Using an innovative set of decoys can convince a late-season tom to make his last mistake. Photo by Todd Pridemore.

As the first light of morning filtered over the vast crop field before me, gobbles began to roll off the timbered bluff behind me.

Instead of getting excited, though, I felt a sense of panic. I was facing the wrong direction!

Since I was hunting a new piece of property for the very first time, I'd chosen my setup location based on my conversation with the landowners a few days before the hunt.

According to the owners, the birds had been roosting near the west edge of their property -- the direction that I was now facing. Unfortunately, the vocal toms I heard had decided to change their roosting location. They were in a patch of trees about 140 yards behind me.

To make matters worse, I literally could not move. To position myself within shotgun range of the field, I had set up in the only suitable cover I could find: a small lonely cedar tree that sat in an otherwise clean fencerow! Thankfully, the cedar's dense branches prevented the gobbling toms from seeing my backside. Other than the protection of that small tree, I was sitting out in the open with nowhere else to hide.

On top of everything else, I had absolutely no way to look in the direction of the roosted turkeys without being seen. If a tom did approach my setup, I wouldn't see it until he was standing right next to my jake decoy. I made a mental note to never again put myself in such a visually impaired situation while turkey hunting.

That left me with two options. I could move around and certainly spook the toms that were gobbling behind me. Or I could sit tight and try to make the best out of this bad situation. I decided to try to make the best of things, and slowly pulled the calls out of my pack and prepared to begin calling.

After waiting for the gobblers to sound off a few more times, I produced the most seductive yelps my box call could muster.

For the next several minutes we talked back and forth. Then I heard the faint sound of gliding wings. Things were about to get interesting!

Looking out toward my hen and jake decoys that sat in the fresh earth of the crop field, I wondered -- would the unique decoy setup help me harvest a spring trophy once again?