X-Tennessean
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2009
- Messages
- 2,046
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Well it has been a great opening weekend other than the weather I guess but not to bad. Day 1 my nephew and I set out yesterday morning in the rain thinking it was going to stop around 7 but it didn't.
We set up in our usual spot not hearing anything on the roost, which is a bottle neck off the big field with a couple deeks out. Not long after daylight I let out a soft purr and series of yelps which were followed by a GOOOOBLE !! We cant see out into the big field because of a levee and when the bird gobbled again I would have BET MONEY he was going the other direction....I made a stupid decision of getting up to ease over to the levee 80 yards and see if I can get a visual on him, could not find him and then the nephew says HE IS IN OUR DECOYS !!! Yep, he had slipped by us and walked right up in the deeks.....all we could do is watch him walk off to never be seen or heard the rest of the day ! Watched another group of 20+ hens and 1 long beard that hang out closer to some train tracks that were spooked by an unknown until today...
Day 2: we hear 3 birds gobbling so we head to the closets which is the bird that was spooked yesterday, they fly out in the field and later end up in the woods for some odd reason again....Not 20 minutes later I see another long beard step out the timber 7-800 yards across the field, few yelps and he is closing fast !! He gets directly in front of me on the edge of a ditch which is between me and him with 7-8 foot of water in it and takes a dirt nap ! and naturally he flops right off in the ditch.....almost had to strip down to get him out but finally found a tree limb long enough I could drag him to my side and climbed down some roots to get him out.
What kept spooking the birds was some jackleg walking down the train tracks trying to ambush the birds...of course trespassing !
I caught his buddy picking him up, I will catch them red handed !
23.8 lbs (soaking wet!) 1" spurs 9 1/4 beard
We set up in our usual spot not hearing anything on the roost, which is a bottle neck off the big field with a couple deeks out. Not long after daylight I let out a soft purr and series of yelps which were followed by a GOOOOBLE !! We cant see out into the big field because of a levee and when the bird gobbled again I would have BET MONEY he was going the other direction....I made a stupid decision of getting up to ease over to the levee 80 yards and see if I can get a visual on him, could not find him and then the nephew says HE IS IN OUR DECOYS !!! Yep, he had slipped by us and walked right up in the deeks.....all we could do is watch him walk off to never be seen or heard the rest of the day ! Watched another group of 20+ hens and 1 long beard that hang out closer to some train tracks that were spooked by an unknown until today...
Day 2: we hear 3 birds gobbling so we head to the closets which is the bird that was spooked yesterday, they fly out in the field and later end up in the woods for some odd reason again....Not 20 minutes later I see another long beard step out the timber 7-800 yards across the field, few yelps and he is closing fast !! He gets directly in front of me on the edge of a ditch which is between me and him with 7-8 foot of water in it and takes a dirt nap ! and naturally he flops right off in the ditch.....almost had to strip down to get him out but finally found a tree limb long enough I could drag him to my side and climbed down some roots to get him out.
What kept spooking the birds was some jackleg walking down the train tracks trying to ambush the birds...of course trespassing !
I caught his buddy picking him up, I will catch them red handed !
23.8 lbs (soaking wet!) 1" spurs 9 1/4 beard
