I want to start by saying Thank You to Tonya, Yancy and Hookedspur. It was great to be in camp and hang out with all of you. The food was nothing short of FANTASTIC(Thank you tonya). I would go back for nothing more than to eat! A huge Thank You to Hookedspur for the invite.
Now on to the hunting part. The birds did not come easy but man do they got some birds. We seen and heard them everyday. They was being very tough though. Not wanting to respond or even answer calls and when we thought we had them figured on where they was goin we was WRONG! On Wednesday (3rd day) we made the decision to drive around instead of fish that afternoon. We were checking fields and enjoying the views. We stopped to look at an old graveyard and glass some fields. A couple miles out I spotted a strutter with 2 satellite gobblers and 5 hens. We watched them until them crossed the road but it was to late for them. There was only an hour left tip fly up so we knew right where to start the morning.
We woke at 3:15 with anticipation of what was to come. We knew this could turn out to be an awesome morning. Hookedspur and I got in before light and was just standing there waiting. At about 5 a gobble rang out. Woooaaaah! They was closer than we had expected. This bird was about 40-50 yards away so we eased down to the ground. 2 more birds joined in and then a 4th gobbled a bit further away. We could not do anything from our position so we held tight. 2 birds flew down to the field next to the road. We made a move. With. Ninja like stealth we made a 25 yard hook. We watched those 2 birds strut and one breed a hen. Then the third bird flew down and strutted up to the road. They all went over the hill so I pulled out my new decoy(Junior)and put it together. Slipped to the edge of the field and put him out. Right then the 2 birds started back over the hill and spotted JR. The race was on and soon they was at 40-45. One seen something he did not like and periscoped and the other followed suit. Hookedspur was about 10 yards behind me and when the right birds turned to run he said kill one. As I leveled off on the left bird that had since started running, the crosshairs found the back of his neck and the gun belched fire. The longbeard 5s was after him like a swarm of yellow jackets and when they connected he did a flip. Bird 1 was down!
We left there and drove around trying to find Hookedspur a bird. After about 45 minutes we found ourselves watching the same field the birds had went into before I shot. When we pulled up I seen a bird go into a woo lot but was not sure if it was a gobbler or hen. After a few minutes a couple hens appeared from a different direction. We was watching them when Hookedspur said there's a strutter. He had just came out of the woods where I had seen the other one go into. We watched and formulated a plan. He was strutting and working toward the hens. We let him get out in the field about 80 yards and made our move. Coming around through the woods and up the back side. To the field he was in. Right as we got to the edge a crow cawwed and he gobbled. He was maybe 80 yards. I slipped out and held JR up so he could see him then stuck him in the ground and waited. About a minute later Hookedspur said there he is and squeezed the trigger. Bird number 2 hit the dirt! Awesome ending to the morning!
We again went to the same spot to watch for the evening to try and roost one for Friday morning. We watched a longbeard and 2 hens work across the field to the roost area. Perfect! We was set to go in the morning.
Friday morning we was setup 40 yards apart and within range of where they had rooster Wednesday night. No gobbles on the limb but he flew down to the road and gobbled as he went over the other side. So I put JR together. I was trying to figure out what to do when he started to get closer to the road. I stuck the decoy out and hid. I saw his tail coming and then he poked his head up and looked. When he spotted JR it was a half strut mean walk to about 23 yards when I squeezed the trigger and tagged out in New York! What an awesome hunt!
Thank You Steve for Inviting me on this hunt!
Thank You Tonya for the opportunity and great food!
Thank you Yancy for the great time!
I know I have made 3 new friends!
Bird number 1
Bird number 2
Hookedspur and I both tagged birds on Thursday morning so we got a group pic.
