1 st. bird. Opening day.
Roosted some birds the night before. Got in real early[4.45] and set out a hen decoy in bare soybean field. Slipped into the woods 10 yrds or so and sat down. Around 6 am. the birds started to wake up, yelping and gobbling. Didn't hear them fly down but from the sound I could tell they were on the ground. I yelp to them a few times, never got a hot reply ,but I sat still and waited. At 6.45 a hen walked through my shooting lane and approached my decoy. 10 yrds behind comes a tom all strutted out. He breaks out of strut and steps into a shooting lane and I fire. Down he goes. 24 yrds. Benelli Nova 12 ga. . 3 1/2" Win. LB #6's through a Carlsen's LB choke tube. 19 lbs, just over 8" beard, less than 1" spurs.
2 nd. bird. May 5 th.
Decided on a mid morning hunt. Went into a oak hardwoods at 10.45 am. Set out a single hen decoy then found a nice big tree to lean against. Just got settled and started to hear turkey noise. Hen's yelping and tom's gobbling. I returned some yelps at them for 20 minutes or so but they never sounded like they were closing the distance. I figured I might as well try to pick a fight with a hen, so the next time I heard one yelp I replied the exact same call back at her, only a bit louder. This seemed to work as this hen got fired up and was sendind back some excited calls. This got at least 3 different toms fired up and gobbling. I look over my right shoulder after hearing some gobbles and here comes a nice tom, all fanned out and walking towards my decoy. He's just about in a spot to give me a clear shot when for whatever reason he stops and fades off into the woods. So close but just not right. Well there are still other tom's gobbling and oh boy here comes two of them. Heading right in. They pass me to my right of course, so I need to switch over to shoot lefthanded. I pull and aim at the lead bird and fire. Down he goes! 27 paces, Winchester SXP 20 gauge , Win. LB #5's through a Carlson's LB choke tube. 22 lbs. Over 10 " beard, over 1 1/2" Hooks.
Guns cleaned and put away, as is the camo and decoys. Fishing time now.
