At 06:12, he appeared out in the field strutting. He strutted back & forth for several minutes just to the right of & then behind the trees leaning to the left before heading into the woods. It was then that I saw his fan & knew he was a jake. He strutted right up to the jake & stood next to the deke in full display. If the season had been progressing differently & I had been seeing/hearing birds, he would have gotten a pass. But, after spending 30+ hours in the woods the 1st week & 23 hrs this week & only seeing 3 toms & 1 hen, I had to think about it. That & the fact that he gobbled like a man & strutted like a man, he needed to be treated like a man. He was then met with a load of Federal Heavy Weigh MagShok 3” #7 magic pixie dust from my Remington 11-87 at 06:27. 14 pounds 7 ounces, 3/8” spurs, & a 4 ½” beard.
I had a trail cam set up & thought I would get a 30 second video of the bird & maybe the kill shot. Either the card was full or it was just a little high & wasn’t tripped by the bird. NO VIDEO DANG IT!!!!
It has been another tough year for me here in Ohio & in NY. Here, I saw 1 hen, 2 gobblers, & a jake killing a gob & a jake. In NY, I did see several hens but only 1 gobbler, which I killed. This season was almost a carbon copy of last year. I have spoken with a lot of folks who are seeing the same thing but nobody has a clue as to why. The last 2 winters here have been pretty mild & there should have been a lot of jakes & 2 year olds but that wasn’t the case. Now, with all the rain & unseasonable cold, I don’t hold out much hope for things to change next spring.
