First off, Longbeard XRs are amazing! Midway through the season I switched to LB 4 shot because of the terrain that I hunt.
First bird was a Tom, 21.45 lbs on 5/13 at 5:30 AM.
It was a cold morning and had rained the couple days before. I set up on a grassy field on a timber line. The grass was covered in dew and fog. A Tom gobbled off roost at 5:15 AM on a dead oak tree in a dingle near a stream and I mouth called, softs putts which put him on the ground right away. He kept gobbling and I enticed him up the valley and into the field 120 yards away. Head was just white and blue, and locked onto my DSD jake and Avian X breeder hen. Broke out in a run in tall grass stopping at 70 yards to gobble and one last time at 50 yards where he gobbled I soft yelped, he stuck his head out and I pulled the trigger. Dead right there. .5 inch spur and no spur. 8 inch beard
Second bird was a Jake, 14 lbs on 5/21 dead at 6:17 AM.
Set up right where that first bird I tagged entered the field, 4 jakes come from 500 yards out in a corn field that had just been seeded. They flanked me from the left. I didn't have time to move my position so I went prone 5 feet behind my decoy. The jakes walked right up and strutted. Not wanted to destroy my decoy, I waited until one poked his head out and I could scope his neck.
See video of the calls to the jakes, I didn't get the kill but you can see how close the jake was when I shot as he is still smoking.
https://youtu.be/uH1fgxFaLYk
Tom is at my taxidermist and I did some arts and crafts on the jake,
