JoeA

re-posted from Team #2 thread-

I busted my second tom at 35-40yds, but it was hardly a classic spring set up. I drove down a fire/forestry road to check some areas I have hunted before. I had a hunt lined up for the next morning on some private land loaded with big toms. But I had to scratch my itch. I waited a year for spring season to come along and I took off a week to hunt turkeys, so by gosh I was gonna hunt. I could always pass on any tom smaller than the 2yo I busted 2 days before. Since I was hunting in the public area, if I came across a decent bird, I'd probably pull the trigger.

I set up near an area I had heard a lot of gobbling. I worked 2 different gobblers. One moved off and the other went silent after 20mins on the ground. I moved parallel to him, but busted a lone hen who flew in the direction of the tom, and then I heard 3-4 turkeys fly off. Busted. It was fun, and I wasn't too dejected because I knew I had the next day lined up in an area full of good opportunities.

Later, I decided to drive the truck back to some areas I've hunted in the past. As I drove along the access road, I busted two small flocks of turkeys on the road. On Mauna Kea, when the grass gets wet from fog., mist and rain, the birds will often walk along trails and roadsides. When I got to a curving rise in the road, I stopped the truck and walked up to have a look-see over the rise. If there wasn't anything, no harm. If there was, I might have an opportunity. I threw a few yelps out, and got nothing as I got closer to the rise. As soon as I topped it, two toms gobbled. I was basically skylighted in the middle of the road. I yelped again, once, and they cut me off.

The next thing I know, there's two decent longbeards standing in the road. One gobbled, then turned and looked directly at me and gobbled again. I waited for them to separate, since I only had one tag left. The "gobbler" gobbled again and high stepped behind a bush. The second bird took a few steps away from me. Once his friend cleared the road, he stopped for a second and looked back at me...Boom! My Win 1300 dumped another Big Island bird.

The tree picture shows what the terrain looks like around 6,000ft.