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Always a bad feeling when they can't be found... Nice work bringing the dog in to help track
Congrats on the crossbow bird.
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Ive been there done that with the same shot you tried to take. The only difference is I didn't find mine. My Tom fell down then got up like nothing happened and flew into space with the arrow still in him. I looked all day for that bird. Congrats and good dog work.
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5 Attachment(s)
Finally got my second bird this morning.
Bird weighed 18 pounds, 11 ounces
Beard was 9 15/16 inches (couple of hairs longer, but didn’t count them)
Spurs: 1 3/16 inches and 15/16 inch. (He obviously favoured the right leg for fighting, as it was worn down a lot more)
Gun - 12 gauge Benelli Nova pump
Winchester 3 ½ inch Longbeard #5 shot
One popular bird roost on the family farm is the trees on the south side of the main bush, and I have taken several gobblers there over the years. I have a brush blind about 20 yards inside of the south edge of the bush, and another brush blind against a tree in the grain field about 90 yards south of the bush edge.
On Tuesday morning, I was hunting the river trees again south of where I shot my first bird, but just saw 1 hen. On my way out to the road after, I looked across the road and saw several birds in the grain field south of the main bush, so this morning I set up in my grain field blind south of the bush. I got there well before first light because, if they are roosting in the trees right on the south edge of the bush, they can see you walk to that blind if it is light.
After it got light I heard 3 gobblers calling in various points in the bush, and one right in the south edge trees somewhere. Around 5:20 a jake flew down and landed in the grain field about 40 yards to my front left, then 3 hens flew down a minute later. About 6 minutes after that the gobbler came strutting out of the bush into the field and slowly started strutting down the field to my left. I had to wait about 15 minutes or so until I thought he was in range, but I bagged him finally about 6:00 am - checked afterward with the laser rangefinder, and it was a 35 yard shot.Attachment 41846Attachment 41847Attachment 41848Attachment 41849Attachment 41850
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Awesome bird number 2 Genec, way to scout it out...and all done before the bugs get terrible, even better.....
TJ
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Nice job genec! A commanding lead in the 2-bird category, and still on top of the single bird score. Eleven days left for the rest of us to try to close that gap. Also, isn't it nice to be done at 6am! I always love it when I can be back to the house, or the office, and somebody notices you're there and says "I thought you were going hunting this morning?" Yup....
Here is the updated Leaderboard:
Top 10:
1 genec 49
2 tom gobble 46
lenny 46
3 TurkeyWes 45
4 outdoorliife 44.75
5 genec 43.625
6 Eddy22 43.25
7 Onelessarrow 39.5
8 CD94 37.75
9 CD94 37.25
10 parkcity 28
Two Bird Totals:
1 genec 92.625
2 CD94 75
3 TurkeyWes 64.5
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After setting up in the dark this morning l was anticipating that the 2 gobblers I put to roost last night would be close by.
They were and flew into the field the moment I imitated the fly down flapping of the wings.
But just like last evening they wouldn't break the 60 yard marker and eventually left with a hen.
So I packed up and went to another farm across the road.
There was a small flock with a Tom coming across the field on my left on the way in, I parked as soon as I got out of their sight and went to the spot I anticipated they would cross.
I set up the Strutter and sat off a woodpile beside the driveway.
I just got situated and heard a gobble further up the driveway between me and the house.
I gave a soft hen yelp and 2 Tom's gobbled behind me across the driveway looking right at me in a small field on the other side of the valley. The same valley l mentioned before on my last bird.
I figured my chances were best to go after those two Tom's, provided I hadn't spooked them to bad trying to slip out of their view. I grabbed my tail fan and headed through the ravine to the edge of the field. Right when I got to the top and was trying to look, I had the luck of a crow squawk firing off both birds, that let me know they had worked their way up the field.
I grabbed my box call and gave a series of yelps and got immediate responses.
After a couple of minutes I spotted them heading back towards me, they looked like twins.
They worked their way into about 40 yards and strutted back and forth for about 10 minutes not looking like they were willing to come any closer. I held up the tail fan to the top of the grass and that's all it took to snap them out of their trance and head right in to 10 to 15 yards. I lifted the gun with one hand, dropped the tail and that prompted their heads to pop up.
I hit the one on the right he went completely stiff and fell on his back, the other one went over, kicked him and then ran towards me to the edge, took a big u-turn and ran out of the field, followed by two hens when I walked up to the top. Beautiful morning to be out.
Shotgun
1"spur
10 1/8" beard
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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1da4de4fed.jpg
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Great story, congrats on the bird
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Got out yesterday with a buddy and his young son - always great to see the little guys up and out at 4:30am!
We snuck into the hardwoods, and listened to the day awake. Two different gobbles were sounding off, both close, one on either side of a small marsh. I was relieved to have gobbles, as they don't always roost in this pocket, so I was glad the young fella got to experience that part of the morning magic. We had no decoys, and were sitting together with two Thermacells making it pleasant. I was a bit worried about the noise and motion my friends son was adding to our morning, but it turned out to not matter, as both toms flew down and worked away, despite my excellent calling - ha!.
We relocated, called, and had some return gobbles, even further away, relocated again, same deal, nothing close. We were standing there talking before heading out, when out of nowhere this suicidal tom gobbled almost right on top of us. He had snuck in silently, and we melted to the forest floor, finding the closest tree. The little guy was so tired, he just layed down on his back, and tried not to swat the bugs (thermacells were both off and packed....). Took a little coaxing, but he eventually gave up strutting and came in to find the hen that had been calling to him, and the Longbeard did the job again.
Awesome morning, and hopefully a lifetime memory for the aspiring hunter
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/osdr1wF.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/Rm2DnNz.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/ddhR3QM.jpg[/IMG]
3/4" spurs, 9" beard
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Updated Leaderboard
Top 10:
1 genec 49
2 tom gobble 46
lenny 46
3 TurkeyWes 45
4 outdoorlife 44.75
5 genec 43.625
6 Eddy22 43.25
7 Onelessarrow 40.25
8 Onelessarrow 39.5
9 CD94 37.75
10 CD94 37.25
Two Bird Totals:
1 genec 92.625
2 onelessarrow 79.75
3 Lenny 79
4 CD94 75
5 TurkeyWes 64.5
6 tom gobble 46
Can anyone catch genec this year???? Seven hunting days remain this spring.......
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Nice to see that you got a second bird Lenny!
Congratulations.
Gotta love those Longbeard loads...they’re awesome!
