Bird #1

[barrebobber]

Well I got up to Dylan's late! 5:30 or so. Walking up the trail to his blind , all I could hear was gobble after gobble. This was a nice break for me since I'm use to hunting field birds that are heavily pressured. I was always satisfied with the hunt just with the gobbling I heard on the way up. I knew there were some decent birds from trail cam pics and with some buddies input I decided not to put any decoys out. From 5:30-6:30 the birds that were out in this huge field gobbled until they couldn't gobble any more. They were just out of site over a rise in the field but they were moving around as I could tell from their gobbling. There were at least three different birds if not more. I still never saw a bird, even with all that noise, they would respond to one call only that I had, an old raspy hen box call that I don't even think sounds like a turkey but i'm going to spend some more time with it. I sat for the next hour with nothing to be heard. At 7:30 I heard a gobble up to my left about 300-400 yards away. I called and got a response. Trying not to over call I waited a few minutes and yelped again, gobble! Closer! The bird was working his way down a tree line right to the opening in the field that was 20 yards from the blind! yatzee! I kept working the bird for another 10 minutes. Now his gobble was so close it was shaking the pee inside when head when he let out a gobble. I'm ready, safety off, gun aimed into the opening. Well this is turkey hunting, instead of taking the easy route, the bird decided to hope a stonewall and bust some brush to see what was up, ended up being a mistake for him. I trimmed a few apple trees for Dylan getting this guy. Ended up shooting him at about 15 steps! Not a giant but a respectable bird.
18.2 pounds. 8 3/4 beard. 5/8 spurs.