Just when I thought I was going to get some sleep. Nate calls at 10
m on friday night. He has two youth hunters that want to give it one more try. He said he had two group roosted and wanted to split the boys up. So after a refreshing 3 hour nap I hit the road at 1 am headed for Sanford.
I arrived and Nate took me to a field and told me the birds were deep in the woods in the back corner. We had a coffee and he headed to Berwick with the other hunter. Sure enough as the sun crested the hills the tom started gobbling. Rith acroos the road in the tree next to my truck. I worked the bird for an hour and could not get him to cross the road. He was strutting 10 feet from my truck. At one point he came to the road and a harley went by. He dropped out of strut and then out of sight.
Nate had pretty much the same luck. His tom flew down and came running. Moments later his girl flew dowm and the two left for prom. GAME OVER!!!
So we met back up and hit the road. Nate told me he had 60 spots to check. A few hours later we were on spot 56 or 57. As we were in route we both spotted a tom crossing the back of a tall grass field. We power braked it and bailed deep into the woods. We got the kids set up and let loose with some calls. It was evident real fast that it was the box call he was in love with. We pulled the tom about 200 yards in only a few minutes. Nate and I were on the reed calls acting like fighting hens. The tom strolled into 25 yards, but came in from the side. The first boy adjusted but could not get a shot. The bird was gobbling his head off and we were witness to some serious tom fever. The gobbler circled back to 50 yards but behind too much brush for the kids to see. Nate could see the bird and signled for me to retreat and call. I dropped back about 50 yards and worked the slate. The bird came in one more time but the kids were just out of the game. The tom kept gobbling but headed back towad the field he was first in.
We hatched a quick plan. I stayed and called. Nate took one of the kids and moved down a hundred yards and got in front of the bird. I then shut up and nate got back on the box call. The bird fired up and walked out in the open field. BANG, FLOP. Jullian had a 21lb 10.5 inch roper on the dirt. We were all drained. We had worked the bird for almost 2 hours and had only 30 minutes laft on the game clock. Goes to show, never give up and good things can happen.
You can see the season in review for Nate and I. Thanks again to all that supported us (mostly our wives). An congrats again to all that hunted.
http://www.mainehuntingforums.com/fo...ead.php?t=1840
last day bird/ turkey review
