Alabama Tom
 

I got a nice bird opening morning (3-15-2011) in Alabama. He had 1.5" spurs and a 10.5" beard.

Nice, congrats

Good stuff! That is a really good Tom!

Congrats on a nice bird!

Nice limbhanger, man! What part of Alabama? I grew up in the Shoals area.

North Monroe County

That's a nice one man. Was he gobbling? I didn't hear or see a single bird last weekend.

wow very nice bird congrats

I guess I should tell the whole story. It was a pretty interesting hunt. We got into our hunting spot before daylight, and set out a few decoys (a jake and 2 hens) and we got setup in a blind on the edge of this field. We knew the birds were roosting around this field and were either pitching down in the field we were in or they would pitch down in a field a few hundred yards away, and would eventually make their way to us. The morning was kind of dreary, with an overcast sky and light rain on and off. We heard and saw a few hen fly down. Most pitched down in the woods, or on the road between us and the other field. One pitch down in our field, but didn't seem to like the decoys in the field and she left. We went through the whole morning though with out a sound from a gobbler. At about 9:30 AM it was about time to pack it in. Both of us had some work we needed to do that day. I stepped out of the blind, to get the decoys while my buddy was gathering up things in the blind. About the time I laid my hands on the decoy, I heard one hammer down about 50 yards down the road from us. It was close enough to make me jump. I think both of us were in shock for a second. My buddy started waving me back to the blind, and I am trying to jump in before we get busted. By the time I got my chair set back up, and my gun ready, I can see his head pop up and scan the field. He sees our decoys, and I think he was going to circle around the jake and try to blind side him, but I never gave him the chance. It was a quick bang flop at about 35 yards.

Nice bird. Cant wait to get out.