Bird #1

I arrived with my friends that host me for my hunting on Sunday afternoon. After a nice meal we did some scouting. Definitely less birds in the area than previous years but found some to work on during my trip. Decided the first spot I would hunt was a known strut zone on a field edge.

Monday morning came early since I knew a lot of the trees were barely leafed out. Any birds roosting near the field would spot me if I didn't go in early. Got settled on a cool morning and awaited that first gobble. It came at 5:28 am behind me and across the road in another one of my favorite spots. I sat tight and was rewarded with some gobbles about 100-120 yds from me. A hen yelped closer and I figured I was in good shape. At about six, a tom, jake, and hen pitched out in the field about 75 yards from me. Strange thing was, this tom never gobbled on the roost. The bird I had heard continued to gobble some on the ground and he had a jake with him. The 3 birds worked away from me towards a hard bend in the field. No too long after, the jake from the woods joined the other 3. They worked away from me and out of site. I was scared to move since the other tom (that I hadn't seen) had gobbled about 60 yards from me in the woods. At about 7, the tom came back around the corner to check the corner of the field I was in. He hung around for a bit but would not get any closer than 125 yds. I am not sure if he had come back to my soft calling or just his routine. He worked his way around the corner again and out of site. Now I figured I had to make a move even if that other tom was still in the woods. I skirted 250 yds around the field edge and got resettled. (I saw where that other tom must have been strutting on a small ridge in the woods.) Gave a few short calls with no obvious response. At about 8, the tom came into view from around the corner. He kept closing. I was hoping he would take a few steps to his left, my right, before he got too close. At 15 yards, I finally had a clear shot and took him!

Here he is hanging with one of my Turkey Totes


Beard


Spurs