Well, 6 years was just too long. Me and Captain Ernie, an officer on a neighboring fire department that im good buds with, hit the woods around 545 this morning. Ive never had a cooler walk in, the sun was starting to peak out in the east, and the full moon was settling in the west. We listened at a vantage point for awhile and heard some hens cackling off to our west. We set up on a trail about 60 yards away and after 10-15 minutes, a jake gobbled about 75 yards to the south of us. After the hens flew down, a gobbler started sounding off about 150 yards southwest on the other side of a ravine. We made a BIG circle to the east, and set up about 125 yards to the east of him on the same level. After 25 minutes or so of light calling, he made it to about 50 yards, but was behind some brush (and actually about 10 yards from the blind me and Isaac set up last week). Some hens started yelping to the north and he shut up. That was the last we heard of that bird. We moved around a bit and started walking back north towards my lake and the center of my property. After we crossed the swamp at the back of my property... ....and got up on the main chunk of my woods, we heard 2 gobblers hammering away about 200 yards to the northeast in the clearing i had my Stealth cam in the last few weeks. We got in close (50 yards) and set up quick. The gobblers stayed in the clearing (too thick to shoot) while Ernie purred for about 10 minutes, then dropped down in a ravine, and followed one of my trails over a bridge and out to my alfalfa fields... ....this is when magic happened. The 2 gobblers made it to the field about 150 yards from where we were set up on a ridge top to our north, and Ernie started doing some aggressive cutting. The gobblers made a BEELINE for us. They even crossed over a creek and up a straight incline into our setup. The first one popped into range at 30 yards and....click....boom! Almost identical to my first bird, 20 Lbs, 7/8 spurs, and a beard around 9". Ernie shot twice at the second bird as he peaced out, but didn't connect. We then sat and chatted for about an hour to let the woods settle, Once things were quiet again, we decided to hump it about 5-600 yards back to the southwest, where i had killed my first bird the week before. We walked on over, sat down and looked around for a bit, then hit the slate call. Nothing. 20 minutes later, hit the slate.....BOOM! A gobbler sounded off 125 yards straight west. After some soft purring and cutting, he closed the distance to about 75 yards. 20 minutes passed, when all of a sudden i hear Ernie, "there he is". Not 20 yards away on a trail, 2 gobblers are walking parallel to us. Click....boom....season over for the both of us. Heres the kicker, when Ernies bird went down, the damn double beard was right behind him and stayed in the setup for 2-3 minutes just walking around. That bird has brother Isaac written all over it :D
Amazing year in Ohio boys congrats again, loved the story. There is nothing that fires a Gobbler up more than aggressive cutting IMO It drives them insane :D
