At 5:10 this morning it was 48, dead calm, & overcast. The woods started to awaken about 5:45 with tweety birds singing, woodpeckers calling & hammering, &, of course, the honking geese. About 6, I thought I heard a gobbler but it seemed to be so far off I thought it was across the road in another woods. A few minutes later, I heard another &, though it was still far off, it seemed to be at the far end of “my” woods. He did respond to my calls from both a mouth call & my box calls. He seemed to really like the soft yelps & purrs from the box. He stopped gobbling about 6:10 & I decided to cut back on my calling to every 20-30 minutes. I figured he knew where I was &, since I had all day, there was no need to push the issue. About 6:20, he gobbled once considerably closer. I did purr with the box call & he responded even closer. Time to shut up, put down the box, get into a semi-ready position, wait, & watch. About 6:30, I saw him strutting in from the east on a beeline to the dekes. He strutted behind a large tree & the 11-87 came up to the shoulder & the safety pushed to the off position. He moved into the dekes &, at 6:33, the 1-87 spit a load of Federal Heavyweight 12 gauge, 3” Mag-Shok #7 Magic Pixie Dust & down went Ohio number 2. His stats were 17 ½ pounds, 9” beard, & 7/8” spurs.
It was still 48 when I got back to the truck with the blind, chair, dekes, & hunting equipment. I loaded everything in the truck & headed over to my buddies house on the 4-wheeler to get the other blind & pull the fence posts marking the drive way culvert where I park. Then it was to the house to pick-up the trailer & go back to pick-up the 4-wheeler. On the way I got home, I checked the distance from where I sit & where I though he was. From where I enter the woods to the far east end was 4/10 of a mile so I figure he was between 3/10 & 4 /10 of a mile or 500 to 700 yards away. Heckuva long ways to call a bird!! It had started to sprinkle. I unloaded the truck & put everything away & then went about the business of cleaning the bird in the rain. He’s sitting in the kitchen sink soaking waiting for the final cleaning, vacuum sealing, & freezing.
My season is over & I WILL be sleeping in (I hope.)
