My Dad took out a friend of his (Ethan, age 13) and got a good gobbler. They were working cattle and heard this guy gobble so they went across the field and set up to smack this guy. Dad said 6.5" beard and about 18-20 pounds. My brother and I will be out there this weekend. Oh yeah, this is in NW Garfield county.
It was out of a recurve and that is a decoy and a good looking one. There was a hen all over it this morning. She was in the middle of flogging the decoy and pecking it in the head when the gobbler finally got into range. I don't know the maker but will check for you. It has a head that bobs if you want to hook up a string into your blind to pull on it.
That is the decoy ccshooter.
Well, I went out this morning before work early. It was still and dark and they were really gobbling on the roost. I went back to the same spot the big bird had come in on Saturday night when the cows spooked him off. Here is a pic of the blind set up. The decoy was on the other side of those small cedars behind the blind. The big tom on Saturday night came up to the fence you can see next to the blind but about 50 yrds further down the fence line.
I could hear at least 3 toms gobbling close and a couple off in the distance and they flew down pretty early but sounded like they were going away from me. I gave a few soft yelps and purrs and just shut up. After about 5 minutes, I heard a putt and looked down toward the cedars you can see to the left of the blind and a hen came running out of them about 100 yrds away making a b-line for the decoy. It was a good thing I had the decoy staked down with some huge barn nails because that hen started giving it heck. She was puffing up and purring and started flogging it and pecking it on the head but my girl held her ground. When the hen got close to the blind, I heard a gobble and looked back and a big tom came out where she had and started coming in as fast as he could and still stay in strut. He popped his wings and drummed the whole way in and finally ended up right behind the decoy at about 7-8 yrds. I shot him right in the spine and that first picture was exactly as he fell. I used a 2 blade magnus stinger head and it went into the vital cavity and did not exit. The bird just fell on his chest like a tower toppling over with his wings out to the sides and layed there. His head never even came off the ground. I was one excited boy. It was my first traditional turkey. Here are some pics in better light. He had a 9 1/2" beard and 1 1/4" spurs. I would guess him about 18-20 lbs.
One heck of a bird! love to see the trad shooters on here. I really hope those arrows aren't...carbons............lol, I'm just kidding BIG congrats. And one more question...., was your heart beating hard with just that stick in your hands?! Mine does something horable.