Today was so much of a succesful day out, I have to share it with you guys!!! I was out in Zone 5 this morning on public land where I shot a gobbler who was with 4 other gobblers on Wednesday until about 7:00, not much going on. At 7:45 I hooked up with my friend Tim and his brother Paul and went over to the Walkill Refuge. We located birds on the other side of the river and set up on them. I got Tim and Paul set up approx 75 yards from the river bank, and dropped back about another 50 and started cutting aggresively. The birds really got hot and flew over tou our side, 6 total, 4 jakes with 2 longbeards. I worked them in about 35 yards from the two hunters, but didn;t have any decoys out, and the birds hung up and started to get ansy. Tim realized the birds were about to bail and dropped the lead gobbler at 35 yards, and Paul shot at the other bird and missed. Tim's weighed in at 20 lbs, 81/2 " beard, and 1 inch spurs,; typical 2 year old for over there. Tim moved up to upstate New York last year, and this was his first opportunity to hunt, so you know we were all pumped!! He's the guy who introduced me to turkey hunting, and to be able to work the birds in for him and his brother was better than the hunt itself!!!! But wait, it gets better!!!
After we got our stuff loaded back up, we decided to head back to the spot I was at this morning, to see if we could locate the other 4 toms that were with the bird I shot Wed. We get there, walk in, make some calls, nothing. OK, let's hit the Appalachian trail and see if we can make somthing work. We set up on top of a big flat were I worked a jake and 2 other strutters on Monday, and waited. Nothing. Now it's about 10:45, and we have hikers walking behind the trail making noise. I started in on my box call and scared the [no swearing please] out of them!!! We were laughing so hard, I almost pised myself!
So now here we are, sitting there, it's about 11:15, and nothing going on. Tim cuts out on a mouth call, and guess what? GARROOOBBLLLE !!!! Even though it was from REALLY FAR AWAY, we decided to try and make something happen. Tim drops back about 50 yards from our setup, and starts to VERY LOUDLY Cut and yelp. I added in with a fighting purr sequence, and tim finished off with a gobble.GOBBLE GOOOOOBBBBBBLL GOOOOOBBBLLLE!!!!! HOLY [no swearing please] these birds are closing FAST FAST FAST!!!!! Paul and I are watching up to the top of the flat, and Timmy's going out of his mind behind us purr fighting, cutting, you name it. HERE THEY COME!!! The 4 gobblers from Wednesday came in gobbling and strutting their asses off!!!! Tim was down the hill behind us, and they could hear hens going nuts, but couldn't see them!!!! THESE THINGS WERE 30 yards away gobbling their heads off for about 7 minutes!!! Paul was sitting approx 5 feet away, and even though we talked about how we would work it when the birds came in; Neither of us knew when the other was going to shoot. So I said "Paul I'm going to shoot the one on the left, get ready" and CLICK??? my gun doesn't go off!!!! my action on my 835 wasn't closed all the way, and the shell didn't go off!!! I was able to close the action, and the birds are still gobbling and strutting at about 35 yards!!! I flipped of the safety and fired at the lead bird, and rolled him over a log, and at the same time, Paul fired and shot the bird to the right!!!! YEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!! Our first double on longbeards!!! We've been hunting together for about 10 years now, and other than jakes, this was the first time we pulled it off!!! My bird weighed in at 20.5 lbs, had 1 inch spurs and an 8 inch beard, Paul's bird weighed 18 lbs, also had 1 inch spurs and about a 7 inch beard( the beard had that beard rot [no swearing please] in it, and was almost rotted all the way off) I have to tell you, we were acting like a bunch of IDIOTS out there hooting and high fiving and yelling!!!! I don't think we will ever have a day like today EVER AGAIN!!! And to think, I wasn't even going to go out this morning if it was raining!!!![hihi] I thank the big man upstairs for THE HUNT OF A LIFETIME!!! I'll tell you guys, I've never had a first week like this one! I went out 3 times, worked gobblers each time, and killed birds 2 out of 3 times!!! ON PUBLIC LANDS!!! I'll post pictures later.... TED HEY WILLARD HOW ABOUT THAT???[up]
After we got our stuff loaded back up, we decided to head back to the spot I was at this morning, to see if we could locate the other 4 toms that were with the bird I shot Wed. We get there, walk in, make some calls, nothing. OK, let's hit the Appalachian trail and see if we can make somthing work. We set up on top of a big flat were I worked a jake and 2 other strutters on Monday, and waited. Nothing. Now it's about 10:45, and we have hikers walking behind the trail making noise. I started in on my box call and scared the [no swearing please] out of them!!! We were laughing so hard, I almost pised myself!
So now here we are, sitting there, it's about 11:15, and nothing going on. Tim cuts out on a mouth call, and guess what? GARROOOBBLLLE !!!! Even though it was from REALLY FAR AWAY, we decided to try and make something happen. Tim drops back about 50 yards from our setup, and starts to VERY LOUDLY Cut and yelp. I added in with a fighting purr sequence, and tim finished off with a gobble.GOBBLE GOOOOOBBBBBBLL GOOOOOBBBLLLE!!!!! HOLY [no swearing please] these birds are closing FAST FAST FAST!!!!! Paul and I are watching up to the top of the flat, and Timmy's going out of his mind behind us purr fighting, cutting, you name it. HERE THEY COME!!! The 4 gobblers from Wednesday came in gobbling and strutting their asses off!!!! Tim was down the hill behind us, and they could hear hens going nuts, but couldn't see them!!!! THESE THINGS WERE 30 yards away gobbling their heads off for about 7 minutes!!! Paul was sitting approx 5 feet away, and even though we talked about how we would work it when the birds came in; Neither of us knew when the other was going to shoot. So I said "Paul I'm going to shoot the one on the left, get ready" and CLICK??? my gun doesn't go off!!!! my action on my 835 wasn't closed all the way, and the shell didn't go off!!! I was able to close the action, and the birds are still gobbling and strutting at about 35 yards!!! I flipped of the safety and fired at the lead bird, and rolled him over a log, and at the same time, Paul fired and shot the bird to the right!!!! YEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!! Our first double on longbeards!!! We've been hunting together for about 10 years now, and other than jakes, this was the first time we pulled it off!!! My bird weighed in at 20.5 lbs, had 1 inch spurs and an 8 inch beard, Paul's bird weighed 18 lbs, also had 1 inch spurs and about a 7 inch beard( the beard had that beard rot [no swearing please] in it, and was almost rotted all the way off) I have to tell you, we were acting like a bunch of IDIOTS out there hooting and high fiving and yelling!!!! I don't think we will ever have a day like today EVER AGAIN!!! And to think, I wasn't even going to go out this morning if it was raining!!!![hihi] I thank the big man upstairs for THE HUNT OF A LIFETIME!!! I'll tell you guys, I've never had a first week like this one! I went out 3 times, worked gobblers each time, and killed birds 2 out of 3 times!!! ON PUBLIC LANDS!!! I'll post pictures later.... TED HEY WILLARD HOW ABOUT THAT???[up]
