I am officially tagged out! Not much of a story today though. I went to the same property my son got one off of this past Saturday. Took awhile for the birds to gobble as I couldn't get them to respond to an owl or coyote call. Moved in on them on the roost and realized they were probably roosting in the same tree as Saturday. There was only one gobbler on the roost, but not sure how many hens he had. I called quite a bit and he responded and I thought it sounded like he was coming my way but just as fast it seemed as if he was going away. Needing to get back to work by 8:00, I made a play on them. I snuck around the backside of the hill they were at the bottom of and came over a little crest. I tried calling him over to me as he was less than 40 yards, but he was behind a little knob himself and I couldn't get a shot. He wouldn't come and as soon as he got on the backside of that knob completely I snuck up the rest of the way and shot him at 20 yards. He ended up having four hens with him, so I don't know if I would have been able to call him off or not. He was a heck of a bird for a Merriam's in rugged terrain with a 9 1/2" beard and just under 1" spurs. It truly was a gorgeous morning in some incredible terrain! We as sportsmen/women are blessed to be able to do the things we get to do!
