Post by Jbird on Apr 22, 2014 9:30:21 GMT -5
Only heard 1 gobble at first light which happened to be across a county road but within a few hundred yards of where i park on my property. Pretty bummed so set up in my pop up blind on my food plot with a hen and jake decoy out figuring i might get lucky and hear something talking a little late. Pretty quiet until i had a jake skirt through the plot around 7am...he wanted nothing to do with the decs and rolled out. About 20mins later i hear a hen going nuts across the county road. I thought it was someone calling because the calling was so loud and aggressive. Had nothing to lose so i started to call back. I literally called back and forth to this hen for 20 mins straight hoping if it was a hen she would cross the road and check me out and start making all that noise closer to my setup. Sure enough it got closer and closer and for the first time quiet...she had shut up for over two minutes now. It was deathly quiet but suddenly i hear footesteps in the leaves just feet from the back of my blind and then the sound of feathers ruffling. I thought it was someone approaching my blind and i was waiting for someone to slide the zipper open on that side of my blind. I was completely concelaed at that end of the blind but still scared to move because the sound was so close. I only had one window open in the blind facing my decoys. All of a sudden a big strutting fan goes hauling a$$ in front of my window just feet away. I almost had a heart attack. That mouthy hen brought her silent boyfriend with her and boy were they on a mission. The strutter runs directly to my avian x jake and starts to peck, kick and beat his wings all over the poor decoy as the hen appeared to be enjoying the show. I watched about 90 seconds of this and finally gave him a lethal load of #5's right to the dome. He flopped a couple of times and that was it. The hen ended up hanging around for another 30 mins going about her business scratching in the leaves and dirt. I swear it is amazing how different each hunt goes and how different each bird can act. Still learning every single day i step to the woods and just as excited and happy everytime i get an opportunity. Sorry for the crappy pics. Bird weighed 20.5lbs, 10 1/4" beard with 1 1/8" sharp spurs.
