Short version, 3/25/17 AM hunt. Two birds walked up, boom boom, two birds carried away.
Also, anyone have an idea as to what happened to this guy’s leg above the spur?
The long version below is basically my journal entry for myself, it’s a bit long so feel free to skip…
Got to my first choice hunting spot at 6:30am to find one of the other guys on the lease beat me, so I had to hurry to the other side of the property. I decided to go in as far as possible near where our property borders WMA. I got to the top of a ridge to listen as the sun started to light the cloudy sky and heard 1 or 2 birds way off in the distance on the WMA property off to my right. Usually there is a bird or two further down to my left along the creek, but I didn’t hear anything from that direction this morning. I decided to walk down to the creek and do a little walking and calling. As I am walking slowly and calling a little bit along the creek, I find a 4 point shed (bonus!). Not long after that I hear a bird gobble back at me, but he was 300+ yards away from me across the creek and up on a ridge. I was thinking that if he is up on the ridge, he could possibly see me down at the creek bottom so I laid up against the first thing I could, which was an old fallen oak tree. Turns out that was one of the worst spots I could have sat in, because along this creek is a bunch of little bamboo shoots that block most shot opportunities. Only a few windows here and there…
Well me and this gobbler go back and forth for a good 15 minutes, but he doesn’t budge. As I go silent for a few minutes, I thought I heard what sounded like hen let out several yelps. I thought to myself, that couldn’t be another hunter, could it? It was way too far back from any access road, and they would have had to walk past my four-wheeler and me if it was someone else on our hunt club. I decided to mimic it, and that really got her worked up. This hen started letting out some excited yelps and clucks and I could tell she was getting closer and closer, but I couldn’t see through all the bamboo. Next thing I know, she appears on the other side of the creek and is calling looking for me hard. She decides to step down and fly across the creek and walked up my side to within 15 yards of me looking around for the hen she was yelling at. She doesn’t pay me any attention and starts feeding among the leave and branches from the dead oak tree I was sitting against. At some point a hear a gobble closer than before, but I am so pumped to have this live bait 20+ yards in front of me, I can’t tell you when he sounded off. Next thing I know, I see a red, white and blue head 80+ yards away on the other side of the creek and I can barely tell but he is puffed up! I have this tiny window through the bamboo where I can tell he turns back and forth a few times and then starts to make his way toward the creek a ways down from me. At this point the hen has worked around the big dead oak to the other side, so I take this opportunity to change my position on the tree and try to call her back.
I send out a few excited yelps and clucks and here she comes yelling at me again! She walks her previous trail retracing her footsteps and is almost at the creek when I see the first big guy poke his head out from around the dead limbs. As she goes to cross the creek back to the other side, I see a second tom right behind the first!?! Well the first one got to a decent shooting window through the bamboo at about 20 yards and boom! He starts flopping around wildly so I immediately shuck another round in the chamber and jump up to go stomp on his head. I get about 5 steps closer to him and realize the second bird is still there. He is confused because he wants to run away, but he also wants to go jump on the bird I just shot too! So I am standing out in the open, one bird flopping like crazy and another bird standing there as confused as I was. I decided to knock him down and as well with another boom! Next thing I know I am stomping on 2 separate longbeard heads!!!
Happy and sad to fill 2 of my 3 tags on my second hunt of the year. We are moving out of our current house April 7th and will be closing on our new house April 21st, so this next month will be a nightmare for moving/remodeling/painting/and the honey-do lists. Not sure how many chances I will have to get out and chase these thunder chickens, but I can you I love that adrenaline rush like no other!!! This was my second ever double, and the first time calling in a hen. Listening to the real thing that close, it sure does make me feel better about my calling, LOL!
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