Saturday 4/22/17

[Morgan F.]

Had to work all week so Saturday was the first I was able to enjoy some Turkey Time!  Worked a bird first thing but couldn't get him to come to my part of the world.  Man were the birds vocal though!  Moved to another stretch and started to walk in to one of my regular haunts when I saw this guy crossing the field just over the rise.  I backed up, set up, and gave a couple of series of yelps.  Waited for what seemed like 1/2 hour (really 10 minutes) and took a peek over the weeds to see if he was heading my direction...sure enough, I could see tips of tail feathers just over the top of the weeds around 20 yards and closing.  With the way this bird was approaching he was strutting right on the edge of the weeds I had dove into, so unless he changed course this was going to be a very close encounter!  He continued his path to approximately 4 yards in front of me when I cut loose.  (At that range I was little worried about pattern size, but luckily my aim was true and was able to connect solidly with the target!)  Never did get a chance to weigh the bird, but I'm guessing around 21-22lbs.  10-1/2 inch beard, and 1/1/4 spurs.  And of course the best part is more bird for the weber!  Photos aren't the best since I was operating solo, but they show a bit of the bird.

Good Luck over the next couple of weeks!