last day surprise!!

congrats everyone on your successful hunts. Sorry for the late post.

It was a difficult season for me dealing with quiet birds as it makes for boring hunts. Bad weather and busy schedule limited the hunts and opportunities. Was able to take advantage of the cool weather last day and finally luck turned my way. An interesting story and maybe some optimism for those on quiet boring hunts.

was ready to pack it in. I was standing at the edge of the farmers field and made some last minute yelps and clucks on my glass striker call. I was using a box call all morning because I didn't hear any gobbles so thought the boys were not around and needed the box call to reach out far. Well to my surprise I hear a put behind me. I am leaning against a tree standing in the tree line, I turned around quickly to see what I thought was a hen only 7 yards behind me. Hens have been around all season and usually hang around this side of the field but haven't seen or heard any males. I see a head but cant tell if its a hen or a male. It continues putting searching for the mysterious caller that was me standing behind the tree only 7 yards in front of it. Finally through the thick ground cover and leaves, I see a long beard hanging between the greenery, a black body and the good old red and blue! Now I realize I have a problem. I'm standing in the open and my gun is on my shoulder and I have the caller in my hands with the bird only a few yards away. One wrong move and it will disappear into the thick bush. Well it was painfully slow and methodical, my heart pounding, the adrenaline kicking in I had to talk myself down and slow my excitement before this bird walked away never to be seen again. I put the call in my pocket and slowly grab my Browning Silver and raise it into position. My new low light high viz sights lined up ready for duty. Mr. Tom stuck out his head to scan for the lonely caller that drew him to this fateful moment. The 3" Winchester Turkey #5 roared! My heart pounded as the smoke filled the cold morning air. It happened so fast, I hoped I didn't miss in my hasty awkwardness hurrying to take the shot. The smoke in the early morning quickly cleared and the rolling and flapping of my success gave me my final answer.

Last day bird and what a beautiful last day it was. No pics of the sizes but it was a light bird but mature Tom with 1" spurs and 10" beard weighing in at only 15.5 lbs. Tom Gobble can vouch for me. Lol.

Congrats everyone on your success and all those hunts that didn't work out but made the ones that did special. Lets do it again next year.

ill try to figure out how to post pics...

That’s great. Nice story.

It was not a heavy bird but a nice bird with a 10 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. When I got the text bird down I couldn’t have been happier for IHunt. I told him to swing by my house to show off his hard work. Congrats everyone

Congrats I hunt, nice bird despite the weight