Well boys, no Virginia upgrade for me this season. I did shoot a second bird last week but was not an upgrade. I managed to bump into a bird yesterday. He had gobbled for me earlier in the morning but only once, and never made another sound. So I left the area and came back to the area I had last heard him. I basically walked within 30 yards of him in full strut and he never saw me. He was up on a hillside off of a logging road in an area that had been timbered about 4 years ago.....thick as you cold imagine off the logging road. Gun was strapped over my shoulder, and I saw him come out of strut and start walking to my left. I quickly got down and was able to jump to a tree 20 yards away but was forced to remain standing up because it would have been too noisy to set up with how close he was, and it was super thick where he was. So far the next 5 minutes, I had him gobbling hard at less than 30 yards but I couldn't see him. Then he got quiet, and decided to make a semi circle around me, somehow silently walking, only to pop out 15 yards in front of me in the blind spot behind the tree I was standing behind. He caught me slightly moving and got out of there quicker than you would believe, and soared down into the next valley. Talk about heartbreaking for the last day.
It was a tough season consisting of many many, many silent mornings. I lost two of my main properties for various reasons, and where I could hunt, the birds were just not there. I was grateful to kill a couple birds though with all things considered.
So, going for a last day hail mary memorial day weekend in Pa for a hunt. That will close out my season. Regardless, we held our own this year as a team so congrats to everyone.
