#4 south carolina bird down, old stragly stud

[dixiedeerslaya]

killed #4 this morning... watched this turkey the first few days of the season in a field i can hunt... first afternoon i seen him i looked at him with the spotting scope,  and do to lack of beard, thought it was a jake and didnt hunt him.  the next two afternoons i seen him again, again thinking it was  a jake.  finally i seen him on my lunch break and he was in strut... wait, thats a gobbler, he has a full fan.... still, couldnt see a beard.  so the next morning i hunted him, only to have him skirt me at about 60 yards and get into the field with some hens and strut the rest of the morning.... i got a good look at him that morning and never seen a beard......i didnt see him again until this morning....

set up on the same point i have been hunting non stop for the last 8 or 9 hunts...i have had multiple close calls from that same spot, including having a fox scare a lone gobbler monday morning that was gonna walk in my lap... got in early, and waited.... didnt hear a gobbler until late... almost 7:25.... but once one gobbled, i heard 5 or 6 different birds, all a long ways off... they gobbled hard for about 2 minutes and then shut up before i could decide which one i should go after.... so i got up and went toward what i thought was the closest bird.  sat down close to where i thought he was, balalala, heard one gobble a LOONG ways off... sat there for a little bit and got up and went towards him.....got to a good place that i could call and hopefully get a response, that maybe i could pinpoint.  hit the call as hard as i could and he cut me off.  about 400 yards away in a field.  i took off towards him... as i eased up to the field he was gobbling his head off, everytime he was getting closer.  i eased up to about 25 yards from the field edge, and i finally seen him, by him self, coming straight to me.  im pretty sure he heard me rustling in the leaves and stuff because he seemed to know right where i was and he was coming fast.  all i could do was sit down, and put my gun on my knee.  in the open, no cover, no tree to lean against.  when he got the the field edge he was about 30 yards away from me but angling hard away from me.  i usually have my mouth call in my mouth at all times, but i didnt this time.  the only call i could get my hands on was ccleroys personal slate call.  i broke the slate in mine last week, and he let me borrow his personal call while he replaced the slate in mine.  i made three or four soft yelps on the call and dropped it on the ground and got ready.... here he came.  it was so thick that i couldnt get a shot until he was about 15 yards from me. thats when i noticed this turkey didnt have a beard... all i could see is what looked like a jake beard. i waited and waited, not wanting to kill a jake, until finally he seen me, as he stood there trying to make out what i was, he turned to leave and i seen a few long strands sticking out... GOBBLER! it was too late for him... i let the 870 bark...... he hits the ground and goes to floppin, i walk up to him and dang, this bird is tiny, maybe it is a jake, finally i wrastle him and get his legs, and OUCH, them spurs stuck my hand... this aint no jake!!!

so this had to be the one i seen earlier in the year, stumpknocker jokingly said one day when i was tellin him about the beardless gobbler, "i bet that rascal has some daggers"... haha he was right.

beard is just straggly.  doesnt appear tobe from beard rott, unless it was beard rot from two years ago.... i dont see any of the tell tale orange tips on the short hairs... maybe he was just "lacking" in the beard department... he was also lacking in the weight department... only weighin in at 16.6 lbs....

final specs are,
8 inch beard,
1-1/4 @ 1-5/16 spurs
16.6lbs

[sugarray]

That is a very nice 3-4 yo bird.  I would bet he has been fighting a lot and that beard has been "hurt" because of that.   Congrats!!

[Trip]

Congrats....That was a great story!

[timbrhuntr]

Congrats !

[harvester]

congrats, great story and good bird. nice hooks.

[JVA54]

  Congrats!!     

[Hognutz]

Congrats on the nice bird. Those hooks make up for the scraggly beard..Mike

[Wrangler95]

Very nice,congrats!!

[870supermagnum]

Congratulations on that nice gobbler..   

[hookedspur]

congrats, great story and good bird. nice hooks.

[RutnNStrutn]

Definitely no jake!! Congrats on your gobbler!!

[Basser69]

Nice hooks!! 

[trkycaller]

congrats!!

[bowhunter84]

 

[kansas hooks]

Great bird!!  Love the hooks!