I counted 18 longbeards at my "honey hole" farm on the Monday before Juvy weekend last year. By Saturday morning, EVERY one was GONE - moved off on the neighbors, just far enough to be out of reach. So I spent a very quite morning in the blind with my 2 girls & my buddy Lee (WeHuntProductions). Both of the girls did manage to kill birds later in the weekend, but Opening morning was a HUGE disappointment for everyone involved.
Fast forward to this year, the week before Juvy weekend. I have been watching this flock fly down in the river bottom behind my house practically every morning this week:
So I ease down to the bottom well before daylight this morning. I have no doubt that they'll be there - I just want to see where they fly down so I can go back & set up a blind mid-day. I started to get a little worried when they hadn't gobbled by 6:15. I got real worried when they hadn't gobbled by 6:25. I felt sick to my stomach when they finally gobbled at 6:30 - about 300 yards on the OTHER side of the river.
NOT AGAIN!!! I know they'll come back, but it sure is disappointing thinking that I had a "slam dunk" all ready for one of my girls.
So I hit the road about 7:30 to start checking my other farms. Found these guys about an hour later:
Much harder to get to than the river bottom birds and lots more hens, but at least it's a place to start. If nothing else, we should hear lots of gobbling fairly close (as long as the thunder storms hold off) so should make for an exciting hunt!
