down to the other place. It would take close to an hour to get there!

That was OK, I knew it would be worth it.

We left camp at 3:30 the next morning. Phillip only lasted to the end of the driveway before he was zonked out, the result of too many turkey hunting mornings. Michael and I talked for about 10 minutes before he checked out, leaving only me and Bill to converse about many topics but mainly Harman, what stage of the rut he was in and his college choice (Georgia Tech). I’m glad Bill didn’t doze off on me.

We pull into the property, shut off the engine, step out of the truck and . . . they they are!
Multiple gobblers sounding off 300 yards away! Now ol’ Culpepper can wake up as quick as he can doze off!

This was the most PERFECT morning! Clear skies, NO WIND, 48 degrees with an expected high of 70. Looking back it was the best morning of the entire season.

Michael, Phillip and I eased up through the cottonwoods and settled in as the toms commenced to gobbling. Soon, Phillip could see strutters at the back end of a narrow field. Michael crawled several yards to our left and put out the Montana Decoy Strutter so if a bird worked his way around the slight bend in the field he’d see the decoy. It worked like a charm!

A big longbeard had broken off from the other turkeys just slightly (probably with no intention of coming all the way in) but when he saw the strutting decoy it was on!

Here he comes. Running! In full strut! I think Michael and I were actually gigglin’ as I shot the bird at 6 steps in self defense!

Well, we carried him back to the farmhouse, had some coffee, retold the story to Bill, rested a little and walked outside to hear more gobblers between the house and the river.

Here we go.

This time Michael’s up. We hit the river, circled around using the high bank to our advantage, peeked over into the flat and spotted 3 longbeards.

Slowly, we set up and begin calling. Before long the dominant bird was headed our way and the Benelli couldn’t stand it any longer. Michael had his second Powder River tom in less than 24 hours!

What a way to end the trip! A absolutely awesome trip with Bill Perkins. If you want to experience the Powder River spring fling give Bill a call at (406) 232-1194.