Smoked a public land swamp monster this afternoon......

[Reloader]

It has been an amazing 5 days.  I was lucky enough to get on birds every day, take some nice birds myself, and call in a couple for others as well.  I'll post a few of the birds in seperate post.  

Today was a real treat and a great end to my 5 day turkey adventure.  This morn the wind was blowing before daylight and it was cloudy, but I had to give them a fair try anyway.  I didn't hear anything in the first few places I tried, so I decided to go spend the rest of the hunt in a swamp covering some ground in an area I'm not familiar with.  I found plenty of old sign here and there, then started getting to the good stuff around 11am.  When I got on the fresh sign, I sat and called for a while and a hen started chatting with me.  The ole girl was sure mouthy, but she sounded pretty bad for the most part.  I just sat still as it's always good to have a live decoy at close range as long as they don't go to a tom that responds She started dusting about 10yds from me, then went on about her way. After the hen disappeared I decided to make another move deeper into the timber and try for a while.  The wind was pretty steady all morn, so I threw out some cutts now and again on an aluminum and slate pot to break through all the noise.  Around 12:45 I was getting alittle hungry and decided that I'd had a super 5 days of hunting, so gathered my gear and headed out.  After walking a mere 50yds or so, I came upon more fresh sign and decided to throw some cutting out for the heck of it. BAAM, he hammers right on top of me, so I hit the dirt at the nearest tree.  I had a small tree to my right, but the bird was straight ahead, so I figured I'd be ok(not so lucky).  I gave him some purrs and a few yelps on the slate, laid it down, and got ready.  A bit later I hear foot steps and now the heart is really starting to thump.  Then, silence.  I let out a few soft purrs, clucks, and a few soft yelps on a diaphram.  I started hearing the foot steps again, but still can't find that rascal.  Finally I caught a glimpse of movement and yep, he is headed straight out to my right.  I can see a rope swinging, and knowing this is going to be tough has the heart pumping even harder!  When he went behind a huge oak I made my move.  The bad thing is that dang tree was making it tough, I'm leaning as far as I can, recoil pad almost in my chest, and gun side ways, but I can see the FF dot When he came out from behind the large oak I touched one off. He flops over, gets up, and takes off flying low to the ground!!!!  What? No freaking way! I'm up and making tracks in his direction, but there's no tom, nothing but wide open beautiful hardwoods. Man, talk about down in the dumps! Man, I was disgusted to say the least.  I decide to go back to pick up my call and can't even find the darn thing. My bird gets away and I lose a good pot and striker! I thought heck, I might as well give it an honest effort and look hard for the bird in hopes that he may have possibly died in the hardwood flat.  I go over to where I shot him and don't make 10-15 steps and there he is standing there looking at me like a statue at 30-40yds. I had to think fast and pulled the ole Clint Eastwood on that rascal piling him up on the spot.  Talk about going from a terrible low to a great high! I couldn't believe it, I still can't believe it.  I tromped all over the place and he just stood there the whole time.  I assume he was in a daze from the first hit. The sad part is both shots were terrible.  I shot him broad side facing two diff directions, the second caught his back and the base of his neck, but the 1st only placed a pellet through his beak, a couple in the waddles, a couple on the side of his neck, and a few in the body. Mere flyers.  I'm going to shoot it and make sure the FF is still on, but as bad as I hate to admit it, I believe it was merely a case of BTF(Big Tom Fever).  Anyhow, it all worked out and I was pleased to get my hands on an old swamp giant. To get him on public ground makes it even sweeter.  

He had a 11-1/2" rope, 1-1/8" and 13/16" spurs, and tipped the scales at 20lbs.  My longest beard to date.  






Have a good one,

Reloader

[redarrow]

Thats a keeper. Congrats.

[neal]

 

[Flydown]

Very Nice!!!!! Congrats on that hawg!

[HARDCORE]

 AWESOME!   

HC

[3.5inchpainfulldeath]

congrats.. that's an awesome bird.

[hookedspur]

Thats a keeper. Congrats.

[selinoid44]

Good deal, congrats on a nice bird.

[Gold Spur]

Congrats Ronny, you really dropped "The Hammer" on that Tom!!!!! 

[archery1]

you guys are killing me.. i am here in pa so we got some time to go smoke one up here

[WyoHunter]

Great bird and great read! Congrats!  

[GOLD HUNTER]

ya'll are slaying them man !!! 

brian

[nctrkyhntr]

 

[timbrhuntr]

Congrats!

[Crutch]

Thanks for taking the time to type all that out. I was right there with you.