boneil
Member
A good friend and I headed out Saturday morning to a spot he calls the Honey Hole. He had seen a nice tom the last weekend working a side of a hill in a pasture and thought we would have a good chance of calling him in. Get all set up and wait, and then wait some more. We hear 1 gobble off the roost and it is in a different direction. Time to move. As we work our way up a side hill, decide to call just to see if anything will sound off. One answers instantly and continues to answer back to us when we call. We end up just seeing the top of his head over the ridge, but he never committed. We decide to move again and as we round a bend in the field Al sees a strutter in the field out 100 yards or so. He drops his pack and we grab the 2 fans that we brought with us just in case
As we work closer, we notice another longbeard and 3 jakes all together. Game on. The strutting tom is just working a big figure 8 pattern and the other longbeard is chasing the jakes all over. We get to within 40 yards and decide to sit as we have an opening in front of us, but they will still have to move towards us to get a shot. We just kept the fans up in front of our face and every now and then would fan them down just to see where all the birds were located out in the field. The jakes are the first to investigate and come into 12 yards or so with the longbeard and the strutter not giving both of us a shot. Finally the big tom couldn't take it any longer and headed toward us. After some discussion as to which bird both of us were on, the countdown started. 3, 2, 1, boom, 2 shots sounded as one, and 1 follow up shot needed to finish up the big tom. We had 2 real nice birds on the ground. Definitely a hunt we will be talking about for a while.
Al's bird- 19 lbs, 10.5" beard, 1.25" spurs
My bird- 26 lbs, 10" beard, 1.5" hooks (my biggest to date)
As we work closer, we notice another longbeard and 3 jakes all together. Game on. The strutting tom is just working a big figure 8 pattern and the other longbeard is chasing the jakes all over. We get to within 40 yards and decide to sit as we have an opening in front of us, but they will still have to move towards us to get a shot. We just kept the fans up in front of our face and every now and then would fan them down just to see where all the birds were located out in the field. The jakes are the first to investigate and come into 12 yards or so with the longbeard and the strutter not giving both of us a shot. Finally the big tom couldn't take it any longer and headed toward us. After some discussion as to which bird both of us were on, the countdown started. 3, 2, 1, boom, 2 shots sounded as one, and 1 follow up shot needed to finish up the big tom. We had 2 real nice birds on the ground. Definitely a hunt we will be talking about for a while. Al's bird- 19 lbs, 10.5" beard, 1.25" spurs
My bird- 26 lbs, 10" beard, 1.5" hooks (my biggest to date)
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