Opening day hit the woods with my dad at our go to spot with the birds gobbling accross the road so opted to make a move to another area to give it try. After getting turned around and spotting a hen we found our location we wanted to try and got no repsonse from any birds we decided to pack it in. On the way out spotted a jake cruising the field and setup only to have him spook from the calls, which I figure is because he spotted us before hand.
Day 2
I hit another farm I have permission for having 1 bird sounding off on the roost, when he hit the ground I began to work him along with his 6 jennies. After about a 1/2 hr I noticed 2 guys walking the edge next door and they bumped 2 birds off the roost and everything went quiet. I made a 100 yrd move to the back of the property and switched up my calls and waited 15 or so mins before letting her rip again. The tom responded right away and it was game on being interested the whole time but hanging up. After about 3 hrs playing with this bird he finally committed putting on a show for me the whole time and hit the 40 yrd mark and I let the lead fly only to miss my mark by pulling my shot.
Day 3
Made it out with a friend to one of his spots with a bird responding but it didn't show its self.
Made a run to some public land that we never hunted before to try our luck and it payed off. Setup and after some heavy calling finally got a hen to answer. Bud came walking over and said he heard a gobble off in the distance and I told him I heard a hen and to sit his butt down because something may be working our way. The hen didn't show but a jake came in silent as I seen him moving through the brush and presented me a 20 yrd shot and my 1'st bird of the yr was down. After all that my bud said he was pretty sure he heard multiple gobbles, so I said we will make a move in that direction and switch up the calls and try again with him behind the gun.
Right away I was cut off by multiple gobbles and the birds were on there way, but I wasn't ready for what I was about to see. 5 longbeards and 3 hens came running into my calls and my bud let the lead fly at close to 40 yrds on what he thinks was the biggest bird of the group.
Day 4
Tried the public land again and had numerous birds sounding off but couldn't get them to committ
Made a move and tried again having 2 hens and a jake show them selves and I gave him a pass.
Day 5
Made it out to the public land again with my dad to give it a go with no birds sounding off. Had a hen fire up not far from us but couldn't even get her to show so after acouple hrs we opted to search for birds else where. After abit of a drive we spotted a tom strutting in a field where I have perm. and decided to try and sneak in and call him up. After getting to our setup spot and trying for abit we didn't get a response or see any birds and called it a morning.
17 lbs
3 1/4" beard
3/8" spurs
20 lbs
10 7/8" beard
matching 3/4" spurs
