I can�t believe this has happened a second time in a week (Sunday & Sunday) but I killed bird #2 yesterday afternoon at 5:45 after spotting him in the horse pasture while jogging. I saw him on the first mile and went ahead and ran a little over 3 and he was still there on my last time through with 3 hens. He was strutting and gobbling so I knew there was a chance and wanted my son to get him. I went back home but my son was in the shower so I threw my clothes on and grabbed my shotgun, binoculars, and mouth call and jumped in the truck. Pulled over to my neighbor�s and eased up the fencerow. It�s pretty thick with a bunch of cedars so I just followed the horse path and was going to go up to where it corners. As I�m going up through there I�m stopping and looking left as that�s where they were but I got about 30 yards from the corner and caught movement right in front of me. It was the gobbler strutting but thankfully when he walked into the opening he was facing away and didn�t see me. I froze until I found the 3 hens and shouldered my gun for what seemed like 5 minutes. The hens fed within 10 or 15 yards and he kept pacing back and forth in full strut. Finally about the third time he got in the open I yelped a couple of times and he stuck his neck straight up. I fed him a face full of Hevi Shot Mag Blends from my 835 at about 25 yards and he dropped like a ton of lead. He was still in strut so I blew a chunk of tail feathers out which is the gap you see on the right side in the picture. The ones missing on the left side are from the neighbor�s kids each pulling one out. I still don�t see how I got that close without them seeing me but sure wish my son had been there so he could have gotten his second of all time.
18 lbs
9 1/8� beard
7/8� spurs
18 lbs
9 1/8� beard
7/8� spurs
