muddy
Well-Known Member
For the first time in my life I tagged a gobbler on opening morning! Usually I was in class or at work, but last week I decided last minute to take the day off. Daybreak found me glassing 3 groups of birds, each group having one or two gobblers stutting in the trees. All in all I estimated 40 birds within 300 yards. As the morning wore on I had one nice tom come in to investigate but I couldn't get him away from his hens. At about 0800 it got REAL quiet as the gobblers got "henned up" on me. I knew that if I stuck it out and showed some patience a bird or two would come hit the strutting zone that I was camping on. At about 1030 I noticed several hens and one gobbler a LOOOONG way off, probably a half mile or more. As I glassed them 6 jakes came charging in and broke them all up. The jakes chased off 8 hens while 2 of the other hens started making their way towards me... followed closely by the gobbler. They went down into a large valley and out of my sight, I took the opportunity to rearrange the decoys slightly and hunkered down. At 1100 I saw them run onto the grassy knoll I was on and start coming my way. The hens finally brought the old boy by at about 20 yards and I zipped him with a Rocket Hammerhead. He went right down with a broken back and was dead by the time I got to him. No guillotine for me this year, I was scared to try and get it out the little tiny windows of my Matrix! No pictures or "official" measurements yet, gotta wait for someone to get off work to get the business done. Estimates are about 1.75 inch spurs, 11 inch beard, and probably about 24 pounds. A very nice bird for opening morning!
