I'll forewarn you, its long and wordy with lots of pictures. I'll try to be brief though.
After finishing up my finals on tuesday at 11 am I drove home and met up with my dad to hit the road by 2. We drove 12.5 hours but managed to pull a few hours of sleep in the truck before daylight. The first morning came with good weather and even better gobbling. We managed to outrun a couple of birds off the limb and blow some opportunities but as the morning went on one bird had covered a couple of hundred yards and steadily gobbled the whole way (gobbled at anything and everything.) After the birds close by had shut down we took off to the loud-mouth, after what was probably his 300th gobble of the morning he finally let loose his last a little after 830. Not much in the way of beard but when you are in a new area and a bird has a full fan he's in trouble.
Traveled to another block and managed to catch a mature bird strutting in a field with the hens walking off and leaving him. Knowing he would be vulnerable we promptly parked the truck and took off to slip around behind him. Once we got close to where we wanted to be we called and were greeted with no response. Called again a few seconds later on a different tube and he gobbled behind us in the draw, as we were trying to gameplan and pick a tree to get on we looked down the hill and could see the tips of his tail fan cresting the ridge so we just hit the deck and watched the show.
Made another move to a small block where a bird responded to the first call we made within earshot of him. Was about as textbook of a hunt as you can ask for. He gobbled we got set up as tight to him as we could and gave him a few yelps before he came strolling in looking for his hen. The only hunt we managed to actually get on film for this trip too.
And that was Day 1(Wednesday) of our trip, we hunted the rest of the afternoon and got very close on several occasions but just couldn't finish off those last 5-10 yards to put them where they needed to be.
After a strong start we were put in our places a little on Day 2, we got 20 mph winds and cloudy skies combined with the sleep deprivation of finals and forgetting the allergy medicine in Arkansas... Not a good mix for this boy. Didn't really even threaten to do any damage to them that day. But Day 3 found us back in the game with lots of birds working the fields that day. Dad managed to wrap his tag on a double bearded bird with the prettiest fan of the trip mid morning on a sneak that got him in front of the bird and his hen.
Saturday morning was another pretty day for us and we got set up on a bird at daylight that had given us some heck on the previous days and I was just a little mad at that one in particular. He pitched out with 7 or 8 hens and went high when I needed him to go low though, giving us the slip one more time. Left him and went towards an area we had set up on a bird the previous afternoon. As soon as we put the truck in park we had a bird gobbling a few hundred yards over. After getting within 100 and sitting down I really figured he would just come on in and finish the deal, he was obviously a very lonely guy. But after an hour long chess match and a couple hundred gobbles we ended up in a random patch of 5 foot tall cedars on the top of a ridge, he was out in the middle of it and obviously had no intentions of moving. So being our last day in that state, I took off towards him with dad staying behind calling to keep him gobbling enough that I could pick my path through the cedars. I ended up slipping to within 7 or 8 yards of this bird and when he would gobble and drum he would actually rattle my chest. After sitting in my front pocket gobbling for what seemed like an eternity he slid over into the one hole I had to shoot through and I let him have it at 4 steps. Incredibly unorthodox and I'm sure some will have a problem with that type of hunt but by far one of the most exciting hunts I've had, wouldn't want to kill them all that way but a rush like none other that day. Hunted out the rest of the morning and had chances, one bird in particular that actually strutted into range but we thought he was going to walk right down the gun barrel in front of the camera so we waited him out only to have him wander back to the ridgetop and go cold again.
State hopped that afternoon and drove 7 hours to the next stop. We roosted a bird that afternoon and the next morning he was willing to be more than a challenge for us, he had at least 8-10 hens and 2 jakes roosted right there with him but around 7:50 a hen got fired up between us and him and he was loving it. We ended up bumping the hen on our way to him, but gladly filled in for her cuts and yelps after she took off the opposite direction of him. No less than 10 minutes after getting started we quickly shut him down with one shot from the 835. Game Over. Best spurs of the trip and another pretty bird for my dad.
That was the only bird we heard or saw in that area and we were more than grateful to manage to knock down the only bird we saw on that property but we had access to a block an hour away and from the description we got it seemed to be more promising. After a quick power nap I threw the camo back on and headed out for some more. As we were driving down the trail we bumped a bird out of the path, so we decided to stop a little shy of where we had originally intended. After walking maybe 200 yards we bumped a hen and 4 jakes that had refrained from gobbling at us not 20 seconds prior, but when we got to where they were standing and called again we were answered by a double gobble. Made a quick set up and had them in sight within the first minute. The trio of birds did it exactly according to script and when the strutter stuck his head up at 15 yards I put it on him, his partner flew about 10 yards before hitting the ground (his last mistake) and dad filled his second and last tag for the day. We had managed to double 10 minutes into the hunt, after grabbing the birds and carrying them back to where our guns were leaned up against the tree and sending out one text message dad let out what could be labeled as a "celebratory" yelp I suppose. Which was promptly cut off by a thunder of gobbles coming in from the back side, they were close and coming fast. Without any time to put masks/gloves on we both went down about the time they rounded the bend in the tall grass. 4 big birds came strolling in looking for all the commotion and when the lead bird got in so tight he knew it wasn't right I quit trying to pick out the best beard and let the closest one take a ride back to Arkansas. I managed to fill the last tag while sitting side by side the first 2 birds of the afternoon. We went from one bird to four birds in a matter of maybe 5 minutes.
Came home with very little sleep, 2200 more miles on the truck, 9 less shells, 9 more beards, and a whole lot more memories. It was the kind of road trip you dream about, everything just came together the way it was supposed to. Ended up seeing a total of 476 birds on the trip (driving/hunting/walking/whenever.) We had some unusual hunts and some textbook hunts but they were all good in one way or another. Great way to cap off a great season. Sorry for the long read, hope you enjoy. And hope we get to do it again ASAP!
