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[/align]My buddy took me to his honey hole this morning. We set up where he thought we might be near some birds, and had one gobble on the roost about 100 yards away, and two more probably 150 - 200 yards away. He soft called a few times to let them know we were there. Just after 6:00, we heard one to the left of where the closest bird was gobbling on the roost,and thought it might be the same one that pitched down and was now on the ground. Then my buddy called again a few times, and we could hear the farther birds getting closer (gobbling). They all responded to his calls, and he called more than he usually does because he didn't want them to go the other way because they would be hard to get around in the open woods. After a few minutes, we heard one above us gobble that was just out of sight probably within 50 yards, but to the right and it crossed a logging road. Then a minute or so later, two came in from our right to left (but farther to the left than the other that crossed the logging road). My buddy had them in range, but wanted me toget a bird so waited, hoping they would come in range of me. Instead of continuing another 5 yardsso I could get on one, they bobbed their heads and turned around, as they must have seen something they didn't like (no decoy either). So my buddy shotbefore they got behind some brush and put one down flapping.At the shot, we heard all kinds of rustling as the other bird that was with that one, and the one above us ran through the woods making a racket, and maybe even more birds there was so much noise. After about 5-10 seconds of this, the one 50 yards or so above us on the ground flew from our right to left diagonal, and I shot. Atthe shot, he was about 25 yards away horizontally, butat almost treetop level so probablya 35 yard shot. It folded up and hit the ground 20 yards farther with a thud! We were done by 6:15! He thinks his is a three year old and mine four year old judging from the spurs, but they weren't as heavy as he would have thought. Mine had a 9 1/2" beard, one 1 5/16" spur and the other shorter but stubbed like he broke it. It weighed 20 pounds.
[/align][/align]We took pictures with his disposable camera of each other with both birds, then when I got home my son took some of me on my digital. Though I live 45 minutes away, Imade it home in time to weigh and take measurements, breast it out and soak it, and take my son to the baseball field at 9:00 for his game.
Sorry for not having a better layout of the turkey!
Thats awesome congratulations to both of you. I had an unbelievable morning too. I was trying to fill my 2nd Ohiotag this morningand ended up getting busted big time at 7 yards! All hell broke lose, my heart rate is just now going down.
Congrats again, sounds like an awesome hunt.
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Jeremiah Johnson made his way into the mountains. Bettin' on forgettin', all the trouble that he knew.
I'm sure you had fun just the same! I would have been just as happy just to have my buddy score as me, and would have enjoyed it if we never saw a bird. I have two brothers who would rather watch paint dry than go hunting. They have no idea how fun it is! The only bad thing about scoring early is having to leave when you want to hunt for at least a few hours, but I'm not complaining!
Unbelievable morning! (picture added)
