Team 4 ~ Fan Clan 2013 Champions
05-22-2013, 08:37 PM
#145
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Tillsonburg Ontario Canada
Posts: 311
Vt, the stands haven't been updated since May 4th. I believe our team has about 6 to 7 birds not counted yet. Remember the mods are hunting to , when the standing get updated, I'll try to post them here so you can see them.
05-29-2013, 04:04 AM
#150
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairport ny USA
Posts: 1,055
After not hearing a gobble in a week, I decided to return to the farm where I had my success on opening morning. Instead of going in extra early and setting up with the hope that a gobbler would be nearby, I drove to a high spot in the terrain and emitted some owl hoots to verify the existence of any eager Toms. As luck would have it, I heard a hearty gobble immediately after my initial hoots. The problem was it came from a ridge down the hill and across the road. Into the Jeep I went and drove to the bird.
It was getting light out as I zipped across the field. The bird was now gobbling on his own, and this gave me a good idea of his position as I made my approach. The bird suddenly went quiet which I blamed on him seeing me as I searched for a formidable tree to setup under.
As I snuck into the ridge, several deer busted from the scene and made quite a ruckus. “Great,” I thought, as I settled in. Within five minutes, I could hear soft tree yelps not 20-30 yards to my left. Then, a loud gobble could be heard farther down the ridge. The Tom pitched down first. He went into full strut immediately. He was on flat on the ridge approximately 80 yards to my left. Two hens pitched down directly to my left side. They were within 30 yards of me and were milling around the area.
One vocal hen remained in the tree and the Tom was double and triple gobbling each time she made a sound. Even though I had my mouth call in place, I never made a sound or twitched a muscle for fear of spooking the hens that were now within 20 yards of me. Suddenly, the vocal hen pitched down to meet the others. The Tom saw this and strutted over to join them. In essence, he was walking right to me!
I raised my Remington 870 Express when the Tom was behind a tree. He was at a distance of 25 yards when I squeezed the trigger. He dropped on the spot and I leapt up to inspect him. He beard was 9.5 inches long. His matching spurs were somewhat of a disappointment at only .75 inches each. He tipped the scale at 19 pounds which gave him a score of 53.
It was getting light out as I zipped across the field. The bird was now gobbling on his own, and this gave me a good idea of his position as I made my approach. The bird suddenly went quiet which I blamed on him seeing me as I searched for a formidable tree to setup under.
As I snuck into the ridge, several deer busted from the scene and made quite a ruckus. “Great,” I thought, as I settled in. Within five minutes, I could hear soft tree yelps not 20-30 yards to my left. Then, a loud gobble could be heard farther down the ridge. The Tom pitched down first. He went into full strut immediately. He was on flat on the ridge approximately 80 yards to my left. Two hens pitched down directly to my left side. They were within 30 yards of me and were milling around the area.
One vocal hen remained in the tree and the Tom was double and triple gobbling each time she made a sound. Even though I had my mouth call in place, I never made a sound or twitched a muscle for fear of spooking the hens that were now within 20 yards of me. Suddenly, the vocal hen pitched down to meet the others. The Tom saw this and strutted over to join them. In essence, he was walking right to me!
I raised my Remington 870 Express when the Tom was behind a tree. He was at a distance of 25 yards when I squeezed the trigger. He dropped on the spot and I leapt up to inspect him. He beard was 9.5 inches long. His matching spurs were somewhat of a disappointment at only .75 inches each. He tipped the scale at 19 pounds which gave him a score of 53.
Last edited by bhw; 05-29-2013 at 04:26 AM.