Tagged out up here..

Uncle Tom · May 04, 2013, 09:35:44 AM

Filled my last tag yesterday..and what a way to go out. Was set up at 5:45 overlooking a pasture where I have observed birds a season strutting with hens...all times of the day. Just this past Wednesday saw 3 toms exit this pasture directly to my right of where I am set up, and knew this was the most likely location of where the action should be. Again, patience paid off by observing an area from a distance and picking my time..like late in the season when they will be having to look for a willing hen to dance with. Well, I had to cut a few branches to place around me when I got in, and this is what turned out to be a life saver for me. I was only 2-3 yards from pasture fence and these birds were traveling directly to my right when entering and exiting this pasture. Directly behind me was a power line only 20 to 30 yards. Well, it had not been maby 10 minutes after cutting these branches..had settled in sitting perfectly still waiting for the first rays of a new day...felt like a stump sitting there, that perfect feeling when you have everything laid out just right..when BOOM directly behind me..just off my right shoulder exactly ,where he is suppose to be..he almost blows me out of my seat. Only 10 yards behind me..and maby 30 seconds pass and he does it again. What a gobble..deep and strong. Made up for all the silence all season. Well, I knew the slightest movement and he would be gone..never to even see him. So maby 2 minutes passed and I was straining my eyes to the right trying to get a glimpse of him...when all at once there he was..in all his glory rope and all...just looking into the pasture that he had heard as I was cutting those limbs a few minutes before. He had to have very close behind me as I was setting up in the dark and heard my soft movements, and just like me waiting for the day to begin he was about to begin his day...and his last day at that. What a fine creature God had put on display for me today. There he stood all 3 feet tall of him..only 4 to 5 yards to my right for what had to have been a full minute..just looking for that hen. All of a sudden he starts forward and with that long neck stretched out goes under that barbed wire fence, right out in front of me at 10 yards. Still had my gun resting on my left knee..but not up to my shoulder..and he goes walking directly away from me...trying to see over this rise in the pasture...she has to be directly over this little rise. Well, he gets at 28 yards and I have slowly got the gun to the shoulder and give out this soft cluck..he stops and turns to see the hen he some how missed..and BOOM...his day ends right there! Here comes a bunch of cows running over at this flapping thing on their ground and I have to get through this barbed wire fence to my bird before they do..but I made it. A 10.25 beard, spurs of 1 3/16" & 1 1/8". Full fan..just a beautiful creature. Maby now can catch up on some of my sleep. Sorry for the long winded story, but what a day.