I drew a tag for South Dakota’s Prairie unit; I was excited because I always seem to do well there. But my usual spot turned out to be a letdown this year, so I decided to hit a new public area. Hearing distant gobbling, I headed in that direction but the path wasn’t easy. Steep hills and cedar-choked ravines made it difficult to quickly close the distance, but I eventually found a nice-looking spot on a hilltop. I called and a gobbler sounded off nearly 1 mile away, but he sounded interested. I could see through my Weaver binocular that he was slowly heading my way. The next time he gobbled, he was 100 yards away on the next ridge and coming fast.
ScoutLook told me it would be raining all day, so I geared up accordingly and decided to hunt anyways. I was certainly relieved to see a sunny forecast for Day 2.