Team 1 ~ Beard Bandits
#131
Good luck Baldeagle, my birds are still pretty quiet. I had one come in to my calls around 11:30AM Friday but walked right behind my ground blind and didn't come into the field. I caught a glimpse of him out the side window before he went behind us. I should have been on a tree with some decoys out and I could have either spun and shot or had more of chance of luring him into the field. He didn't see anything out there so he went straight back where he came from. Never gobbled all morning.
Saturday was a little better but it ended up working out better for my buddy than it did me. Heard zero gobbles all morning and decided to just walk a road and listen for any signs of birds. We followed yelps around all morning and moved around to a few different setups until our final spot. We had walked the road and gotten close to an opening when we heard some good hen yelps and footsteps heading in close. We eased down to the opening that was on the end of a ridge then split up on either side of the hill to make sure we had it covered. All we did was scratch around and I purred on the mouth call a little and the hens came right in with a longbeard strutting behind em. Only problem was they came to my buddy's side of the hill. They came straight to him and he laid a pretty good 2 year old bird out....8" beard and 3/4" spurs, we didn't weigh him but he was probably about 16 or 17 lbs if I had to guess. That was just the 2nd bird he's ever killed so I was real happy he got one. If I don't hear any gobbles next weekend I'm going to south alabama the weekend after. Good luck to everybody else starting off!
Saturday was a little better but it ended up working out better for my buddy than it did me. Heard zero gobbles all morning and decided to just walk a road and listen for any signs of birds. We followed yelps around all morning and moved around to a few different setups until our final spot. We had walked the road and gotten close to an opening when we heard some good hen yelps and footsteps heading in close. We eased down to the opening that was on the end of a ridge then split up on either side of the hill to make sure we had it covered. All we did was scratch around and I purred on the mouth call a little and the hens came right in with a longbeard strutting behind em. Only problem was they came to my buddy's side of the hill. They came straight to him and he laid a pretty good 2 year old bird out....8" beard and 3/4" spurs, we didn't weigh him but he was probably about 16 or 17 lbs if I had to guess. That was just the 2nd bird he's ever killed so I was real happy he got one. If I don't hear any gobbles next weekend I'm going to south alabama the weekend after. Good luck to everybody else starting off!
#132
#133
Heard my first Gobble a week ago saw my first strutter yesterday,and He was a Top Tom for sure.He was a beautiful Bird but on private property,someone is going to be very happy if they bust him. Things should get going around here this week,youth season is the 20 and 21st. of this month.