Hunting in a cypress swamp in SW Florida on opening day. The same swamp John and I scored a daily double last year. This year we actually set up our blind in what was under 3 ft. of water last year. Scouting last week we heard three different gobbles directly behind where we would set up. I was hoping they would come from our right and they did--very early looking like it would be a repeat of past hunts--gobblers coming in with hens to attack B-mobile and dying in the process but instead this gobbler is leaving with hens??? Then it became very quiet for 90 minutes--finally a hen came in the arena and left. We had two hen decoys--one was in mating position in front of a B-mobile. Then two more came in --and they looked very closely at all the decoys-----looking behind I saw the two big boys--what we call waist highs--because that's how tall they are when they stretch their neck to look with their red heads. They were a safe distance 75 yards away in thick cypress woods--but definitely keying in on B-mobile. But tentative. B Mobile had been the golden ticket the past three years on opening day often bringing in angry gobblers laiden with hens--today it seemed to be detrimental--perhaps that's why they left earlier in the morning. Finally they moved out very tentative--although I'm not so sure it was more to follow the hens than deal with B-mobile. They got in that so- so shooting distance around 50 yards-- moved a little closer then seemed to yield away--it was my turn to shoot and it looked like B-mobile had them spooked-- unfortunately I hesitated trying to decide which one was a better trophy--but my hesitation--and I'm talking 1-2 seconds-- allowed perhaps the bigger of the two--or at least the dominant gobbler of the two--to get behind a tree for me and I then quickly shot the second one--still a great turkey. But my hesitation may have cost John a chance at the shot for our "normal" opening day double. The dominant gobbler moved out of range--turned around when we called--we thought he would come back but he didn't. Sorry John--next shot is yours. He who hesitates is lost-and I'm afraid it cost you today.
Anyways still a heck of a bird-- 11" maybe 11 1/16" beard, 1 1/4" and 1/1/8" spurs and 18# although I question our scales--seemed much bigger than a 20# plus bird I killed 2 years ago. Gun Stats include Browning 12 ga. Indian Creek .645 choke, Hevi 13 3.5" #6's and the shot was 45 yards at about 9 am. Called with Lynch box call and a David Halloran pot call and moouth call. But the big one may have got away.
This shows our decoys although we actually had one hen iin front of the gobbler
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j316/LarryMac3/020-2.jpg)
This is the cypress woods the Gobblers came from
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j316/LarryMac3/023-1.jpg)
And here is the finished product--probably my best longbeard
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j316/LarryMac3/019-1.jpg)
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Nice bird, congrats! :z-guntootsmiley:
Nice bird. Congrats. :icon_thumright:
Nice turkey,,,well done..
Congrats! :icon_thumright:
Congrats on the nice bird..Mike :you_rock:
Congrats! :icon_thumright:
Congrats on the gobbler!!! :icon_thumright: Beautiful place to hunt too!!
Great Turkey!Congrats!!!! :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
Great job, patience pays off for ya!
Congrats!
Nice bird ! Congrats !
Way to go man! :icon_thumright:
Congrats!!
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Congrat's
Congratulations on a good bird!
Almost missed this post here on OG. We may need to start thinking about acquiring a jake fan. It could make a difference at times. Those birds yesterday were very intimidated. I saw this same behavior, not to the same degree, early during the Ohio season last spring. Of course both encounters ended in a dead bird so they worked out. Not quite as dramatic as when they rush up and start beating on the decoy however. Thanks again.
thanks for sharing.. congrats on the turkey :groupwave:
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Nice bird :icon_thumright: