Over the years, I have called several birds from those woods across the road, so I wasn’t worried about him hanging up. As with the other birds, he headed north & then west. There is a swamp along the west side of that woods so they go around it to the north before crossing the road. I kept pouring it to him & he kept hammering back letting me know he was getting close. The last gobble was at about 06:50 & it sounded like he was at the edge of the woods or in the field getting ready to cross the road so I shut up. I saw movement to my left & he was strutting along the edge of the woods towards me. He did a couple of spit & drums before dropping strut about 30 yards from me when the Federal Heavyweight #7 magic pixie dust did its job at 06:57. Nice 2 year old with a 9 ½’ beard, 1 ¼” spurs, & 20 pounds 5 ounces.
It was 54 when I left at 07:30. I’ll be after #2 tomorrow morning back in my original woods.
This is the edge of the woods where I sit & where the bird came in from the right.
This is looking north at the east edge of the woods I hunt & the west edge of the woods where the bird was roosted.
The bird was roosted somewhere in this woods to the far right.
When I cut the spurs off the legs, I noticed this deformity & cut it open.
This little ball of something was under the skin. It looks like it might have been an old infection. I cut the ball into several pieces but there was nothing inside so I have no idea what caused it.
