Opening day Osceola down!!

[RutnNStrutn]

Opening day where I was hunting was foggy. It shut the birds down, no gobbling at all on the roost. I got set up in an area I know quite well and had killed gobblers at before. As light broke, I started doing some soft calling, and soon I heard a turkey flydown to my right. Out of the fog a hen materialized. She hung around for a couple of minutes before heading down the trail. Later in the morning I saw another hen, but it was slow hunting. The fog burned off, so I got up to slip around and check the fields in the area, using the woods to cover my movement. The last field I checked held 2 hens and 3 does, all feeding contentedly.

Arriving back at my set up, Flhuntress (who was there to video my hunt) told me there were 2 birds in the field next to us, but she wasn't sure what they were. I eased around to take a look and spotted 2 hens at the back of the field. While I was watching them, a third turkey came out of the woods, spotted the hens and broke into a full strut! I eased down into my seat, and called to the gobbler. He turned and saw my decoy spread, which consisted of B-Mobile with a real fan mounting a hen, and my secret weapon ultra realistic hen off to the side. Boys will be boys though, and he turned from the 2 real hens and started walking my way from about 250 yards out.

As he approached he popped into and out of strut. Whenever he dropped out of strut, I would give him a few soft, reassuring yelps and clucks. While he was still 150 yards out, 2 more real hens came out of the woods and walked to him. I figured the game was up and they would take him away. But he was set on whipping up on B-Mobile and walked right past the 2 hens. 125 yards out, he went back into a strut, and never let it down again. He started cutting a sharp angle towards my set up. I told Flhuntress to get ready to start videoing. Finally, he arrived in all his glory. He was in full strut, approaching with a stiff legged walk, and his feathers shining in the bright sunlight.
Halfway to my dekes, he stopped, turned and stared right through us. But we were well camoed and had a good hide, and he was on a mission. He turned, and continued spitting and drumming all the way in. His body shook as he did so. It was an incredible show!! I should have let him put on more of a show, but I wasn't taking any chances, so BOOM!!! And down he went. Now I'm waiting for my next hunt and another chance at an adrenalin rush!

He weighed 18 lbs. 3 ozs., had a 10-1/2" beard, and sported sharp 1" and 1-1/8" spurs, scoring 60.4375.

Here's the link to video.
http://youtu.be/N_3u2mlHQBE

And here's the pic.

[Roostem33]

Way to get off to a good start, Congratulations!!!!


Jody

[JVA54]

  Congrats!!

[VA_Birdhunter]

Very Nice!!! Congrats!! 

[guesswho]

Congrats on the turkey bird Jim.

[vaturkey]

Great Bird ! Congrats !   

[TRKYHTR]

Good hunt. Congrats,

TRKYHTR

[pseshooter300]

Congrats that is a pretty bird

[Shotgun]

That ah Boy 

[chatterbox]

Nice bird, Jim! Good job!

[Crappiepro]

Great Bird! Congrats!  

[a-j calls]

That was great!!!

[Rio Fan]

Congrats on a great looking bird! 

[Ol'Mossy]

Congrats 

[MS Hntr]

Nice bird!