Michigan Gobbler Down

[zeus26]

Called this fella and a jake in for my buddy this morning at 7am.  They split off from a group of hens to inspect the DSD jake and hen (who happened to be cutting rather excitedly on the Twisted Sister).  Buddy dropped him in his tracks at about 8 yards while in full strut with the stick and string.  He's at least a 3 year old bird with a 10-1/2" beard and spurs of 1-1/8 and 13/16".

[captin_hook]

Awsome, Congrats.

[redarrow]

  What general area of Michigan were you hunting.

[zeus26]

What general area of Michigan were you hunting.

Mid-Michigan.  How's the season been going in your neck of the woods, Redarrow?

[redrivergar]

Congrats to ya'll!

[beagler]

Nice!

[Spring Creek Calls]

Great Michigan bird, congratulations!

 

[redarrow]

What general area of Michigan were you hunting.

Mid-Michigan.  How's the season been going in your neck of the woods, Redarrow?

Terrible ! Actually it was an awesome season with no birds taken. Lots of action but too many hens. Still one of the most exciting seasons i've ever had.

[Thunderbolt]

Congrats that's a great looking bird!

[zeus26]

Thanks, he was a stud!

I'm fascinated by the hierarchy of turkeys, and these two this morning peaked my curiosity and interest.

Off the roost, we heard the mature bird gobble, but no jake gobbles, which isn't hard to understand.  When they hit the field that we were in, the mature bird strutted as the last bird in the line of birds (hen-hen-jake-him).  Once I cranked up the cutts and excited yelping, he double-gobbled and the JAKE started jogging in once he/they heard this and saw the decoys, with this mature bird about 20 seconds behind.  The jake's head and snood showed that he was totally in the mood (which surprises me that he was allowed to show this level of interest).  After my buddy sealed the deal on the tom, the jake continued to hang out in the area (the hens had continued in to the next field) clucking loudly, but he didn't thrash the tom, which kind of surprised me because it almost seemed like he was pushing the envelope all along, why not take the opportunity to jump a notch on the totem pole and lay a whoopin on the big guy while he's down?  A short while later we saw the jake strutting with the hens (and shock gobbling at a rumble of thunder) and acting like the big guy on the block.

While the 3 year old (plus?) tom and the jake were definitely not "equals," they were must closer to being on equal ground than I expected.

Good times!

[tomstopper]

Congrats.

[surehuntsalot]

nice looking bird....congrats