There was a decent rain the night before, but it shut off come morning time. It was a quiet walk to a hardwood flat spot, but I made it in 30 minutes putting me on my cushion at 0550. Light came and nothing......not a peep. I was reluctant to call not knowing where the birds could be and not having heard anything so I sat til 0710 and gave 6 clucks and some purrs. I also scratched some leaves aggressively.
Well......5 minutes later I see them coming. Four mature birds neck and neck running with red, white and blue heads....and right in front of me. The stopped at 50 yards and began spitting and drumming (I assume). I have trouble hearing drumming unless they are real close. They never gobbled! There was a lot of pollen starting to blow and I know they get silent down south when it's like this.
So the first one to get to the 35 yard mark was in the ghost ring. I debated on picking the biggest one, but quickly talked myself out of potentially getting busted. One shot and he went from silent to flopping.
It's not much of a story, but it was an awesome 5 minutes. Walking out I came across a bird strutting in the road 200 yards from my truck.
After 1 horrible year (skunked) and 1 disappointing year ( last year i killed a double bearded Jake, but I was thankful). I will take this lucky season.
I will say, I have put in more off season work than any year before.
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