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General Discussion => General Forum => Topic started by: uarobert on March 28, 2019, 10:56:23 AM

Title: First bird of the season
Post by: uarobert on March 28, 2019, 10:56:23 AM
Last Friday, I got on the board with an Alabama Public Land gobbler.

Three days before, a bird busted me. I was sitting on top of a ridge after hearing him gobble a ways down the hill. I heard him walking just over the crest of the hill and had to turn 90deg right to face him. When he showed himself, I had to wait for him to get behind a tree and lean more to the right, making things awkward. I wanted him to get out of strut and get a little closer, but he caught a slight head movement and he was gone.

I decided on Friday that I would go back to the same area. After 5 days of hunting, putting a lot of miles on my legs, and only hearing a single gobble off the roost, I was feeling kinda lazy, so I didn't get out there until 8:45.

I hiked in and got to the area about 10:00. I sat at the top of a steep bottom that I figured they might be in to get out of the wind. This bottom has a knob at the top that makes it fork into two small ones. I didn't hear any response when I walked in, so I sat down on the other side of the knob from the bottom. I sat down and made some hen yelps and cuts with Jake yelps cutting her off and then staged a Jake fight. It wasn't even ten minutes before I heard steps just over the knob. I turn in the right direction and then I see red and white. Next thing I know, there are two gobblers strutting slowly to me. The one bird had a pure white head, so he was ready for action and I figured he was the head man. I had to wait a little bit for them to get closer and to get some distance between them, so I'd only hit one. Just as soon as they were positioned right, I shot the white-headed one.
19 lb
9 3/4" beard
1 1/8" spurs
A shout out to Gooserbat Calls for the OsS mouth call and Mac Calls for the aluminum in birdseye maple call that I used.



(http://i67.tinypic.com/2mi5euo.jpg)

(http://i67.tinypic.com/dlp6b8.jpg)

(http://i64.tinypic.com/jl031k.jpg)

(http://i64.tinypic.com/2rc9ysx.jpg)

(http://i63.tinypic.com/jj0j8o.jpg)

(http://i68.tinypic.com/13yp20n.jpg)

(http://i66.tinypic.com/jhepuw.jpg)
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: Wrangler95 on March 28, 2019, 11:16:05 AM
Very nice gobbler,congrats!! :z-winnersmiley:
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: uarobert on March 28, 2019, 11:30:30 AM
Thanks!
I'm certainly happy with him.
I had to carry him out over a mile, but the walk back was a good bit easier than I expected.
I guess I had a little extra spring in my step.
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: boomer on March 28, 2019, 12:52:57 PM
Congrats

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Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: Bucktale on March 28, 2019, 01:34:57 PM

Nice bird. I like the pics.
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: uarobert on March 28, 2019, 02:07:00 PM
Quote from: Bucktale on March 28, 2019, 01:34:57 PM

Nice bird. I like the pics.

Thanks. I have to give some credit to Cove/Dave. After watching him, I decided I need to put some effort into displaying what The Good Lord put into these birds.
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: kyturkeyhunter4 on March 28, 2019, 03:28:38 PM
Congrats! nice turkey
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: zelmo1 on March 28, 2019, 05:12:56 PM
Well deserved trophy bro, congrats
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: Harty on March 28, 2019, 06:01:35 PM
Congrats. Way to stick with it!

Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: Clydetaylor1 on March 28, 2019, 06:09:58 PM
Good deal !!!!
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: tomstopper on March 29, 2019, 07:10:32 AM
Congrats on a nice one

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Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: renegade19 on March 29, 2019, 07:33:24 AM
 :icon_thumright:
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: daddyduke on March 29, 2019, 04:19:04 PM
Congrats
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: RutnNStrutn on March 29, 2019, 06:15:06 PM
 :icon_thumright:
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: renegade19 on March 30, 2019, 09:06:17 AM
 :icon_thumright:
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: Ctrize on March 30, 2019, 10:55:25 AM
Congrats  nice pics.
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: bear hunter on March 30, 2019, 11:11:35 AM
 :happy0064:
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: shoer2 on March 30, 2019, 11:49:50 AM
Congratulations
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: sasquatch1 on March 30, 2019, 11:58:43 AM
Nice


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Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: uarobert on April 01, 2019, 12:25:35 PM
Thanks, everybody.
It was a good time getting him, even if they were really quiet that week.
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: eggshell on April 01, 2019, 01:36:12 PM
great job, I think sometimes we're better off hunting later. Especially if birds still have hens
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: uarobert on April 01, 2019, 05:28:38 PM
Quote from: eggshell on April 01, 2019, 01:36:12 PM
great job, I think sometimes we're better off hunting later. Especially if birds still have hens

Yeah,
That's what I ended up deciding for the last couple days of that hunt, since I was pretty sure nobody else would go to that area and beat me to it.
I may have also been influenced by sleep deprivation from the days before.
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: Wrangler95 on April 03, 2019, 10:19:19 AM
Very nice Tom,congrats!!  :happy0064: :happy0064: :happy0064:
Title: Re: First bird of the season
Post by: surehuntsalot on April 03, 2019, 03:24:17 PM
congrats