Team Executioner

[Hoyt Freak]

Hoyt Freak's Bird
The weekend before first season opened I went out at day break with the Fiancé to listen for birds roosted on the ground I can hunt. I could hear 3 different birds in there so that made up my mind to get a first season tag and get our team on the board. The alarm went off at 4:00 am Monday morning and I headed out to the timber. Well waiting for them woods to wake up I could hear a Tom drumming in the tree I made a quick move to a tree and set up it didn't take long before the 3 started to gobble. One of the birds flew down really early like still dark early. I called him to 40yds but I couldn't see him well enough to shoot so I passed. The others birds flew down they all went the other way but another bird started talking i had to let some hens go by and then I made a move on him. I closed the distance to about a 100 yds and the rest is history. He was 26.30 lbs with a 10.5 in beard 1 5/8 spur and 1 11/16 Spurs. Muddy has the pics and will post them.

 

[Critter]

Critters Bird

Well……..I’m not much of a story teller, so this is going to be short and sweet.



Flashback to late season ML at my farm this past January, I counted 44 birds in my bean plot rummaging their way through it like a group of shop-vacs picking every available soybean they could find. It was at that point and time, and knowing they were hammering my “deer” beans, that I decided I had to start turkey hunting again and “thin the heard”.



HoytFreak and myself found ourselves finally finding a suitable weekend at the end of April and decided to give it a go. I suck at calling birds, and I’m ok with it, but it also means I usually can’t kill one by myself. Thankfully I’ve had some good friends over the years that have helped me out and called them in for me.



I haven’t shot a bird for probably at least 4 or 5 years, and usually had done so with a bow instead of a gun, but this year I wanted to ensure at least one of the 44 didn’t make it to the fall…………that and the fact that HoytFreak had already shot a good bird and he pressured me to use his 10 gauge so I couldn’t miss.



Afternoon of April 30th we finally got a chance to go out after it had been raining all day. Our expectations weren’t very high as it was late in the afternoon, but we set up anyway. Double Bull blind with HoytFreaks DS decoys on a nice green clover plot and we were all set. We called for an hour or so without hearing any birds, and were pretty much gearing ourselves up for Blue Smoothie ( Busch Light ) time when Chris saw a bird pop out on the trail. We both agreed that the bird was probabaly going to commit to coming in, but decided not to give him any chances. 30 yards…….BOOM………He dropped like Muddy going after a dollar bill on the ground.



End of story……..3yr old bird, good hooks ( 1 3/8 and 1 ¼ ), 10 in beard, and 24 lbs. Blue Smoothie Time.

 

[muddy]