here is second gobbler . 21 lbs, 11 in. beard , and 1 in. spurs. boy you thought this bird would have bigger spurs with the long beard.
it took me over 3 weeks to get him, he gave me the slip so many times . he roosted about the same place each morning and had another gobbler with him.
when i shot him that was the only time i saw him, he would hang up in the bottoms or a wouldn't come into the fields.these birds were heavy fed over the winter with corn. i talked to the farmer the first week of the season as he was fixing the electric fence for the his cattle. i asked where is all the birds , i know this place has a lot of birds. he said, i fed a lot of them over the winter down by the barn and he said i am not giving them up. that evening and it hit
me.so that's where all the birds have gone, they are staying around his barn and woods. so back to my story, each time i get in there at dark and he would gobble when morning came and then on the ground gobbled few times and then took off in another direction. this goes on for about 3 weeks and so i got back in there around 4: 30 am and sat there until morning came. it was now may 28th and the time is 7 am and no sound from him. the woods was thick with leaves and so i left out a yelp and he gobbled and gobbled few times then he flew off. i thought to myself he we go again. i bet he went to the top of the open field but no sound from him. i sat there and called every half hour and now its 10 am and i wasn't moving because i know the birds are in here and they travel through here and down to the next field. i called again and almost jumped off the ground as he was about 50 or 60 yds from me.i couldn't see him and he also had another gobbler with him. t threw everything at him yelps , clucks etc. they just sat back there and gobbled their heads off and then they sounded they were getting close. i was glad i was looking in the direction that i thought they would come, but must had enough with the calling and i caught movement to my left and they were sneaking away from me about 40 yds and where heading down over the bank to the other open field. as i got the scope on the second bird before he went down over i let him have it from my mossberg 835 with 6 shot long beard xr. stopped him right in his tracks and other gobbler didn't know what was going and just stood back there pacing for a few minutes and took off running. boy am glad i was sitting in the right spot i would never saw them leave. they tried to sneak around me like a deer. i will remember this hunt for a long time. will post pics after i get them resized.
