Easiest bird

[Thefrgt10]

Aight guys we all know the elusive lang beard can be pretty tricky sometimes but there is always an exception to that. So lets hear some stories of the easiest bird you ever got to put the lead to.

Mine goes as such,
One morning, get this, last day of forth season 4 years ago (never give up) down in southern Iowa me and the old man (no offence guys) were out early as can be and its still almost pitch dark out. All of a sudden we hear a gobbler bust out about 100 to 150 yards out. We were both taken off guard. We stand there for a while to see what else was going on and he just didnt shut up, so naturally we decided to work him. We give him a few tree yelps and he just goes nuts. He flys down and just comes in like he hadent seen a hen all year. We hardly called at all. We have a decoy set up about 20 yards out and as soon as he sees it we could hear him go into full strut. It was incredible. There he was full fanned spitin and drummin it doesnt get any better then that. About 15 minutes after he flew down, and still not even completely light out, he was in my vest ready for the 3 hour drive home. It was a classic hunt like you see in videos. 23lbs, 10inch beard and 1 inch spurs. Couldnt believe it and the best part was that me and my dad were there together to experience the whole thing.

[This message has been edited by numba1hunta (edited 04-27-2002).]

 

[hershy]

...Saturday morning of 4th season...after a birdless 1st season and unsuccessfully playing around with a few toms before work during the week in western Iowa I headed to my Father-In-Law's Woods in Northeast Iowa...the birds I had been hunting in western Iowa wouldn't gobble until after 6:00 a.m....so I was surprised to see how light it was in NE Iowa at 5:30 a.m...luckily as I stepped out from my Father-In-Law's House I heard several toms sounding off...one was gobbling not 100 yards away from where I was standing!...I snuck into the woods a short ways to set-up, but even before I had the decoy set-up the tom flew down and had began to display in a pasture just outside the woods...I knew the area pretty well so I slipped further down the trail and set-up again...a couple minutes later the tom strutted into view, a few minutes more and the fun was over...I looked at my watch after I had made the walk back to the house...5:50 a.m.!...22 lbs - 9" beard - 3/4" spurs...

 

[Baker]

Last year I got my first bird, a jake with a five and a half inch beard, and it was pretty simple. I was runniung late that morning and some how I dropped my call getting out of my truck so I got to my spot and thought I should just go home, but stayed. I set my decays up behind me where a freind had done when he got his bird the day before and I sat on the hill and waited. Two jakes came out of the timber into the pasture a hundred or so yards ahead of me and then flew straight towards me landing at the base of the hill. I din't see them as them climbed the steep hill towards me until they popped their heads up over the hill about fifteen yards away. I had just enough time to see beard and shoot. I never made a call and they never saw my decoys.

 

[muddy]

Easiest bird I got I didn't call, I didn't use decoys, I wasn't even in camo. I hit him with the car. SPLAT!

Other than that after a VERY long spring last year I finally had some luck. It seemed that no matter what I did the birds would turn and go the other way every damn time. Finally one morning after some bad luck with 2 gobblers I decided that I just wanted to relax a little. I popped the double bull up on a hill in a fenceline. I had my decoys set up and all my calls laid out perfectly, I had been there 5 minutes and it was about 11:30 am, not the best time for much of anything other than napping. I had just cracked open my book when I heard the grass rustle, there was a tom molesting my decoy. I dropped my book and shot him, when I got to him it was roughly 11:32. I have never had an easier (or dumber) bird.

muddy