Last saturday I went with a friend to some ground about 2hrs north. We were into them withing 20 min of set up and soon after a big bird strutted over and bang, he killed his first with an 8in beard, 3/4 inch spurs and about 20lbs. After that the birds were done and a double was out of the question. That morning everything worked like clockwork and you couldn't have asked for a better hunt. I thought to myself that was too easy. I would eat my words yesterday.
We went back to the same field and, I assume because of the full moon, the birds were out feeding before legal shooting time. They say us first but it was still dark enough that they couldn't tell what we were. We hit the ground and crawled back into the tree line to set up.
Over the next 45 min, we had about 40 birds with 5 big toms stutting out, but they were about 200 yards away. One began to strut over but changed his mind and the birds slipped back into the woods. We decided to slip into the creek bed and try to sneak up on them in the woods. After about 100yrds we heard a gobble back the way we came. So we back tracked. Once we got close to where we thought he was we popped up over the cut bank and he was about 75yrds away flirting with a single hen.
When he turned his back we crawled up over the bank and began to move to the edge of the field. It took about 20 min to get within 50 yards.
The hen blew him off and my friend began to call aggressivly even though we did't hav a decoy. He began to strut over. It seemes like forever, only about 5min, but he closed to 26 yards. From a prone position I had to roll to my right a little to get a clear shot. Bang!! 1 bird down. It was one of the best hunts of my life.
Here are the pics: 22lbs, 3/4in spurs and 8 1/2in beard.
We went back to the same field and, I assume because of the full moon, the birds were out feeding before legal shooting time. They say us first but it was still dark enough that they couldn't tell what we were. We hit the ground and crawled back into the tree line to set up.
Over the next 45 min, we had about 40 birds with 5 big toms stutting out, but they were about 200 yards away. One began to strut over but changed his mind and the birds slipped back into the woods. We decided to slip into the creek bed and try to sneak up on them in the woods. After about 100yrds we heard a gobble back the way we came. So we back tracked. Once we got close to where we thought he was we popped up over the cut bank and he was about 75yrds away flirting with a single hen.
When he turned his back we crawled up over the bank and began to move to the edge of the field. It took about 20 min to get within 50 yards.
The hen blew him off and my friend began to call aggressivly even though we did't hav a decoy. He began to strut over. It seemes like forever, only about 5min, but he closed to 26 yards. From a prone position I had to roll to my right a little to get a clear shot. Bang!! 1 bird down. It was one of the best hunts of my life.
Here are the pics: 22lbs, 3/4in spurs and 8 1/2in beard.
