Doubled Up On Opening Day

[fallsflight]

Opening day of turkey was a success.  The first bird that was shot came in the field in the complete opposite corner of the field, diagonally. He was gobbling on the roost pretty good and it was probably around 5:40 when he hit the ground and started walking through the woods to the field.  When he entered the field, he was in full strut and had two hens and one jake with him.  At first it appeared that they were making their way towards us, but after awhile we determined they were heading along the opposite side of the field which would never bring them close to gun range.   

Every now and then the tom would make a run at the jake to push him away from his two girls.  Once we decided there was no way those hens were going to bring that tom anywhere near our girl "Candy" (DSD) that was back out in the field after almost a year of rest, we started getting aggressive with the calls with louder clucks, purrs and some yelps.  Evidently that ol'boy couldn't take the sweet talk "Candy" was producing as he turned to face us.  We said, it looks like he might be coming in; looks like he might be 7 or 8 inches closer! HA!  Well, after a few minutes those inches turned to feet, then feet into yards and in short order he covered a good 150 yards or so; the entire time in full strut. As soon as knew for sure this king of his woods was coming on a string, I put down my call and let my friend continue to work his box call keeping the bird fired up.

It was amazing how quickly he forgot all about those two hens that just weren't cooperating and gave them up to the less than stately jake.  I shouldn't doubt ol' Candy, because since she joined our turkey gear, I have never had birds respond to a decoy like that one.  Once he was close enough to brush the decoy with his feathers he started working around her in a circle while keeping in full strut.  The drumming he was doing was just awesome.  As he came around the decoy, he turned and put the back side of his fan to us, which allowed me to get the gun up and the bird in the scope.  He turned around again so now his bright red, white and blue head was completely visible.  As soon, as he un-tucked his head and raised it slightly I squeezed the trigger and down went the bird with a big puff of neck feathers and without so much as a flop.  Hevi-13 3" #6s did their job once again.

At the sound of the gun fire, a couple more toms gobbled in the field to our right, but far enough back and on the other side of a hedgerow that they did not see us.  We immediately started to work these birds and it sounded like they were getting closer.  I finally was able to spot 4 nice longbeards way up at the top of the field near the tree line.  There were two hens in the field that were walking away from them.  I guess they either had other hens behind them in another field or they weren't in the mood to chase them.  They turned and walked into the tree line and headed into the next field and out of sight. 

We quickly decided to make a move and get to the spot where we last saw them.  I pulled out the friction call and gave a couple clucks and immediately several birds responded with thunderous gobbles.  They were on their way back in.  Brad swung around on the round bale to get a better angle.  The first and only bird to actually come back into our field was a mature bird, but had a thin pencil bearrd.  Brad passed on the shot, knowing he had several other birds with him with much better ropes.  The pencil bearded tom turned and walked back with the others and out of sight, but still very close.  We quickly decided that Brad should move up to where that bird was and lay flat down sniper style.  He was able to do so rolling on the ground which got him up there in quick order.  He was able to stay down and keep hidden due to the terrain and hedge that had many rocks and other things to break up his advance.  Once Brad was in position I started to call with clucks and purrs.  This fired those birds back up and the calls were bringing them right down the hedgerow with fans up and past him.  He had 6 nice long beards (well 5 nice birds with ropes and one with a pencil) to pick from.  With the crack of his gun, Brad had the second gobbler of the 2013 opening morning on the ground.  What a perfect morning!  Now if only the morels were out it would have been even better, but they are not quit ready yet.  Or at least the weather hasn't been right for them I should say.

Both birds we shot were 2 year olds.  Mine had a 9.75 inch beard and weighed 22 pounds. The spurs were .75 inches.  Not sure about the measurements on the second bird yet.  Below is a picture of my bird.  Have to pull the better photos off my camera yet.

[alloutdoors]

Congrats on the birds! Sounds like a fun hunt!

[Gold Spur]

Congrats on a great season... 

[beagler]

Nice!

[trkycaller]

congrats!

[renegade19]

 

[El Pavo Grande]

Congrats!!!

[DirtNap647]

 

[Wrangler95]

Very nice going,congrats!!

[boomer]

Congrats!!

[surehuntsalot]

congrats on the bird