Sorry, I didn't get his weight[8D]
Spurs were 1 1/8 and his beard was a 10.5 inches.
Saturday was opening day here in NC so I was pretty stoked about getting out. Well, I got started about 30 minutes later than I had planned and was irritated with myself from the beginning. It was already sunrise by the time I reached the field where I parked.
I had about a 400 yard walk across the field and could hear the turkeys gobbling before I got close. At this point I started to jog to get to the field edge before they walked out and busted me. Needless to say I was winded when I got there. I took a few minutes to compose myself and started calling to the toms. There was about 5-6 gobblers sounding off throughout the swamp in different locals and they were very vocal, just going crazy. I called and they gobbled, I called and they gobbled but they weren't moving out of the swamp which was about 50 yards back in the woodline.
I decided to get up and move and relocate further back. I did this and the same result. I call and they gobble but no movement. I get up to move a touch closer when I catch movement off to my left. I realize they are sneaking in on my position and turn to my left to prepare for their entrance. However, I am not sure if they saw me or what because I never saw those two birds again. I did see the three that snuck in on my right though. They were about 30 yards away and looking right at me. I was stuck facing the wrong direction and could not move.
Lucky for me they hung up where I saw them and they just milled around there for what seemed like an eternity but they were looking right at me to see where that hen was. I slowly shifted my weight and waited for this bird to step behing a tree. When he did I swung and the other two birds hit the road but this one did not see me and hesitated just long enough to end up in my bag.
Man, my heart was beating so hard when they were just looking at me and I could not move. I thought they were going to walk in on me with me facing the wrong way or just go back the way they came. I was literally out of breath when I stood up my heart was beating so hard.
He was a very nice bird, he had 4 tail feathers broke though, so I will wait to see if I am lucky to tag out on a second Tom and combine this guys spurs and beard with the other fan.
Gobble Gobble
