Me and my son left out on Tuesday 5/21 about noon right after his last exam. We got to our spot in time to take a 30 min nap before daylight. I had hunted this area earlier this year for 1.5 days and wasn't expecting much and that is exactly what we found: No gobbles to be heard. We hunted hard till about noon and headed to a nearby state because rain was coming in and I really didn't like our chances where we were.
After a few hour drive we get to an area I had hunted last year. The sign in the first spot we looked at was good, way better than last year. However after no gobbles that evening or the next morning we start covering ground. Finally about noon we glass a bird on the next mountain a mile away. We got to him and he would gobble right on top of the tallest point on this open hill. We stayed with him for a few hours and he wouldn't budge so we backed out for lunch and a break. We spotted him again that evening with a hen and got as close as we could and played it safe. He ended up going down away from us. We heard him fly up and got a pretty good mark on him. The next morning I wanted to be tight and we were a little closer than I expected. He never gobbled but flew down at about 35 yds and my son collected the prize at 5:45 am. A fine bird with 10 1/8" beard and 1.25 spurs.
Friday 5/24
To say we hunted hard the next 4 days is probably an understatement. I came close to sitting down on one bird that was gobbling but beat me to where he crossed a road onto private and quit gobbling. Other than that one we couldn't find a gobbling bird or see any in fields. Finally on Monday in a new area I got permission to hunt two farms. The first farmer told me there were 2 behind his barn and they hadn't been hunted that he knew of. The second farm the guy that lived there told me there were birds still around and he was hearing them gobble but they had been hunted hard the first couple weeks of season. We go to farm one at daylight and of course not a single gobble. We hunted there a while thinking we would find them because it was very windy. After an hour and a half or so we headed to farm two. The wind is howling but I manage to hear a bird. I head to him but he is walking a road and it's super thick woods so I can't circle him and he won't backtrack. He heads out across a field and out of hearing. I slowly work my way around trying to get to the other end of the field and I finally strike him. He played coy for a while but finally broke and at 10:12 a state that has given me fits gave up a fine long beard. 10.5 beard and 1" spurs.
Tuesday 5/28
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