Season opener tomorrow, was not holding out much hope early as scouting has not revealed much. However, tonight I was able to put 8 birds to bed on a field edge, four jakes, one tom, and three hens.
Very interesting hour and a half spent watching. The birds were feeding along in the field for quite some time. Suddenly, the four jakes turned on the tom and beat him pretty good and drove him off. The hens made their way to another part of the field and were joined by the jakes. Two of the jakes immediately went into strut. The tom made his way towards to the group, very cautiously. Several minutes after the hens and jakes had made their way into the roost, the tom picked his way toward the roost area and flew up. I waited several minutes and did not hear a ruckus, so I left.
Suggestions for how to approach this situation? I'm curious as to how this entire group will react on the roost in the morning to any calling on the ground.
