Editor’s Note: Although country singer Craig Morgan lives in Tennessee permanently, for much of the year he lives on a bus touring the nation, performing his songs. And, coincidentally, the places he puts on his concert tours generally are within easy access of hunting and fishing. A singer for most of his life, Morgan’s only been singing professionally for 15 years. He’s had 15 top-10 hits on the country chart and three number one-songs, including “Redneck Yacht Club,” “That’s What I Love About Sunday” and “International Harvester.” Morgan has been a Mossy Oak Pro for many years, and his TV show “Craig Morgan All-Access Outdoors” appears on the Outdoor Channel. Morgan emphasizes, “My favorite camo pattern has been Mossy Oak Bottomland for years, and I refuse to give it up. I also wear Mossy Oak Break-Up Infinity and believe it’s a great pattern too.”
I have a really-hard time thinking of favorite turkey hunts, because I turkey hunt so much in so-many different places and have so-many memories of the birds I’ve taken, the people I’ve hunted with and the sights I’ve seen. Highlighting one turkey hunt is like my trying to choose my favorite song of all the songs I’ve sung over my lifetime. I’m so eaten-up with turkey hunting that a bad hunt is a good one for me. I was hunting in Florida 2-years ago on private land and took my son and a friend of mine with me. This was to be my son’s first turkey hunt, and I really wanted him to take an Osceola gobbler. I had turkeys in front of us that absolutely refused to come into the call. They were loaded-up with hens, and although I tried every trick in the book, I couldn’t get those gobblers to break free of those hens. I made a few soft purrs and then reached into the back of my turkey vest and pulled-out a Montana turkey decoy. I was holding the decoy in my hand when one of those gobblers broke into a dead run, coming more than 100-yards straight to us. I never had held a decoy in my hand before when I was sitting and looking at turkeys. I was in one of those situations where I didn’t know what to do. I assumed I at least would have time to stick the decoy in the ground. But I barely had time to hold on to the decoy and get off the shot before he was on top of us.
My son already had taken his turkey earlier that morning. He had a little video camera he wanted to film with, while my TV cameraman was running our regular camera. What was funny was when the gobbler was almost in gun range, I had the decoy in my left hand and my gun in my right that I started raising up to my shoulder. When the turkey got in so close so quickly, I dropped the decoy, put it on the forearm of my shotgun and had plenty of time to shoot before the turkey knew what happened. As wild as this tale sounds, we’ve got the video footage to prove that this actually did happen.
I really like my music and touring, but I really enjoy my hunting the most. I’m super grateful for having the ability to earn a living as an entertainer. My recreation is hunting. If God made me choose between the two, I’d have to pick hunting. We play between 100-160 music dates a year. Generally, I’m able to go on 10 or 15 hunts each year, besides turkey hunts, while on the road. Most of my band members are also hooked on hunting. Some of the guys on my tour never have been hunting, but they still wear Mossy Oak camo. I pick musicians for my tour band, and then I turn them into hunters.
County Singer Craig Morgan Enjoys Introducing Non-Hunters to the Outdoors
