Made my way down to Ga. this past weekend for the opener. Hunted about 30 minutes east of Macon in Laurens Co. The place we hunted was pretty neat. It's a family owned farming operation with timber tracts. This family has owned this land and never sold any of it since before the civil war. The amazing part is its 3000 acres. I met my BIL there on Friday. We use to hunt together all the time, but time and distance has put a kink in that for the last decade. He lives in Florida, and I now live in Tennessee and this would be the first time in about 10 years we had got to hunt together. Opening morning we heard 1 bird on the roost that was over the property line. Only gobbled a few times and nothing after fly down. Never heard a peep from anything the rest of the day. We did a little scouting and found a better area. The next morning found us in a big hammock surrounded by pines and clear cuts. We got set up on one on the roost. There was a little rise between us and him. After fly down he gobbled a few times and seemed to be headed our way. Then a hen comes in and starts yelping and cutting from the right. They are just over this little rise and we can't see them. I yelped and cut back at her and she started our way. Before she got to the rise she stopped turned around and left straight away from us out through some pines with mr gobbler in tow. Later in the morning we split up and both got birds to respond. Both times as the gobbler would close the distance we got intercepted by a real hen that lead them the other way. The next day things were a little quieter, we tried to close the distance on a gobbler before daylight, but he was quite a piece away. We decided to separate and I went down in a hardwood swamp drain while my BIL stayed up on higher ground by the pines and clear cut. About 45 minutes after we split up, I hear the 835 roar in distance behind me. After a little while I heard it again. We where probably about 800 or so yds. apart. After that second shot I caught shadows coming from above out of the corner of my eye. Three longbeards had flown downhill across the swamp and landed in the tree tops about 70 yds. in front of me. I waited about 15 minutes and gave them some soft clucks. After about 25 minutes one of them pitched down directly away from me. The other two stayed in the tree for over a hour. Every so often I would slip them some soft talk. They finally pitched down at a angle toward me, but were still about 60 yds. About the time they hit the ground I caught movement to my right. It was a very alert deer that ended up spooking the birds the other direction. Well I get back to the truck to find that my BIL has doubled for the morning. A nice three year old with a 10.5" beard and a two year old with a 9". When he had shot the first bird he said they came in and there was probably 15 hens, about 6 jakes, and 5 long beards. Still in big flocks, kind of explains the minimal gobbling. That afternoon I went to a different hardwood hammock to stay till dark and see if I could roost one. Right before dark I heard wings and a few minutes later he sounded off. I waited a few minutes and hooted. Another bird gobbled to my north. The next morning we were back. Eased in from the east to the to the last bird I had heard the night before. He was roosted in some pines just across a little creek drain from the hardwoods that we set up in. He gobbled pretty good on the limb. Things went quite and I knew he was on the ground. I gave him a series of yelps on the diaphragm and he fired back. This went on for a few minutes, but he wasn't getting any closer. I decided to shut up for a few minutes then went to some soft clucks and purrs. He wasn't gobbling much anymore, and the next time a heard him he had moved away a little. I decided to hit him with some yelps and aggressive cuts. He fired back, then the next time he was back closer. My BIL was behind me and started working some soft calling on the slate while I ran some softer calling on the diaphragm to sound like multiple hens. After about 10 minutes we hear some soft yelps at about 60 yards in front of us just across the little drain in the edge of the pines. I yelped back, then came a thundering gobble. He had committed and was in the edge of the hardwoods. Finally I see his blue head bobbing above some brush. He hit a little opening and broke into strut. He was working to my left. When he hit the next little opening I clucked at him, when he stretched up head to look I let the Ol' Browning talk. Three year old with 9.5" beard, 1 1/8 and 1 1/16" spurs, and weighted 21.8 lbs. All three birds were killed with LB 5's and they performed great. This was my first time ever hunting in Georgia, but I hope it ain't my last.
My BIL's birds.
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/darn2ten/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-03/C01BA09A-7BAF-4184-94FD-F061098372EA.jpg) (http://s1223.photobucket.com/user/darn2ten/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-03/C01BA09A-7BAF-4184-94FD-F061098372EA.jpg.html)(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/darn2ten/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-03/8ED39EA1-83CE-4DB2-8AA7-53B4849354E8.jpg) (http://s1223.photobucket.com/user/darn2ten/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-03/8ED39EA1-83CE-4DB2-8AA7-53B4849354E8.jpg.html)
My bird
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd519/darn2ten/Mobile%20Uploads/image-5.jpg) (http://s1223.photobucket.com/user/darn2ten/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image-5.jpg.html)
Awesome! Nice work!
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Congrats!!!!! :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
Congrats, nice birds!!
:icon_thumright:
Nice. Congrats to you both.....
Congrats!
Huge congrats and awsome story!
great story and nice birds
Congrats
Congrats on a great hunt .
Sounds like a great hunt! Congrats you guys!! :icon_thumright:
Hoping for some action like that this weekend
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Quote from: MouthCaller on March 26, 2014, 07:59:58 PM
Hoping for some action like that this weekend
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Me too! Can't wait for our season to kick off this weekend.
Congrats!!!
where bouts in laurens co. were yall hunting? sounds like jackson land, if so, i live right close to there, would love to come along and video your next hunt, i've got plenty of time to kill my other 2, ( killed one this mrng), i'm laid off from work & just love to be in the turkey woods, i don't care who pulls the trigger i just wanna hear him gobble & see him die, I've been videoing me & my buddies hunts for probably 15 yrs ( got probably 75 kills on tape) i know how to make a good video, if you might be interested, holler back!!
Congrats