Maryland Gobbler
Well, this past monday I hunted in maryland for the first time. I absolutely had a blast, not to mention being mesmerized by the beautiful country maryland has to offer. During this trip I hunted the Potomac State forest and let me tell ya it was gorgeous terrain. Icould tell that there were many people whom hunted in the area I was in. There was lots and lots of foot travel showing from beaten paths. Monday was a crappy day in terms of killing a gobbler. It was in the upper 30's and rainy. Forecast predicted 20 mph winds by 12 and for once they WERE correct, which made the day 100 times worse. Well, I got back to where I thought there were turkeys and noticed some great signs. I jumped a hen off the nest and decided to sit in the area and call a little. I got out my box call and made a couple yelps hoping that they would project out past the gusting wind. After the series of yelps I waited a couple of minutes and BAMM I heard a gobble in the distance. 20 minutes passed before a jake came walking right up to me and I did what I always do pass jakes up for the next year. After the jake left I got up and walked maybe a mile or so down deep in the country. I set up in a spot that seemed to be a great place due to heavy turkey traffic. I got out my box and made a couple of more calls and a soon as I got done I heard a thundering gobble in the distance. I put in a mouth call and then yelped and cutt with both mouth call and box. As soon as I got done I heard him triple gobble and noticed that the gobbles were getting louder. I stopped calling and waited for about a hour before I saw that big red head coming my way. I could tell this bird has been hunted during the 2006 season. The whole way in he eyeballed me and everything else around him for eternity (so it seemed!). After finally commiting to my calls I got him to 30 yards and that's pretty much all she wrote. He was a really nice bird and one of the toughest birds I killed all season. IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO GET HIM IN! My buddy whom is from Ohio as well, came along and he as well killed a nice gobbler. His bird weighed 23 pounds, which is extremely uncommon in the area we were hunting. He hunted on a family member's private land really close to Potomac State forest. Anywho, I'll include the characteristics of this bird below.
Maryland Gobbler
Weight: 19 pounds
Spurs: (L) 1 1/16 (R) 1 1/16 ((both spurs were pretty much filed down))
Beard: 10.5 inches
