Kentucky Bird...
I had a ton of gobbling going on all around me. When it got light I could see a gobbler roosted about 100 yards away.
4 longbeards hit my field but for some reason they would not commit to the jake and hen decoy. They were skirting the edge of the field and was starting to move away from me. The last bird went into a half strut so I decided to take him. I got his head centered in the Pro-Diamond and boom..down he went. The other three flushed a little, looked back and then decided to skedaddle. I'm guessing that they were all 2 year olds. When I set the blind up I set it where I thought i was within shooting distance of that edge. After I recovered the bird I ranged it and it was further than I thought. It was 55 yards. The edge runs at an angle and they were further down the angle, so it was deceiving..The Rhino .665 choke paired with Nitro 4x5x7 shells and the Simmons 2X Pro-Diamondis a killer combination..
20#, 9.5 Inch Beard, and 1 Inch hooks..
Indiana bird…
Opening day my son was hunting our little food plot and ended up killing a nice bird about 11:30. He had heard a couple birds that morning and one gobbled his fool head off. He was up on a hill east of our foodplot and my son could hear him gobbling back and forth in his strut zone.It sounds like the north end of his strut zones was in close proximately of a pop up blind we had on the corner of our property overlooking a farm field south of us. I've got permission from the non-resident owners to turkey hunt that property. I have access through a locked gate and can park at their old barn. A 1/4 mile walk puts me in that blind.
That is where I decided to hunt to hunt the second day and try and catch that vocal gobbler in his strut zone. After staking out my Avian X Jake and feeding hen decoys at 30 yards I got in my blind at 5:00 CST.. About 5:30 I heard agobbler answer a crow, but it sounded like a pretty good distance away on property that we can't hunt. I did a series of yelps and no answer. I considered he was probably too far away to hear it. About 5 minutes later I had one gobble right straight behind me on our property and much closer.Yesterday's vocal bird? I did a yelp and got an answer.. No more calling.
5 minutes later another gobble .. much closer.. No more calling. I then heard footsteps behind me . I had already picked up Old Betsy and was waiting. The gobbler in full strut walked out of the woods right by the blind and started heading for my Jake decoy. If that window did not have a screen in it I could have reached out and grabbed his neck. That would have been fun! He was all fanned out so I got the gun up and said to myself, "Please break strut". When he got to the decoy he turned a little sideways and went to half strut and appeared ready to peck the decoy. I put the Simmons Pro-Diamond scope on him and dropped him. It appears he is a two year old. Spurs are rightat 3/4 inch but are pretty pointed for a two year old. 9 3/4" beard. 22 pounds.
I've got one more KY tag but that will have to wait until when my son is off work again.
I had a ton of gobbling going on all around me. When it got light I could see a gobbler roosted about 100 yards away.
4 longbeards hit my field but for some reason they would not commit to the jake and hen decoy. They were skirting the edge of the field and was starting to move away from me. The last bird went into a half strut so I decided to take him. I got his head centered in the Pro-Diamond and boom..down he went. The other three flushed a little, looked back and then decided to skedaddle. I'm guessing that they were all 2 year olds. When I set the blind up I set it where I thought i was within shooting distance of that edge. After I recovered the bird I ranged it and it was further than I thought. It was 55 yards. The edge runs at an angle and they were further down the angle, so it was deceiving..The Rhino .665 choke paired with Nitro 4x5x7 shells and the Simmons 2X Pro-Diamondis a killer combination..
20#, 9.5 Inch Beard, and 1 Inch hooks..
Indiana bird…
Opening day my son was hunting our little food plot and ended up killing a nice bird about 11:30. He had heard a couple birds that morning and one gobbled his fool head off. He was up on a hill east of our foodplot and my son could hear him gobbling back and forth in his strut zone.It sounds like the north end of his strut zones was in close proximately of a pop up blind we had on the corner of our property overlooking a farm field south of us. I've got permission from the non-resident owners to turkey hunt that property. I have access through a locked gate and can park at their old barn. A 1/4 mile walk puts me in that blind.
That is where I decided to hunt to hunt the second day and try and catch that vocal gobbler in his strut zone. After staking out my Avian X Jake and feeding hen decoys at 30 yards I got in my blind at 5:00 CST.. About 5:30 I heard agobbler answer a crow, but it sounded like a pretty good distance away on property that we can't hunt. I did a series of yelps and no answer. I considered he was probably too far away to hear it. About 5 minutes later I had one gobble right straight behind me on our property and much closer.Yesterday's vocal bird? I did a yelp and got an answer.. No more calling.
5 minutes later another gobble .. much closer.. No more calling. I then heard footsteps behind me . I had already picked up Old Betsy and was waiting. The gobbler in full strut walked out of the woods right by the blind and started heading for my Jake decoy. If that window did not have a screen in it I could have reached out and grabbed his neck. That would have been fun! He was all fanned out so I got the gun up and said to myself, "Please break strut". When he got to the decoy he turned a little sideways and went to half strut and appeared ready to peck the decoy. I put the Simmons Pro-Diamond scope on him and dropped him. It appears he is a two year old. Spurs are rightat 3/4 inch but are pretty pointed for a two year old. 9 3/4" beard. 22 pounds.
I've got one more KY tag but that will have to wait until when my son is off work again.
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