So glad that Russell was able to make the trip and it was a blast. I told him that I would be surprised if we did not at least see a bird and be in the game a couple times during his trip but I was surprised at how good the hunting was, especially this early in the season. I think 2012 was the last time I remember seeing the amount of Toms we were seeing on the farm. I can honestly say that we saw at least 8-10 different mature birds, and 6-8 jakes. Have no clue how many hens we saw total.
It was quite exciting to watch Russell kill that first Tom, those TSS 9s trucked him. It was also a great relief that Russell killed him a bird, as a host you want your guest to get one if possible. The pressure was off of us both now and we could hunt with some patience.
I wish that I would have communicated better that all I was looking for was a full fanned mature bird so that Russell could have hammered the young Tom on Friday morning. It was a great show that the jakes and the tom put on. You could tell those three jakes must have tripled teamed him a time or two as he wanted nothing to do with them. We did have one jake get pretty close, but we got plenty of strutting and some gobbling.
After that set up we kind of moved around a little and saw some birds but for this reason or that reason we never could get too close to them. They either were nervous or when we made our move and tried to find them they had disappeared. The last set up of Friday is where action picked up again. We set up at the back of a large field that had a good bit of sign in it. We could see the field fairly well but not as well as some of the others. Russell had a little better view, let alone he does not need binos to see into the next county, then I did of the field. We had a hen kind of work around the field early so if nothing else we saw a bird.
A little bit later Russell sends we a text, we were a little far apart to talk quietly, that there is a strutter in the dip of the field. I get ready and am about to pull every muscle in my neck to see him when the next text reads, just kidding. What can I say, he got me good. Anyway, we are calling every so often and start seeing more hens moving around. Then Russell says he sees three Toms, but when we get the glass on them it is jakes again. They are out there strutting and aggravating the tar out of the hens. Well it is getting close to fly up and the jakes act like they are going to go away from us so we start calling aggressively to mess with them, why not? We are doing excited yelps and cutting, going back and forth when they look over and decide to walk our way.
They come walking over at a quick pace, kind of strutting, and we got them gobbling a bit. During this fun/commotion we hear a bird start burning it up in the field that Russell killed his first bird in. On this property the birds usually do not gobble too well in the evening and when one does he is pretty worked up. Well this one was burning it up on the ground. Finally the jakes went on and we heard them fly up. The other bird was still hammering, but it sounded as he was in the tree. I had a pretty good idea where he was and said that is where we will be in the morning. After walking out and leaving him still gobbling we set up the plan for the next day. We had a bit of a walk so we were going to get out a bit early than we did the day before.
I hope that I can share the excitement of this hunt through my words. I honestly have to say it is one of the best hunts I have ever been on, hopefully the story does not disappoint after this short build up.
We get back to the field and as we walk I kind of explain where the bird is and what I think they will do. I am 99% sure they will come to the field we are setting up on and I am 95% sure I know how they will come out. We decide to set back in the same set up of when Russell killed his bird even though I thought they would enter the field about 150 yards down. This set up gives us a great view of the entire field and allows them to see the decoys very well. I was also scared to set up too close to where I thought they would be as I was not sure how far in the wood line they would be.
We get set up and after a little bit our bird starts to gobble. He is not hammering like he did the evening before but is gobbling well enough. Not too long after that we hear the jakes start rattling some. The jakes kind of worried me and Russell called it. He said, "I think those jakes are going to come over here with any kind of commotion." Any way our bird is gobbling, the jakes are gobbling, we hear two in the distance gobbling, and then we hear another one that is around the bird we were after gobbling, he was a little deeper in the woods. Finally we can tell they have hit the ground.
A hen kind of flies out to the field and she is feeding around a bit but acting really nervous. We are calling and getting responded to. All of a sudden a longbeard runs out into the field about 125-150 yards down gobbling and strutting. He is just staring at us and strutting. He kind of acts like he is working his way to us slowly when all of a sudden he kind of takes off across the field, still strutting and looking back toward us but something has him weary.
A loud mouth hen has made her way to the field and she is trying to cut off our calling every chance she gets but she is kind of following the tom and seems like she is being pushed. Well you guessed it, the next thing to pop out the woods is our three jake friends, gobbling and strutting. The original longbeard is now in the far corner of the field but he is not leaving and acts like he wants to come back. He is walking the wood line down the field kind of slowly. We are yelping and cutting making them all strut and gobble some.
All of a sudden to my right I hear drumming, and it is close. I tell Russell and he says he heard the spit. A few moments later there is drumming again. A minute of two later a tom in strut pops out the woods to our right at 15-20 yards, just as pretty as can be. He looked fake with as red as his head was but he stood there in strut with his head in alert. The first Tom saw him so he started crossing back across the field working his way to us. We neither really had a shot at the second bird where he popped out with out moving some so we just waited and watched.
It did not take long for him to start strutting toward our spread. I see him coming so I get the gun ready for him. He steps into the scope about 20 yards away and I cluck. When he stops he is center of the crosshairs so I squeeze the trigger and he drops. After my attention turns back to where the other bird is he is about 80 yards away from our spread looking in half strut. I start trying to do fighting purrs, but Russell tells me to stop as my head is bobbing from all the excitement. We watch him.
My dead bird starts flicking his tail a little and then the first bird starts mean walking toward him, he picks up pace. When he gets a yard or two from my dead bird Russell clucks, the bird stop and Russell lays down number two. A double with a friend that lives hundreds of miles away on one of the most exciting hunts I have had. It was just incredible. We celebrated and had to run the other birds out the field. It was just so much fun.
We had a few other close encounters, a bird at 60 yards and a pair at 80-85, but for this reason or that reason it just did not come together again. I was alright with that. It was a great time with a good friend and memories that I will cherish for some time.
Man, I love the Spring!
