Well how did everyone doo??? I noticed that the gobblers werent talking very much saturday in my area, did anyone else seem to notice a low number of gobbles? I heard 3 gobbles all day from pre-dawn until i shot my bird at 11....I wonder if the full moon and hot weather had something to do with this or perhaps that the toms have been strutting and gobbling for a month now and maybe they have already mated or are just henned up... Everyone i spoke with that was out in SW PA seemed to have the same report with minimal gobbles all day.
Anyway my buddy and I had a slow start with only one response off the roost to an owl hoot. We tried running and gunning them for the morning with going to a few different spots that have produced in the past and trying to locate birds and even sat and called for a bit. At 9AM we were ready to head in as the weather was extremely warm, we got about halfway back to the truck and i gave a few yelps and was immediately cut off by 2 gobbles coming from the field in which we entered the woods from my uncles farm, figures we walked all that way when we could have stayed close to the vehicle and saw birds....Long story short we made a move and circled wide around the birds and we split up, one on each side of the field. The birds wanted nothing to do with my calling and simply kept feeding in the field w their hen. Eventually we began the stalk (yes we wore our orange like some choose to leave off) eventually i got within 50 yds and waited for my buddy to close in, as he was almost in shooting range i must ahve moved a bit or something and the birds turned and ran right to my buddy and he dropped one, as soon as his bird fell the other took to the air and flew right past me and i was able to fold him in flight.....turns out both were jakes, mine sported a 5 1/2 inch beard and his sported a 4 inch beard...all in all a nice hunt....now its time to break out the vid cam and film