well let me tell you about my hunt seeing i havent told ya' ll much about the ones i have been on.......i get out there, didnt want to disturb the birds roosting , so i snuck in there without a light or a compass, had both , but they were left alone...well i figure i drifted south because i was not reconizing a thing, so i said screw it and i found an open area and set up.....well the next you know i hear a gobble...too far off......then i hear crunch crunch crunch.......i look, it' s a hunter, so i whistle, he stops, i heard him take a couple of steps and then nothing , so i wait a few minutes and i look, he' s still there, so i finally asked him if he was going to stand there all day , he said he couldnt see me, well duh...camoflauge is named that for a reason..lol....anyway , he was lost , had no compass so i pointed him in the right direction.....as soon as i cant see him any longer i hear , crunch , crunch crunch, it' s another hunter well i whistle again , he stopped and then he ran off , yes ran......... then i hear him blowing like a deer, i burst out laughing....couldnt help it, i was sooooo p.o.ed, but still....the laughter echoed.....now i can seehim doing that if he spooked somehting, but i whistled , he knew it was me, wouldnt you think just walking away quietly would of worked better, instead of scaring the hell out of everything..........anyway, i was about over it, it was 12:08, then i hear crunch, crunch, scratch, crunch, i see feathers it' s a hen , then i see another one , but it' s bigger than a hen, but i kept telling myself it' s a hen so i wouldnt shake too much, well i couldnt lie to myself anymore, i was beard, about an inch, then another about 5-6 inches.......they were just a few feet from me, so i waited, they circled behind me, when he got in front me, i shot,he jumped up and flew about 10 yards away , i have another shot, wouldnt you know it, i thought i was using a semi, not my pump, i kept pulling the trigger but nothing happened, so i said screw it again and i put another one in the chamber, about that time i see red right in front of me and it' s not the jake, it' s a LONGBEARD he just peaked around the palmetto to see what was happening with the jake i just shot at, i had my gun was already up and ready , all i had to do was make sure my sight was on him, it was boom, took him out! ! !.....the jake was about 10 yards, too close , and he was about 20 ...i knew there was another bird there , but i thought it was a smaller jake, wrong.....ended having 2 hunters walk up on me, decided to stick it out, at 12:20 , i got him, the stats are:14.5 lbs.
9 3/16 beard
1 1/8 spur
1 1/16 spur

Nice job, sound like you had a little bit of everything happening on this hunt

congrats!! what luck..miss the little bird to have a long beard pop out and you bag him......congrats..that sounds like an exciting hunt!! good job!! nice bird too...

Wow what a hunt!! Super spurs on your bird!! Congrats, way to go!!

Congrats on a fine one.
Way to stick it out.
You earned him.

Wow, way to stick it out! It would have been very tempting to throw in the towel with all of the traffic you had to put up with.

Congratulations! Way to pull victory from jaws of defeat.

Congrats on a nice bird,Sounds like ya had quite a hunt.

thanks ya' ll.....i' ll be posting a pic asap.......and i almost did leave, but i knew it was the right area when i saw it.......i think if i didnt have that hunter act like a deer and make me lmao....i probably would of, but after that i said screw it, just hang out andput my timein , i was already there and there were enough people walking around , i didnt need to at to the activity........so happy i did.....

Cogratulations. I guess they don' t have to be text book hunts to be fun and successful.

great story, dumb hunters, were they tresspassing? who_else