Western trip

[Kygobblergetter]

I haven't been on in a while. Took a Western swing to Wyoming, Utah, and back to Kansas. It couldn't have gone any better. We got to Wyoming at about 8am and purchased our licenses. Needed a nap after the 20 hour drive so we went to set up and saw some Jakes where we were planning to camp. Started messing with them and had them gobbling when some birds gobbled behind us. Assuming these were longbeards we ignored the Jakes and moved to make a set up on them. Before long, 3 longbeards were standing at 20 yards and we were able to double. Unfortunately exhaustion prevailed and we didn't get very good pictures of our Wyoming birds



After getting a few hours of sleep, we made the 10 hour drive to Utah. Got there around 6am and bought our licenses then headed to some areas I'd been looking at on onX. Found some older sign but none super fresh. Caught a mid day nap and went to scout more that afternoon. We found one creek bottom with crazy amounts of sign but none of it was fresh. I assumed this meant the birds had moved up in elevation, we made plans to try and roost birds farther up the mountain that evening where we could hear the same drainage that led to that bottom. That evening we heard some very distant gobbles over in that drainage. I was guessing about 1 mile from us. We would have been closer but the road was too rough to risk taking my pilot all the way up. The next morning we were in that area early and heard 1 bird gobbling but still a long way off. Turns out he was 1.6 miles from us the night before. We moved in and had him heading our way shortly after fly down. One quick move up the mountain and he was in our laps. My buddy took care of him at about 30 yards. Before they hit the ground, we had heard another bird gobble a couple times farther up the mountain. We got my buddies bird tagged and took some pics then headed that way. We stopped in a pretty area to take some more pics and I began hearing distant gobbles. After a few minutes my buddy finally heard him and said we needed to get after him. I was in no rush but I wasn't going to drag my feet either. Before long he was gobbling his head off and only 200 yards away. We got set up and could tell he was coming as soon as I called. Before long he was strutting and gobbling at 40 yards and looking for this hen he had heard. He wasn't overly nervous and everything was going perfect so I just let him do his thing for a few minutes before pulling the trigger at 30 yards




At this point we headed to Kansas. Where I had previously gotten my butt kicked. That morning we heard some birds. Left 2 thinking they were jakes to go after another that we thought was a longbeard. Turns out we had it backwards and had left 2 longbeards for some jakes. Oh well. Hunted the rest of the day with no real luck so we decided to be back in the area that the longbeards had roosted that evening. On our way in, we spotted the two longbeards and 4 hens 800 yards away across a big corn field. We were watching them for a while and calling every 15 minutes or so when all of a sudden another bird gobbles 100 yards away and straight to my right. At this point all 3 birds are gobbling and moving our way. I ramp up my calling to create some competition and it's working. Finally, the closest bird commits and is quickly moving our way. I never turned because he could see our setup and the others were directly in front of me so I let him come in from my right. Well within range for several minutes drumming and gobbling until he finally got directly in front of me and gave me an easy 35 yard shot




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[wvhoyt19]

Congrats!! An awesome trip for sure!!


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[JeffC]

Congratulations to the both of you, awesome trip write up and pictures!!

[aclawrence]

That sounds super fun. Congrats on your trip to the west.


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