Post by bsutravis on Apr 28, 2006 18:34:18 GMT -5
This bird was raising heck on the side of a ridge... While stalking closer I seen another hunter probably 75 yards in front of me. He was sitting on a ridge opposite of the one the bird was on. The distance between hunter and bird was at least 200+ yards WITH a creek in the bottom that I didn't figure the turkey would ever cross. I held my position for 10 minutes waiting to see if the guy was gonna close the distance.....he wouldn't call, he just sat there gun up and ready for that hot bird to move his way. I didn't know what his problem was. Anyway, I figured if he wouldn't go to the bird I would...
I backed away from the hunter (he never knew I was there) and made a big circle to come around on the side of the ridge the bird was on. I lucked out by finding a lane that was cut through the woods, so I was able to boogey towards the ridge without making any noise. I got to the "flat" that the bird was strutting on...probably 80-100 yards or so away. I got into postition...gave a couple of purrs on the Kaiser call and the longbeard gobbled. I gave one set of yelps after that gobble and then just waited. It wasn't 2 minutes till I seen him strutting towards me....he came within 20 yards and BAM. One shot one kill.
I kept waiting for the other hunter to come down and see the bird that was so wound up but he never did. I would have never busted in on the other hunter had the bird been working toward him or the hunter was on a stalk....but after sitting there on a rock watching what was going on, I couldn't help myself. If I hadn't moved and killed the bird someone else would have. (it was public land).
Anyway......he turned out to be a true "limb-hanger" as evidenced by the following pics. His beard was a good one too! When I checked him in the guy working said that my 20lb bird was one of the smallest they had seen so far. He said that almost all the birds are 22+ lbs!!! I figured they were extra heavy from eating all the cicadas last summer. So....here's the pics!
I backed away from the hunter (he never knew I was there) and made a big circle to come around on the side of the ridge the bird was on. I lucked out by finding a lane that was cut through the woods, so I was able to boogey towards the ridge without making any noise. I got to the "flat" that the bird was strutting on...probably 80-100 yards or so away. I got into postition...gave a couple of purrs on the Kaiser call and the longbeard gobbled. I gave one set of yelps after that gobble and then just waited. It wasn't 2 minutes till I seen him strutting towards me....he came within 20 yards and BAM. One shot one kill.
I kept waiting for the other hunter to come down and see the bird that was so wound up but he never did. I would have never busted in on the other hunter had the bird been working toward him or the hunter was on a stalk....but after sitting there on a rock watching what was going on, I couldn't help myself. If I hadn't moved and killed the bird someone else would have. (it was public land).
Anyway......he turned out to be a true "limb-hanger" as evidenced by the following pics. His beard was a good one too! When I checked him in the guy working said that my 20lb bird was one of the smallest they had seen so far. He said that almost all the birds are 22+ lbs!!! I figured they were extra heavy from eating all the cicadas last summer. So....here's the pics!
