got my second tom yesterday
it was raining but i slipped on the rain gear and off i went
was soaked to the bone after a long walk in and when the rain stopped shortly after i got to my tree, water continued to drip off the big oak and run down my back. fortunately, it was in the low 60s, so it wasnt too bad
finally started to get light and i could see birds in the trees around me. as i continued to sit absolutely motionless, i could see a long beard swinging in the wind but when he tried to fan on the limb a gust would about knock him out of the tree.
not a gobble on the roost, and as it was creeping toward sunrise, it was still dark, hazy and gloomy. but then two birds pitched out and lit about 60 yards down the hill from me. the anticipation intensified as i thought, "must be hens, that big tom will fly down next."
but then i could make out beards, nice beards, so i gave a soft yelp on a Gooserbat Hillbilly, one of them responded with the day's first gobble and they both came up the hill right to me, and the one with the longer beard took a mud nap.
was a 3 year old that had sharp 1 1/16 spurs, 9.5 beard but only weighed 20 and scored 60.25