Triple bearded PA STUD on the ground! 0650 this morning. Had no fewer than 6 longbeards gobbling their fool heads off on the roost for an hour. Watched three longbeards fly down and immediately pop into strut about 100 yards in front of me. They stayed there for about 30 minute, strutting and gobbling and occasionally giving each other a nice whack with their spurs. At about 0630, 2 hens fed between me and the 3 toms now about 70 yards in front of me, walking within about 6 feet of me. That was just what I needed. I gave a couple fast, sharp cuts and cackles and they turned and started my way, gobbling about every 5 steps. When they FINALLY worked into range they decided to move to my left, behind a thicket. They stood there gobbling and strutting for 10 minutes, 25 yards away, but I had no shot. That's when one of them spotted my AVX hen and 1/4 strut jake and turned, headed toward them and into an opening. When the lead bird got within about 20 yards of my decoys, he suddenly got very spooky and I could tell he was fixing to bug out. I picked an opening and when his head came into view at about 25 yards, I gave him a healthy dose of federal tss 9s.
