Finally Got One in NY

[njdevilsb]

It has been pretty tough hunting where we are this season.  Between rain most of the mornings we have been able to get out and silent birds, we weren't able to close the deal. 

Yesterday morning, the one tom that we had roosted was hammering about 60 yards away from me inside the logging road off the edge of the field I was on.  To make a long story short, he gobbled almost non stop from 5:05 until he hit the ground just before 6.  I had a hen skirt around me right after fly down.  About 10 minutes after, I turned my head towards the logging road and he was standing on the opening of it, about 50 yards away.  He caught my movement, putted twice, and walked off gobbling.

He continued to gobble as he kept getting deeper into the woods, heading towards the field where my dad was setup.  He eventually made it to my dads field with a couple of hens, but stayed a couple hundred yards away.  Meanwhile, I had a couple hens enter my field and feed around for about an hour.  The bird is still gobbling every couple minutes so we can keep track of him.

At about 9:30, my dad called me and told me the birds had left his field and entered the big field at the very end of the property.  I gathered my stuff and met up with my dad and we slowly walked up the hill on the laneway that leads to the big field.  Eventually I could see 1 hen, a jake and the tom out there.  We sat down and called a little and he would answer a little bit, but they kept working the opposite way.  My grandpa owns a camp on the opposite end of this field just inside the woods.  We hurried up and got to the truck and drove down there and crossed the creek up the side of the hill and setup again.  It is about 9:50 now.  We called a bit and he answered and it sounds like they were coming.  About 20 minutes go by and no birds and no more gobbling.

We pick up our stuff once again and ease down the edge of the woods and finally strike up a gobble.  They are down in the little bowl at the end of the big field where we were 30 minutes before.  We kept calling and got him fired up as well as the hen.  We just found a couple of trees to get against right at the top of the bowl since we couldn't go any farther without getting busted.  My dad sat a little bit behind me and higher up and eventually he said the tom was coming.  A couple minutes later I could finally see his fan coming along with the head of the jake.  Once the tom got high enough to see there were no hens up there, he turned to leave.  I didn't have a clear shot at this time so I eased up just high enough to where I could see his head over the brush and pulled the trigger and down he went at 10:15.

It was a long hunt and an adventure but it was very rewarding.  I love finally getting a bird that you have to work hard for. 

He had an 8.75" beard and 1" spurs.  After my dad and I both got skunked last year after putting a ton of time in, it felt great to finally get the job done.

[Spring Creek Calls]

Congratulations!

[TrackeySauresRex]

Right on! Congrats

[renegade19]

 

[maytom]

WTG on a tuff season!!

[Bowguy]

Congrats

[sierra6]

Congrats....great job!

[Dr Juice]

Awesome tactics. Congrats.

[Ozark870Hunter]

Never give up! Congratulations.

[Greg Massey]

Congrats, nice bird and great story.

[husker]

Congratulations!  Great story!

[SteelerFan]

 

[tomstopper]

Congrats brother. I will agree, its not been easy here in NY

[WiLL B]

Congrats!! Enjoyed the story!!

[lmbhngr]