Got up to North Arkansas Friday night about 9 to meet my contact. We had never met only talked through messages and he was a friend of a friend. He told me he had heard 2 on the public land and none on the private that joined it that he could hunt. Saturday morning he pointed me int he general direction of one of the birds, somebody else was parked on top of the other one. Him and a buddy (Tony) went on into the private deep. I had a couple gobblers on me for a good while that morning but couldn't get them to crest the hill. They came close close twice but I couldn't see them. They finally left going down the bottom with their hens. I made a loop but ran into another hunter so I backed out. Tony killed a good bird on the private about 9 and we all met up around 11. I left a jacket at the hotel so I had to run the 30 min back to town and they were headed I for lunch.
I got back about 12 and eased down into the private a couple hundred yards about 30 yds from a field. The farmer was riding the 4 wheeler checking his cows so I just sat down on this pretty ridge and made a few calls about 1235. I had called a little a couple times and was debating making about a mile and a half loop back out through the public and around when one gobbled across a big valley from me. I looked and the ridge he was on was right along the property line so didn't think moving would be productive so just hit him pretty good with a few loud yelps with my mouth call and trumpet. He hammered 3 or 4 times and the stale mate started. I put my calls up and was waiting to see what he did. Around 15-20 min later he gobbled about 300 yds down the valley where the ridge ended in the bottom. I hit him with my trumpet and he ate it up and covered some ground in a hurry. Came like lighting to about 80 yds and camped out just over the ridge drumming his head off. He finally broke and moved but went through a thicket out into the field to my right and camped out under a tree about 75 yds. I had a tree that was blocking me had to be a contortionist to get around it. Finally got him to coming again and when he got to the fence he was close enough and I was in a bind. Killed him about 1:35.
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