Shovelbuck
Active Member
I'll try to keep the long story short.
After Saturdays hunt, I didn't know if I'd bother with another tag or not. With an injured back and my left knee acting up, it was all I could do to get the first tom. Add that to the fact that I had only seen two toms in the area and I'd just shot one of them, I felt I'd leave the last one alone.
Fast forward to Sunday morning. The wife and I went for a drive to where I hunt to check the game cams. Photos taken after my hunt confirmed that I had at least two more toms in the area. So what the heck, I'll hunt another one. I bought my tag online and headed out around 5:30.
Since I'm not able to walk far currently, an evening hunt from my blind that has been up since deer season would work. I can drive within 30 yards of it and remain undetected to most birds since they usually are on the blind side of the shelterbelt that I will be hunting. I slipped through the shelterbelt and when I was at the blind, west of me in a bean field were three toms and about 8 hens. They were about a quarter mile away and feeding towards me so I settled into the blind and enjoyed the show. At about a hundred yards, the hens headed north away from me and were taking the toms with them. I called and managed to get two of the toms to head my way. At about 40 yards they hung up and started to head back to the hens so I called again and they started back my way. That's when everything went nuts. S
Suddenly, they turned and ran back west with there tails between there legs. At the same time, here comes a herd of toms from the north at 30 yards and closing fast. I swung on the lead bird and at 20 yards touched off the flintlock. Bird #2 down.
One thing about hunting the area I'm in, you never know what type of bird you'll end up with. Birds that look like Merriams, Reo's, or Easterns can be had along with a combination of the above. This bird by far is one of the best looking birds I've ever taken.
Stats.......
23 lbs.
10 inch beard
1 inch spurs
Here's a link to a short video after the shot was taken.
http://iowawhitetail.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34049
After Saturdays hunt, I didn't know if I'd bother with another tag or not. With an injured back and my left knee acting up, it was all I could do to get the first tom. Add that to the fact that I had only seen two toms in the area and I'd just shot one of them, I felt I'd leave the last one alone.
Fast forward to Sunday morning. The wife and I went for a drive to where I hunt to check the game cams. Photos taken after my hunt confirmed that I had at least two more toms in the area. So what the heck, I'll hunt another one. I bought my tag online and headed out around 5:30.
Since I'm not able to walk far currently, an evening hunt from my blind that has been up since deer season would work. I can drive within 30 yards of it and remain undetected to most birds since they usually are on the blind side of the shelterbelt that I will be hunting. I slipped through the shelterbelt and when I was at the blind, west of me in a bean field were three toms and about 8 hens. They were about a quarter mile away and feeding towards me so I settled into the blind and enjoyed the show. At about a hundred yards, the hens headed north away from me and were taking the toms with them. I called and managed to get two of the toms to head my way. At about 40 yards they hung up and started to head back to the hens so I called again and they started back my way. That's when everything went nuts. S
Suddenly, they turned and ran back west with there tails between there legs. At the same time, here comes a herd of toms from the north at 30 yards and closing fast. I swung on the lead bird and at 20 yards touched off the flintlock. Bird #2 down.
One thing about hunting the area I'm in, you never know what type of bird you'll end up with. Birds that look like Merriams, Reo's, or Easterns can be had along with a combination of the above. This bird by far is one of the best looking birds I've ever taken.
Stats.......
23 lbs.
10 inch beard
1 inch spurs
Here's a link to a short video after the shot was taken.
http://iowawhitetail.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34049
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