Our season starts real late with an April 22 opener. Considering that I'm on longitude with south Alabama and the Georgia/Florida state line, that's real late. The birds have been gobbling on the limb but shut up and show little interest in coming to calls. I haven't seen or heard a hen all week, they are mostly on the nests.
Yesterday's tom hit the ground and headed off with another gobbler in the opposite direction. The toms seem to be re-grouping already.
I had heard a bird yesterday that I didn't go after then, and I wanted to try him this morning.
I parked kind of close in case the weather got too bad. I slipped up to a pipeline before daylight and set up a hen deke and found a great set up spot.
Within minutes of settling in, I hear a gobble at my 8 o'clock. Close. Sounded like a jake. It's still pretty dark, the clouds are keeping dawn at bay. I hear a hen yelping. I do a soft tree yelp or two. She responds. Soon she is on the ground, moving toward what is now two birds gobbling, both sound like jakes. Then BOOM!, a big, full gobble out front of me, away from the others. He was close too. That's where I heard the gobbling yesterday.
That hen moved on toward the jakes, yelping a lot. I picked it up a bit, two series of soft yelps drew a few gobbles. They thunder picked up and the birds tried to out gobble the thunder. This was fun!
At sunrise time it was still pretty dark. Then three jakes and a hen came sailing into the pipeline 25 yards in front of me. I was watching them, waiting for that big gobbler I had heard. Then, from his direction I see a strutter stroll in with a bright white head that seemed to be glowing. The grass was fairly tall, but I saw a beard hanging and could see the stubby jake beards sticking straight out on the others. I put the green dot on the strutter and it was too bright. That circle dot makes a lot of light! I turned it down and got back on the bird and took him at 22 steps. First bird down with my new Mossberg 20!
The other birds came back and milled around. I tried to wait for them to leave but the rain was picking up and the lightning was fairly dancing around me now I climbed out and let them see me. As it turned out, my big gobbling bird was a super jake. 14 long tail feathers with two short ones on each side. 6 1/8" beard and 3/8" stubby spurs. He sure gave me a good hunt.
I hustled to the truck to put my gun and vest up. I drove up to the spot and got the tagging done in a hurry. So fast I forgot to take a pic. The bottom dropped out as I sat in my truck doing the mandatory on-line reporting for Easterns here in Texas.
I leave for NE and SD Sunday so I'm happy to get this bird tagged ahead of that trip.
