Hi guys, I've got a bit of catching up to do here. First off, let me say good luck to anyone still out hunting! Hope things work out great for you!
I've hunted in SD. and MN. since I last checked in and I was fortunate enough to have taken 3 more longbeards. One will bump up our score a bit. In SD. I took 2 gobblers on the last day of a 4 day hunt. Took a tom in the am. that scored out at 43.875 and then another tom in the pm that scores out at 58.875. These birds are both Merriams.Both the toms were henned up. The first bird I got the whole group to come into the decoys with a hen leading the way. Shoot that bird at around 17 yards. The second bird I called away from 5 hens. He covered a couple of hundred yards to get to me. I took him across a creek at about 40 yards. That SD. was cold, wet, windy, and muddy!
My MN. bird, an Eastern,I took on the first morning of my hunt. Had 2 toms fly down off roost about 100 yards out, but they hung up just out of gun range strutting back and forth in the fieldin front of my hen decoy for 10 minutes or so and then got bored or something and wondered off. I hate that when they hang up on you! Around 30 minutes later another tom comes in from the opposite end of the field, sees the decoy and comes right on in. Now that bird had the right temperment! He made it to within 30 yards of the decoy when I put the hammer down on him! Here's his stats.
25 lbs. 2 oz.
9 5/8" beard
1 1/8" left spur
1 5/16" right spur
Score 68.75
http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/paintbrusher/?action=view&current=P1010130.jpg