Well, the first is my wife Jen asking to go turkey hunting with me. Thought that was pretty cool so we have planned this for a week, or two. This is the first time she has ever wanted to go hunt with me. Took the kids over to my Mom's last night for a sleep-over, and we made our plans. I had scouted out the private land I hunt for the last couple weeks and I knew there were a couple of Gobblers using the area. We got up bright and early and headed out. We got all setup and waited for hunting time. We could hear those birds gobble on the roost for a while...they would gobble, double, and triple gobble until fly-down. I told Jen that they would probably go silent if they had hens with them....which they did.
It had been almost an hour since we had heard any gobbling, so decided to get a little aggressive on calling. Started cutting pretty hard and immediately got a hen behind us to respond. Told Jen not to move.....but she could not help herself and turned her head. Told her to NOT MOVE as quietly and firmly as I could:dv In a few minutes a hen walked right by us on our right side about 10 yards out. I thought Jen was going to stroke:l I could hear some more hens back behind us too....so I knew those gobblers would be back there too. Told Jen to just not move and they should be coming soon.
After watching that hen for a couple minutes she just kind of moved off and we did not hear the other birds. Decided to get on the cutting again to see what would happen. Got an immediate thunder GOBBLE just to our left. The birds worked from behind us to our left and got out in front of us about 25 yards, but were still in the woods and we could not see them. I called again and got another GOBBLE and I told Jen that it was about to happen. Just then the 2 longbeards came out into the open with a few hens in tow. The biggest bird went right into strut....I could hear Jen under her breath say, "Oh Cool." I moved a little so that the birds could not see my face when I raised the gun....we were in a makeshift ceadar branch blind I put together and I had a shooting lane right in the middle. The birds just sat there for about 90 seconds and I could not see them since I had moved, but Jen got to see the big boy strut that whole time....again, almost a stroke!!! Finally the birds walked out where I could see them, but the smaller Tom was in front of the one I wanted to shoot. I had to wait about 20 more secs before I had a clear shot....BOOM!!!! Flop, flop, flop....bird on the ground.
The first words out of Jen's mouth were, "I finally get it!!" "Now I see why to love this so much....that was so cool." Looked at my watch and it was just 8:18 AM...and we were done. Turns out to not be my biggest bird, but turned out to be my first DOUBLE Beard!! Looks like I am going to have to start outfitting Jen because she is now hooked and can't wait to go again!!
19.5 lbs
1" spurs both sides
Main beard 8.5"
Second beard 5.5"
It had been almost an hour since we had heard any gobbling, so decided to get a little aggressive on calling. Started cutting pretty hard and immediately got a hen behind us to respond. Told Jen not to move.....but she could not help herself and turned her head. Told her to NOT MOVE as quietly and firmly as I could:dv In a few minutes a hen walked right by us on our right side about 10 yards out. I thought Jen was going to stroke:l I could hear some more hens back behind us too....so I knew those gobblers would be back there too. Told Jen to just not move and they should be coming soon.
After watching that hen for a couple minutes she just kind of moved off and we did not hear the other birds. Decided to get on the cutting again to see what would happen. Got an immediate thunder GOBBLE just to our left. The birds worked from behind us to our left and got out in front of us about 25 yards, but were still in the woods and we could not see them. I called again and got another GOBBLE and I told Jen that it was about to happen. Just then the 2 longbeards came out into the open with a few hens in tow. The biggest bird went right into strut....I could hear Jen under her breath say, "Oh Cool." I moved a little so that the birds could not see my face when I raised the gun....we were in a makeshift ceadar branch blind I put together and I had a shooting lane right in the middle. The birds just sat there for about 90 seconds and I could not see them since I had moved, but Jen got to see the big boy strut that whole time....again, almost a stroke!!! Finally the birds walked out where I could see them, but the smaller Tom was in front of the one I wanted to shoot. I had to wait about 20 more secs before I had a clear shot....BOOM!!!! Flop, flop, flop....bird on the ground.
The first words out of Jen's mouth were, "I finally get it!!" "Now I see why to love this so much....that was so cool." Looked at my watch and it was just 8:18 AM...and we were done. Turns out to not be my biggest bird, but turned out to be my first DOUBLE Beard!! Looks like I am going to have to start outfitting Jen because she is now hooked and can't wait to go again!!
19.5 lbs
1" spurs both sides
Main beard 8.5"
Second beard 5.5"
