I was ready to go at 5:10 with a temp of 47, overcast, & foggy. At 5:40, I sent out some tree calls & a bird responded immediately. He responded from the roost several times & I could tell when he flew done as his gobble was pretty muffled. The meadow is surrounded on 3 sides by trees & a lot of thick brush. It’s a wonder that the birds can get through it. He responded a couple of more times with the last fairly close. It was again time to shut up & get ready. He gobbled again right behind me but still inside the brush. The next thing I knew, he gobbled right behind me after which I heard wing beats. I have to admit, even though I knew he was close, it startled me the last time he gobbled. I was only about 15 yards from the brush & he was right there.
I had the 11-87 in a semi-ready position when he came into view to my right in full strut. When his back was to me, I brought up the Rem, took off the safety, & started to follow him in the scope. He was right between the dekes when he dropped strut & dropped to the ground with a fatal dose of Federal Heavyweight Mag-Shok 3” mag #7 Magic Pixie Dust delivered to his head. It was 5:53, 13 minutes from 1st tree gobble to the shot. I called Ron at 05:55 & he had just barely got laid down. His stats: 18 pounds 3 ounces, 9 ½” beard, & 1 ¼” spurs.
While waiting for Ron, I watched a doe & yearling that had fed in to maybe 20-25 yards of me. They were nervous but not they weren’t sure what they were nervous about. They moved across the field from the left to the middle & back a couple of times. Then moved off to the right & back to the middle. They browsed around for about an hour before heading into the brush to my right.
Supper that night was my special brand of home made venison chili.
I decided to leave the pics as they were instead of lightening them up so you can get an idea of what the weather was like on this morning. I did size them but nothing else.
The 1st 2 pics are looking out of the blind to where the gobbler dropped.
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/01_zpsujvh5brg.jpg)
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/02_zpskaqdcivr.jpg)
Looking behind me to the area from the gobbler came. You can see the corner of the blind to the right & he came out behind it.
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/03_zpsfurqlkqu.jpg)
Another angle of the brush behind me & to the right side of the field.
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/04_zpsvgxn4b5x.jpg)
To the left side of where I was sitting.
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/05_zps69ookfqw.jpg)
The next 3 pics are looking straight ahead.
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/06_zpsxutb7gzg.jpg)
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/07_zpsh23fvklj.jpg)
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/08_zpso1w4g9a2.jpg)
The next 4 pics are pretty self explanatory.
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/09_zps8f8lmox9.jpg)
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/10_zpsndedlho0.jpg)
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/11_zpsj9yyqfdk.jpg)
![Image](http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b146/huntergks/Hunting/Turkey/2016%20New%20York/Spring/05-04%201st%20Bird/12_zpshtbnvten.jpg)