We have had several "not hunting" threads recently
Time to counter balance things a bit.
I took this Osceola gobbler Saturday March 23 in Central FL. 11 inch beard, 1 25 & 1.125 spurs, 22 pounds. Nicely colored bird, could possibly pass for a Rio.
was hot and muggy start this morning, I worked up a sweat getting my blind setup about 45 minutes before daylight. Got in, got the thermacell running and waited. Skitters were thick. About 715 the bird gobbled once, ~150 yards off across a small field. Few minutes later the bird gobbles again. Finally I see the bird as he walks into the field. Made a few yelps and purrs, but no interest. Just strutting and a few gobbles and turning small circles. I look north and see some more birds coming. Glass them and it is a group of hens. They pass by the gobbler and he follows. Gobbling, drumming, strutting and putting on a show at 150 to 200 yards along the opposite treeline. Five jakes come and join, the big bird struts some and chases jakes some. About 945 all the birds disappear, heading away from me.
A little after 10 a single hen comes back to the field and turns north. Fifteen minutes or so later another hen comes out of the trees and I hear a gobble, and with my binoculars I see the big bird in the trees but coming behind the hen. He finally leaves the edge of trees and walks into the field. The hen he followed doubled back. But by this time the first hen had made a loop and was coming back, but much closer to my side of the field, skirting a big live oak with low branches.
Suddenly the breeze picks up and my decoy wiggles on the peg and the gobbler suddenly shows interest and starts my way. The hen is feeding closer to me and my decoy is twisting in the wind. So I sat and waited and watched the show. Bird travelling west to east, sun shining brightly on him, strutting, drumming and gobbling a bit. The hen gets to about 10 yards of the decoy and puffs up and walks up to the decoy. The gobbler was about 40 yards and starting to figure out the decoy and starts to angle southeast instead coming straight to me. So I figure now or never, stuck the gun out the side window and delivered a load of TSS to his noggin. He dropped like a stone, just kicked his legs a few times. The hen walked over and checked him out. Then the five jakes came over to check him out.
I watched this bird for the better part of 3 hours of my 4 hour hunt, as he followed hens back and forth along the opposite tree line.
I am fairly certain this is a bird I got on twice last year, but he would not come into range. But, I learned a few of his tricks last year.
Time to counter balance things a bit.
I took this Osceola gobbler Saturday March 23 in Central FL. 11 inch beard, 1 25 & 1.125 spurs, 22 pounds. Nicely colored bird, could possibly pass for a Rio.
was hot and muggy start this morning, I worked up a sweat getting my blind setup about 45 minutes before daylight. Got in, got the thermacell running and waited. Skitters were thick. About 715 the bird gobbled once, ~150 yards off across a small field. Few minutes later the bird gobbles again. Finally I see the bird as he walks into the field. Made a few yelps and purrs, but no interest. Just strutting and a few gobbles and turning small circles. I look north and see some more birds coming. Glass them and it is a group of hens. They pass by the gobbler and he follows. Gobbling, drumming, strutting and putting on a show at 150 to 200 yards along the opposite treeline. Five jakes come and join, the big bird struts some and chases jakes some. About 945 all the birds disappear, heading away from me.
A little after 10 a single hen comes back to the field and turns north. Fifteen minutes or so later another hen comes out of the trees and I hear a gobble, and with my binoculars I see the big bird in the trees but coming behind the hen. He finally leaves the edge of trees and walks into the field. The hen he followed doubled back. But by this time the first hen had made a loop and was coming back, but much closer to my side of the field, skirting a big live oak with low branches.
Suddenly the breeze picks up and my decoy wiggles on the peg and the gobbler suddenly shows interest and starts my way. The hen is feeding closer to me and my decoy is twisting in the wind. So I sat and waited and watched the show. Bird travelling west to east, sun shining brightly on him, strutting, drumming and gobbling a bit. The hen gets to about 10 yards of the decoy and puffs up and walks up to the decoy. The gobbler was about 40 yards and starting to figure out the decoy and starts to angle southeast instead coming straight to me. So I figure now or never, stuck the gun out the side window and delivered a load of TSS to his noggin. He dropped like a stone, just kicked his legs a few times. The hen walked over and checked him out. Then the five jakes came over to check him out.
I watched this bird for the better part of 3 hours of my 4 hour hunt, as he followed hens back and forth along the opposite tree line.
I am fairly certain this is a bird I got on twice last year, but he would not come into range. But, I learned a few of his tricks last year.
