Alright, here is the story and stats for my bird yesterday morning. The plan was for my dad to pick me up and we would fit a quick morning hunt in before work as we work at the same place. It was one of those mornings where things didn't seem to go right, and we were running behind, it was cold and really windy. Honestly my hopes werent really high. Since we were running late and plus the direction of the wind we really couldnt hunt the exact spot we wanted so we headed to a spot we had been to a couple times. Last time we were there we walked too close to the roost and setup 40 yards from a big bearded bird on the roost. There have been 4 gobbling and strutting jakes in this roost sight as well. We got there and got started in, sure enough, jakes gobbling on the roost. This time we got in and got to where we felt we needed to be set up. After listening to jake gobbles while it got light out, the birds, along with some hens pitched down about 80 to 100 yards away but out of sight. Shortly after I heard one of them gobble and I told my dad, that sounded like a tom. I called a few times quietly, and I could tell the birds were getting closer. I couldn't see them because of a brush pile 25 yards away but could hear them spitting and drumming and the jakes gobbling. I was pretty sure they were all jakes, but based on that one gobble that sounded better I was trying to stay optimistic. When I started seeing the lead birds head through the brush I got my gun readied towards my decoy. As he was getting closer, I was pretty sure I saw a beard through the brush. Sure enough the longbeard stepped out and came right to the decoy in full strut the whole time. I shot him at 14 yards. This turkey was really cool too. I believe he is a melanistic color phase bird. He is almost completely black, with no brown, bronze or any of the normal colors. The white on his wings was barely there and his tail feathers were just black, except for one which was normal color. Very unique. I was happy with him.

Stats:
Iowa Eastern
May 9th 6:00AM
23.5 lbs
9 3/4" beard
13/16" spurs
23.5 + 8.125 + 8.125 + 19.5 = 59.25