A distance of 125 yards separated us, but it didn't take him long to close the gap. The big bird pivoted and zigzagged, never coming out of full strut. When he was roughly halfway to my position, I picked up my Mathews Switchback XT from its holder and rested it on my boot. The mature bird hit patches of sunlight as he got closer, and the iridescence of his feathers was beautiful. His beard protruded well below his chest, and I could hear his wings dragging the ground and the telltale sound of spitting and drumming.

As I'd drawn it up in a huddle, the big bird circled the jake decoy and walked between it and the hen. He turned to face the year-old plastic intruder, and my bowstring came to its familiar anchor point. A bird in full strut facing away has a built-in bull's-eye at the base of its tail fan where I hoped to send my Magnus Stinger BuzzCut broadhead. My 20-yard pin settled on that, and the arrow was gone in a flash.

I knew I'd hit him as he started to walk off slowly. I reached for another arrow and looked back up in time to see him wobble, take a few more steps and fall over. He traveled less than 20 yards and never twitched after he hit the ground. A quick glance at my watch told me that it was 7:30 a.m. -- my season was off to a fine start!

* * *

Several changes have been implemented for the 2008 Kansas spring turkey season, the first of which involved increasing the permit quota in Unit 4 in southwest Kansas. They'll go from 200 permits to 325 permits. These permits have been available on a draw-type basis (rather than over-the-counter like most of the state), and the demand has almost been met in many years.

"Our bird numbers are increasing in that part of the state, and we're about to meet demand, as we had 286 applicants for those 200 permits last year," Pitman said. "We felt we could up that to 325 to meet demand and still retain some level of control of harvest, and after two or three years if we're still meeting demand and bird numbers are still strong we might try to go over-the-counter like we have everywhere else."