tagged out in ohio!
went to the farm yesterday where those birds where on the back side. well they were there but i think i ended up bumping them as they had a hen and wouldnt work right.
so today i got there early and slipped in tight to where they were roosted yesterday and............ yep you guessed it they were not roosted there but rather 400 yards away. so it turned into a rat race in the dawn gloom to get close to them before they flew down and shut up. didnt happen. got slowed down in a bunch of green brier. they had shut up at fly down but i figured i knew where they were. so i finally got through it and popped out on a feild. no birds. i was gonna set up right there but figured i would go up to a flat on top of the hill in the
feild.so i got up there and set up next to a big tree just in the woods. my first series brought forth a thunder gobble from 75 yards or so. i was ready. but after 5 minutes of no bird i called again and got no response. i sat there for about 10 minutes when 2 birds gobbled just over the hill in the feild. but they were behind and to my left. they was not the same one that gobbled before but hey that does not matter. so i repostioned quickly. they gobbled at my calls but would not break the crest. they kept moving to my right. finally they set up shop in one area and gobbled good. then a hen started cutting at me. ahhh now the reason is apparent why they wont come. so if you cant call em, crawl em! there is alot of brier and trees and brush in this feild. so i started my journey. got to the edge behind some green brier and one gobbled about 50 yards away. then i see him strutting for about 10 seconds and then he is gone behind sme cedars. now or never. i start toward where he was and just as i got to a very small and sparse brier patch with 2 trees no more than 6 inchs in diameter a hen is suddenly just there. 25 yards and looking at me. i make like chevy and become a rock. lol. not a twitch. she finally calms down and starts to feed. she drops off to the right over a small rise and i hit my stomach and crawl. i got to get to this last tree and i will be in great shape. just as i reach it a head pops up at 10 yards. a gobbler. crap. he starts the head jerk and fast walk. no way will i hit him at 10 yards jerking his head. he goes behind a tree and i am instantly to my knees with gun shouldered. he comes out at 15 and runs. no! only to stop at about 40 behind a tree. i am ready and whne he steps out and stops again to look. the encore sends forth its second 2oz hevi 7 payload this year and a 2 yr old thunder chicken finds his roost in the great turkey woods in the sky! 17lb 9 5/8 beard and 3/4 spurs.
