Post by BIG FOX on Apr 18, 2008 12:12:24 GMT -5
So I meet the my guide Ron Parker at 4:45 am in LaPlata knowing we had a short ride to the hunt site. We meet up and he gets ahold of the other guy that was going to go with us. He has to cancel because he is sick, so it is just me and Ron and no video guy. I was a little bummed but figured I still am going on this hunt and hopefully I will get lucky. We get set up in the powerline over looking the food plot at about 5:30 am and the weather was beautiful. We sit for about 15-20 minutes and I hear a dumptruck squeal its brakes in the distance and BOOM gobbles from every direction. Must have been between 6 and 8 birds, 3 or 4 were within 100 yards or so. I look at Ron and you couldn't have whipped the grin off my face with the 12 gauge sitting next to me. we listen to the birds gobbling from the roost for a good 20 minutes and it gets real quite. at about 6:30 or so Ron cuts a couple yelps to no gobbles and he asures me that the birds are here and we are just going to wait them out. about 15 minutes later he nudges me and says he heard one in the distance and tells me to stay on my toes.. not 10 minutes later I look over to see a big gobbler in full strut not 75 yards from the blind. I about fall over trying to get Ron's attention and with him laughing he tells me to get ready and be patient. I am watching this bird for an eternity or about 5 to 10 minutes as he never breaks strut heading to that poor jake decoy that has his girlfriend. As he steps infront of the blind I look down my shotgun to see the bead doing the wholly crap dance and me panting like a lab that just went on a 100 yard duck retrieve,. Mean while I can hear the little laughs from Ron as he keeps saying SHOOT SHOOT ANDY SHOOT.... and BANG I hit the bird and drop him in his last tracks and i run out into the feild like a little kid on Christmas.... What a hunt and what an experience.... If something like that doesn't get your heart pumping and you breathing a little bit then sell your guns cause this was FREAKING AWESOME>>>>>>>>>>> About 24 lbs, 10.5 inch Beard, and 3/4 inch spurs... He is presently in the deep freeze at the taxidermists awaiting his place in the corner of my basement for the rest of eternity.......