I must confess, I'm still to punch a tag in my 4 days of hunting.
First day I had a nice tom hang up on a property border, and didn't feel like blasting a jake---had 4 at 10 feet.
Day two I was on a new property (100 acres) and the birds roost across the street. Had one working in, but I had to check with the landowner if I could hunt that close to his son's house---I could, and the gobbler was actually walking across the street to my location---ughh.
Day 3 saw me get snookered after I screwed up---sorta. Half way to my spot and the decoys were at home, which I wanted to bring. Had those same 4 jakes in close, except this time I was playing real seductive and just shut up. The largest jake went into strut and continued to gobble---at least tried to
---for about 30 minutes. Well, in all the commotion 3 other birds slipped in with the 4 jakes (all on the adjacent property about 35 yards away). What I thought were 3 of the jakes being persistent resulted in 2 new jakes (one triple bearded) and about an 18-20 pound longbeard staring at me from 3o yards away---with my gun in the opposite direction [:@]. Ended up frozen and letting them walk. The experience there was the key, as this bird will come in again, next time hopefully to my decoy.
Day 4 yesterday...new area with a colleague, who hadn't scouted. Got there and there were no birds. Worked ridgetops and settled in at 9:30. Finally got an answer around 11, but couldn't work him in before noon.
God I love this...
Who hasnt shot a bird yet?
