Well, day didn't start out very promising as it was overcast and raining and I only had a couple of hours to hunt this morning. Nothing talking off roost but around 7:30 I heard 2 shots across road on neighbors property. I immediately became concerned that the old tom that I've been after for 2 years might have met his demise. 2 things kept me optimistic: 1. 2 shots not 1 could mean a miss and 2. My time lapse photos showed him on my property 3 days in a row within 30 minutes of sunset, so I felt he was roosting on my side of the road. I had to leave around 9 to make a 2 hr drive to my youngest grandson's 1st birthday party. All the way there and back I kept telling myself that I was better off hunting him late this afternoon near where I felt he was roosting. I get back around 3:30, jumped in my hunting clothes and hit the woods. Around 4 a lone hen came into my setup and eyes my decoys but wouldn't come all the way in and eventually walked off back toward neighbors property. Around 5:15 I caught movement straight in front of me and here he comes. Head was bright white and wattles fire red as he walked straight toward my decoys. I decided he would try to jump old funky chicken so I laid my gun on funky's head and prepared to let him have it. Seconds ticked by and I knew he should be in my scope by now so I looked up to see where he was. He was moving toward my right and acting spooked (did he see me or did funky's weird look give him pause?). He began to run to my right and as he turned his back to me I spun around and when he paused at 40 yards I pulled the trigger. He dropped like a rock when the Apex #9's hit him and barely moved until I put my foot in his neck. What started as a day of second guessing ended up with one of my better birds in MS. He was 19lbs 13oz, with 11 @ 3/16 inch beard and 1.25 inch spurs. No doubt he was the king of this area and after 2 years of seeing him in pictures with droves of hens I finally saw him myself. He was my goal for this season and whatever comes the next 6 weeks will just be icing on the cake. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200315/114e1450db5670b7b2f8043a1c7c7c02.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200315/021194f54a9a507aa4d44678d9579c8a.jpg)
Nice, congrats. Can't wait for the details
congrats , AWESOME bird!!
Heck yeah Huge congrats, way to start off the season.
Congratulations on a fine bird!
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Beautiful way to start this party. That is a HAWG of a bird!
FC
Atta boy. He'll do just fine. And dandy. If I remember correctly, we got off to a real slow start last year. Breaking the ice on opening day is good luck for us all.
Congrats! Looking forward to doing battle with you fellers this year.