jmoose
PMA Member
I took my little brother Joel, cymoose on this site, out this morning (little only in the sense that he's younger than me, because he hasn't actually been smaller than me for several years). We got in and got the blind set up early as i knew we'd be fairly close to where the birds like to roost. As the woods started to wake up, we were more than a little discouraged to only hear a single gobble, a 1/2 mile away, across the road. Then we heard a couple hens fly down... only 40 yards from us! several more birds flew down 70-80 yards away and then FINALLY two gobbles...300 yards away. it didn't look promising though as we had at least a half dozen hens between us and the gobblers.
One bird gobbled a couple more times on the ground but was clearly heading the other direction, but the other gobbled every minute or two and seemed to just be staying put. I decided to get a little more aggresive in hopes i could pick a fight with a hen. Well none of the hens came our way but we did notice that bird was getting more and more fired up and seemed to be getting closer! I shut up for a bit and that bird would still gobble every few minutes. Then he shut up. After 10 minutes of nothing, i purred real softly and GOBBLE!! we couldn't see him yet, but he was inside 100 yards. Then Joel spotted him on the ridge across from us. This bird spun in a circle and drummed and gobbled for an hour! he was hung up... didn't want to cross the ravine between us. but he kept gobbling. i tried everything, soft purrs, yelps, shutting up. all had the same result. he just stood there and gobbled. then i grabbed a different striker for my slate call and he triple gobbled and started down the hill! i looked at Joel and told him to get his gun up. that bird gobbled the whole way down the hill and up the other side. Then the top of his fan appeared. a few seconds later, a bright red head. I told Joel to shoot him when his head popped up. i clucked once, his head popped up, and it was all over.
23 lbs
3/4" and 7/8" spurs
10" beard (and it's one of the thickest beards I've seen)
This bird gobbled over 200 times in the last hour and a half of his life!
Congrats again Joel! I had a blast and I'm glad I could be there to share this hunt with you!
One bird gobbled a couple more times on the ground but was clearly heading the other direction, but the other gobbled every minute or two and seemed to just be staying put. I decided to get a little more aggresive in hopes i could pick a fight with a hen. Well none of the hens came our way but we did notice that bird was getting more and more fired up and seemed to be getting closer! I shut up for a bit and that bird would still gobble every few minutes. Then he shut up. After 10 minutes of nothing, i purred real softly and GOBBLE!! we couldn't see him yet, but he was inside 100 yards. Then Joel spotted him on the ridge across from us. This bird spun in a circle and drummed and gobbled for an hour! he was hung up... didn't want to cross the ravine between us. but he kept gobbling. i tried everything, soft purrs, yelps, shutting up. all had the same result. he just stood there and gobbled. then i grabbed a different striker for my slate call and he triple gobbled and started down the hill! i looked at Joel and told him to get his gun up. that bird gobbled the whole way down the hill and up the other side. Then the top of his fan appeared. a few seconds later, a bright red head. I told Joel to shoot him when his head popped up. i clucked once, his head popped up, and it was all over.
23 lbs
3/4" and 7/8" spurs
10" beard (and it's one of the thickest beards I've seen)
This bird gobbled over 200 times in the last hour and a half of his life!
Congrats again Joel! I had a blast and I'm glad I could be there to share this hunt with you!
