Opening day of this years turkey season turned out to be one fantastic hunt. Everything about the hunt turned out perfect. My friend and I had went out the evening before to roost the birds and had succesfully done so. Before heading out, we discussed our plan and we had determined that my friend would shoot first. We were anticipating trying to pull a double. As we pulled off the gravel road and crossed the field and then the creek to the place we would walk in from, the weather seemed perfect. It was a clear night, just a few clouds in the sky, and a bright full moon hung overhead. As we made our way the moonlight illuminated the way through the creekbottom up the small draw and into the field above. The turkeys were roosted in a large sycamore tree on the opposite side of the field about 100 yards away. My friend got settled in as I positioned the decoys in the edge of the field about 25 yards in front of us. Then I settled in and we waited for daylight. Soon the woods began to wake from its sleep and it wasn't long before that familiar sound of a turkeys gobble rang out across the field and down through the creek bottom below. It wouldn't be long now. As the sky began to brighten, I let out a few faint tree yelps just to let the boys know that there was a new lady in town. After a few more minutes I spotted the first turkey pitch off of its perch and land in the field. A few seconds later the rest followed, and after it was all said and done 9 hens and 3 toms were in the field in front of us.
They inspected the decoys for a few minutes as the hens bunched up and the toms began to strut. 8 of the hens decided to move to the other end of the field. I got a little nervous as I thought the toms would follow them but after some light calling one of the hens started toward the decoys with all three toms in tow. As they worked closer, I whispered to my buddy to let me know which bird he was going to take. He told me he would take the one on the right, so I chose the one on the left and drew a bead on his head. By now the birds were right beside the decoys and each was in full strut. As they spread apart I gave a couple of light yelps on the mouth call and they all sounded off. At that very instant, my friend squeezed the trigger and his bird went down. I squared the sights on the bird I had chosen and as he made for the other side of the field, I took him. Two birds, two shots, 15 minutes after daylight, what a feeling!! As we made our way out of the creekbottom I realized that this was quite a morning. There's no better feeling than when a plan comes together.

My bird had 3 beards. 1st is 5 3/4 inches, 2nd is 4 1/2 inches, 3rd is 2 1/2 inches.
He weighed 19 pounds and both left and right spurs were 3/4 inch long.

My friends bird weighed 18 pounds with two beards, 1st was 6 1/2 inches and the 2nd was 4 inches. Both spurs on his bird were 5/8 inches long.

These were young but nice birds and what a great memory I'll have for the rest of my days.

Great story, congratulations on a fantastic double! Don't you just love it when things come together like that?

Great birds, congrats!

dog1

Sounds like a great hunt

Enjoyed your account of the hunt! Way to go! Nice pictures too.

just awsome...........

Sweet! Good job and nice birds.

It's great when you make a plan and help a buddy tag his bird. I'm hoping to do something similar this spring, just need to wait a week from tomorrow!

thats great. congrats. to you both.
Thats what they call making memories.

These memories only get sweeter with time...Good for you both.

Congrats on the double!