Then another 3 weeks slogging in south MS to finally kill a bird the last day of the season.
A week off, then headed to NE and SD.
I hiked 26 miles in NE, never struck struck bird on public, but was on gobbling birds every day across the line on private. Found where 5 birds had been shot on public, and the few remaining toms I just couldn't convince to cross onto public. I actually spent 4 hours working a tom with 3 hens, but the closest they got was 5 yards from the line. Ran into 9 other hunters while afield, none had taken a bird. 2 to 4 trucks at every access point.
I bailed on NE and headed to SD. Much less pressure, but boot tracks everywhere I went. Same as NE, found several birds, all on private, and couldn't extract them onto public save one... a toad of a bird came straight up the mountain to me to 30yds, but there was a house directly behind him 150y away so it wasn't a safe shot. Found 4 more human kill sites, 2 kills by predators, and another bird that was prob cripped by a hunter and unrecoverable. Had a great time, was listening to gobbling birds every day, but no real chance to kill one (prob could have killed 2 or 3 pulling them off private reaping.)
Learned a lot (dang those merriams have a high pitched gobble), and will go back after them again. Some beautiful sights, some nice sheds, some good folks (one guy I met gave me full use of his 4 wheeler to access some areas I couldn't get to with the rental vehicle).
