Had an interesting first experience hunting in NJ last week. We saw several gobblers our first day, with my oldest son getting his first bird, a solid 3 year old. I had a bird come into my setup that afternoon but he had a very short beard and I could not determine if he was a Jake or gobbler during the 5 minutes he was in range. Could not see his legs in tall grass and he would not go into strut despite numerous calls. He seemed shy off my attentive hen decoy and I finally decided to let him walk since we had seen so many birds that day. As I should have known, that was the last male bird I would see the rest of the trip. Was on lots of birds on roost but they flew down away from us and moved off the property each time. Still a great experience sharing my son's first bird with him. Can't wait till give those Merriam's another shot soon. My season is finished. Tired but satisfied.
