Post by firelt72 on May 3, 2011 17:55:13 GMT -5
I posted pictures in the score thread, but I had a neat hunt and a lesson on shooting today.
Jake- 15 3oz .25 spur and 6 inch beard.
My day started at 2am when I got up and started for Brazil to hunt with a friend- Brad. He has invited me to call him if things weren't going well here...dead sea here...so I drove to his house and pulled in at 4 am. We started to a farm area in Parke Co and after driving around and getting where we needed to be I started getting my gear ready. I had on my black frogg toggs since we wouldn't be in the blind and I had my leafy suit on over that, but where were my gloves and face mask??? No where to be seen. I checked with Brad and he didn't have any. I knew I could get by with no gloves, but a mask was a have to have. I then decided to cut off my hood from my leafy suit since I never have had it up. I then took my knife and a strand of elastic from my pack and strung it through- I have my mask. We start in and the rain is falling. We get to where he feels we need to be and set up in a gas line cut out that intersects a trail. We are down in a low area. To our west is a creek and a field, east is a ridge and a field. We sit there and Brad hands me a set of gloves he found in his pack. We were there about an hour before it started to get light. We started hearing a gobble to the right. It would come and go closer and farther. It was fired up hot too. We then got a gobble behind us and to the west. It sounded strong. I had made some calls on my fire-n-iced glass calls I have and purrs. I also used a copper call from a buddy of mine Ed Jenkins, and my mouth call too. Brad said he was going to get his slate out and I noticed a bird pitching down 60-70 yards away toward us, but behind the greenery. Then a second and third.... we had walked into these birds, set up and had not spooked them....we had no idea they were even there. We had set up two hens too. After some calling and waiting three birds walk into the set up. All three jakes, but one was obviously larger and the leader. I looked at Brad and he asked if were going to shoot one. I didn't know...wanted to wait, but it is hard to let a shootable bird go. I said I was going to shoot the bigger of the three. I brought my gun on him and pulled the trigger. He went down right now. This is the first bird I have killed with the shotgun from my late brothers estate and it has his EoTech sight on it too. As I walked to the bird I noticed he is looking at me. The shot was from about 8-10 yards. My gun shoots a great pattern at 20-40+. I noticed that he was hit in the right wing- broken and the neck area - more feathers removed than penetrating trauma. The whole area was the size of a baseball. The bird was dispatched as quickly as I could, tagged and transported out of the woods. Brad asked my plan for the day and I said I wanted to hit the woods, kill and bird and buy him breakfast...that is what happened.
The lesson is that in the future I will check the 10 yard just to be sure where it is going. I want a clean kill and not a wounded bird. I wasn't happy about that. I guess though with the tight patterns and choke tubes and newer ammo it is easy to miss at closer range than it used to be. I use a Moss 535 thumbhole, SSX.670 and #6 3inch Federal Flightcontrol shells.
Jake- 15 3oz .25 spur and 6 inch beard.
My day started at 2am when I got up and started for Brazil to hunt with a friend- Brad. He has invited me to call him if things weren't going well here...dead sea here...so I drove to his house and pulled in at 4 am. We started to a farm area in Parke Co and after driving around and getting where we needed to be I started getting my gear ready. I had on my black frogg toggs since we wouldn't be in the blind and I had my leafy suit on over that, but where were my gloves and face mask??? No where to be seen. I checked with Brad and he didn't have any. I knew I could get by with no gloves, but a mask was a have to have. I then decided to cut off my hood from my leafy suit since I never have had it up. I then took my knife and a strand of elastic from my pack and strung it through- I have my mask. We start in and the rain is falling. We get to where he feels we need to be and set up in a gas line cut out that intersects a trail. We are down in a low area. To our west is a creek and a field, east is a ridge and a field. We sit there and Brad hands me a set of gloves he found in his pack. We were there about an hour before it started to get light. We started hearing a gobble to the right. It would come and go closer and farther. It was fired up hot too. We then got a gobble behind us and to the west. It sounded strong. I had made some calls on my fire-n-iced glass calls I have and purrs. I also used a copper call from a buddy of mine Ed Jenkins, and my mouth call too. Brad said he was going to get his slate out and I noticed a bird pitching down 60-70 yards away toward us, but behind the greenery. Then a second and third.... we had walked into these birds, set up and had not spooked them....we had no idea they were even there. We had set up two hens too. After some calling and waiting three birds walk into the set up. All three jakes, but one was obviously larger and the leader. I looked at Brad and he asked if were going to shoot one. I didn't know...wanted to wait, but it is hard to let a shootable bird go. I said I was going to shoot the bigger of the three. I brought my gun on him and pulled the trigger. He went down right now. This is the first bird I have killed with the shotgun from my late brothers estate and it has his EoTech sight on it too. As I walked to the bird I noticed he is looking at me. The shot was from about 8-10 yards. My gun shoots a great pattern at 20-40+. I noticed that he was hit in the right wing- broken and the neck area - more feathers removed than penetrating trauma. The whole area was the size of a baseball. The bird was dispatched as quickly as I could, tagged and transported out of the woods. Brad asked my plan for the day and I said I wanted to hit the woods, kill and bird and buy him breakfast...that is what happened.
The lesson is that in the future I will check the 10 yard just to be sure where it is going. I want a clean kill and not a wounded bird. I wasn't happy about that. I guess though with the tight patterns and choke tubes and newer ammo it is easy to miss at closer range than it used to be. I use a Moss 535 thumbhole, SSX.670 and #6 3inch Federal Flightcontrol shells.
