Originally Posted by Iowanian:
Last day of the season, ran out around 1130 for a lunch hunt. Did some run and gun hearing nothing. I get to the corner of the farm and hit the box call. A gobble from the neighbors crop field 300 yards away responds. Set up half way up a field Ina wooded fence row with a single decoy. A hen responds and within 10 minutes a raspy bitch comes through the fence 7 yards in front of me and steps to the decoy. The hen sees a cat entering the field and leaves.
Some aggressive calling and 2 gobblers blow up and are obviously coming in hot. 15 minutes of excited hen banter. Behind me I hear 2 gobblers sound off at 10-15 yards. I see them enter the edge of the field, and immediately swell into full strut. The hang up in the tree line, but unfortunately for Tom, he has stopped at 17 yards in front of the business end of a browsing 10 gauge. An explosion of sound breaks the afternoon breeze and old Tom falls over.
22.8lbs. 11" beard and 1 1/8" Spurs.
A great hunt that took less than an hour complete with all of the major components of a great hunt. I had hunted through rain,quiet birds and toms hanging up with hot hens at 150 yards, but am sure glad I decided for 1 last try.
Originally Posted by Delaney37: :-)..too funny. DSD decoys?
Ya, they've seen three years of raking and spurs and still look pretty damn good. One tom did manage to poke a hole in the strutter but other than that they have been well worth the money just to see them beat the hell out of them. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Iowanian:
I always get the giggles when they are raking a decoy.
You'd think they'd figure it out. They just stand on them raking the shit out of them all wobbly like and then cock their head and stare at it as if they're saying... You want some more?! [Reply]
Missouri birds have been tough. Weather has sucked as well. I killed a beautiful Merriams in South Dakota and hope to roll an Eastern here at home. [Reply]
Originally Posted by HonestChieffan:
Missouri birds have been tough. Weather has sucked as well. I killed a beautiful Merriams in South Dakota and hope to roll an Eastern here at home.
Merriams hunt is on my bucket list. Did you use an outfitter and if so which one? Congrats on your bird:-) [Reply]
Saw my first bearded hen yesterday morning. She had about an 8 inch beard that was the diameter of a swisher sweet cigar. Came down from the roost about 50 yards from where I set up at 6:10am, just barely legal shooting hour and dark but I could definitely see the rope swinging in the breeze. Had a bead on her as she came into my decoy. As she squared up to the decoy, I got a really good look at her head and realized it was a hen so I let her pass. Sure was fun watching her go all Jackie Chan on my decoy spinning it like a top for close to half an hour..lol. [Reply]
