Haven't been on the board in a while... thought I'dsharea pair ofPA game landentries to ourtrophy room in 2008...
Hunt 1 - Opening morning, Saturday 04/26/08 - My boysTom ona text book hunt:
We knew the ridgewas promising... a week of pre-season scouting from long distance confirmedvocalgobblers were handy each morning.
Last trip in for a looky see Tuesday afternoon before the opener to gainintell on the lay of the land -while the birds are far from the roost.
Saturday daylight and we get him to gobble hard on the limb, a few more mouth calls to let 'em know we're there...
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[/align]He's way closer than intended, a mere 60 yards from our decoy...plainly visible through the branchesof the Hemlock he roosted beside.
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[/align]His partners liked my fly down and followed suit. They aren't as close but appear in minutes, a pair of full fans marching to our location.
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[/align]The big Tom cared not for this and flew down, cutting off the competition. It'snever less than awesome to witnessthe boss express dominance.
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[/align]He was out of sight for just under a minute and came back at half strut... but not all the way in like we intended.
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[/align]He's stalls out at the wrong time...45 yardsbehindbrush eyeing up myworn out, brand X,folded way too many times, re-painted foam decoy.
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[/align]I know he knows something's odd. I didn't want to call again... but I do, and it drags him up around,away from the decoy and off myright shoulder.
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[/align]He swings the barrel as his head passes the base of a white oak andthen BLAM!Game over. Toasted the ol' boy properlyat about 25 yards.
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[/align]His bigTom weighed in at 20.5 pounds... spurs@ 1/8 under inch withasuperthick paint brush of a beardreachinga whisker over 10 1/4 long.
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[/align]Home by 0730 hours... it don't get much better than that!
Hunt 2 - Monday,04/28/08 - My, not sotext book hunt:
It rains.
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[/align]I have Gortex.
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[/align]Scouted the same ridge andlocated the birdsagain Sunday afternoon... left withoutdisturbing them.
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[/align]Raining real steady at 0330 hours the next morning. Of course I went hunting anyway.
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[/align]On the ridge before 0445 and carefully walked within 100 yards of the roosting trees.
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[/align]Set up one NEW decoy. (Yep, I broke down and bought one... along withthereal feathers deke "jacket" too!
)
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[/align]Daylight comes with no gobbling on the limb. Tree called a few times. No response. No visuals either.
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[/align]The crows go off... no gobbling. Crows fly over what I think are roosting trees... no gobbling.
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[/align]A little concerned with my location now...it grows brighter, then I callout with afly down cackle.This produces a single,far below me gobble reply.
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[/align]5 minutes later...I tree call a bit... and nothing. 10 minutes later... ditto...nada.
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[/align]20 minutes later... nogobbling...do some soft yelps...nothing.The birdis a no show.
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[/align]Wait 5 more minutes and figured it's time to ratchet it up.Callreal aggressive with a series of cuts downthe ridge.
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[/align]BINGO!!!Ahardy gobble,followed by an extremely irritated hen whomakes it clear the guy she's with was taken.
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[/align]I play her note for note. She wants to fight about it and needless to say,is not amused by me.
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[/align]Fromher callsthey are 100 + yardsaway and have already passed my elevation on the ridge.
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[/align]I call to her again and then abruptly cut her off when she tries to call back... ewww... now she's
really jacked up.
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[/align]3 minutes later and she's standing 30 yards out, lookingto inflict serious pain on thetrashy little interloper that would steal her man.
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[/align]I keep her fired up when she goes to leave until her boyfriend,who I'm sureisthinking, "Sweet! a threesome", follows her into shooting distance.
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[/align]Click... (safety)... KER-BLAM! He gets shot in the head instead...rolled uplike a gum wrappercompliments ofa Browning shotgun.
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[/align]On his behalf, this gobbler gets props for almost evading capture... noticing his new "girlfriend" wasn't moving as she should.
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[/align]He did spina quick 180 after figuring something wasn't right to make abreak forheavy cover...
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[/align]But... theswarm of #6 Winchesterheavy shot ended that plan at about 23 yards.
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[/align]Ah,to think he would have made it too,if only he could havedashedoff stage at1201 fps.
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[/align]The rain didn't do much for his feathers and he'snot nearly as big as my sons, but his statsare dandy fine by me...
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[/align]Solid 18 pounds,1& 1/8 inch dagger sharp spurs and areal nice 9.5 inch beard. PA 2008... Happily tagged out on day #2
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[/align][/align][/align]Note: I've got the remainderof the week off... anyone in needa caller?
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