After a nearly silent spring, Saturday morning found the birds going bonkers all morning until about 10 AM. I just couldn't quite sweet talk them in with my calls. Monday comes(our last day of the PA season) and Fran (aka quik, aka the King, aka gay poll initiator :d )offers to help me out & call/video my hunt. So half asleep we meet up at 5 am and head to my hunting spot. No sooner did I get done explaining to him where the birds typically roost, one sounds off MUCH closer than anticipated. With careful urgency we set the dekes, and position ourselves & the camera in a likely location. His calls are routinely met with a gobble, and it wasn't long before a 2nd bird chimed in as well. A short pause & a change in tone from the birds let us know they were on the ground. A few more moments pass and the next gobbles tell us they are on thier way. Anticiaption is high when a thunderous gobble booms out from point blank distance, the birds are JUST out of sight. Finally there appeared 2 colorful heads in search of the love struck hens. As they closed the distance, it was apparent from thier line of travel that in order to get any decent footage, the birds were going to have to pass by precariously close & hope not to spook. So we waited as long as possible, before we'd really risk spooking the birds off. At 7 steps the 870 thundered and one of the birds flopped in a heap. A check of the clock showed that it wasn't even 6 AM. It was a textbook, and incredibly exciting hunt. I haven't officially measured but my bird had about a 5" beard, and little over 1/2" spurs. Nothing huge, but certainly provided for a really fun hunt. Thanks again Fran. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdWURfIsfpk
Nice job on the turkey Ryan. That is a cool video too. That quick guy can really play a tune with a diaphram call.
Watched the vid and got to say that the " bow " you used was a little noisey, and looked like it had a little kick to it. Way to go Ryan.
