Post by 3ptbuck on Apr 24, 2014 20:00:15 GMT -5
Hunting with a friend that also drew the first 3 days at Sugar Ridge. Trying to get him a bird since he's new, only killing 1 jake 15+Yrs ago.
Mediocre opening day with 4-5 birds gobbling, 1 fairly close. He was henned up from the start but nearly offered a shot after watching him for over an hr but long story short, a farmer buggered up the hunt and we never heard a bird the rest of the day.
This morning we tried a new spot a 1/2mi or so from the day before, wasn't a good idea. Heard zero birds and ran into the only other hunter we saw in 2 days up there. Decided to work our way back towards our opening spot, calling everyone in a while. We made it back to our original area and see 3 hens in the field so thought we'd back off the field and work out way down towards them and figure the rest out later. We didn't make it far when 2-3 birds goobled appx 150yds away. I called, they cut me off so we set the hen decoy out right there and dropped back about 20yds and setup.
The next 10min would take a long time to explain but it ended in a mess of birds, couldn't tell you how many or how many had beards, in our lap. They had came in looping to our right so at the last minute we shifted 90deg to our right only to have them change course at the last minute and come in where we originally planned to our now left side. Several birds passed by our decoy before I could ever turn my head but the next one I saw clearly was a long beard. I didn't feel safe turning on any of them so I told my buddy to take the first shot he got and kill his bird figuring I was out of this hunt but glad to see him kill. I saw him get ready so I started to swing around. As I got turned I could see the first birds were already passed and the original tom was facing them on the edge of a creek bank while another 2+ birds were yet to come into view. Right or wrong, my instincts told me that a double was now out of the question and it looked as though the only bird in the open was about to drop out of sight. I told my buddy to shoot again but this time I said shoot him or I will. He hesitated a little too long...
Avg bird, 20lbs, didn't measure the rest but roughly 1" spurs, 10"ish beard. Great hunt and accomplished my goal of my first public land bird.
Mediocre opening day with 4-5 birds gobbling, 1 fairly close. He was henned up from the start but nearly offered a shot after watching him for over an hr but long story short, a farmer buggered up the hunt and we never heard a bird the rest of the day.
This morning we tried a new spot a 1/2mi or so from the day before, wasn't a good idea. Heard zero birds and ran into the only other hunter we saw in 2 days up there. Decided to work our way back towards our opening spot, calling everyone in a while. We made it back to our original area and see 3 hens in the field so thought we'd back off the field and work out way down towards them and figure the rest out later. We didn't make it far when 2-3 birds goobled appx 150yds away. I called, they cut me off so we set the hen decoy out right there and dropped back about 20yds and setup.
The next 10min would take a long time to explain but it ended in a mess of birds, couldn't tell you how many or how many had beards, in our lap. They had came in looping to our right so at the last minute we shifted 90deg to our right only to have them change course at the last minute and come in where we originally planned to our now left side. Several birds passed by our decoy before I could ever turn my head but the next one I saw clearly was a long beard. I didn't feel safe turning on any of them so I told my buddy to take the first shot he got and kill his bird figuring I was out of this hunt but glad to see him kill. I saw him get ready so I started to swing around. As I got turned I could see the first birds were already passed and the original tom was facing them on the edge of a creek bank while another 2+ birds were yet to come into view. Right or wrong, my instincts told me that a double was now out of the question and it looked as though the only bird in the open was about to drop out of sight. I told my buddy to shoot again but this time I said shoot him or I will. He hesitated a little too long...
Avg bird, 20lbs, didn't measure the rest but roughly 1" spurs, 10"ish beard. Great hunt and accomplished my goal of my first public land bird.
