Messed up on a bird opening day. Got busted by a hen. Hunted some public ground another day. Hiked 5 miles and heard a single gobble.
This morning I hunted with a friend at his family farm. Worked a couple of birds for about 2 hours but they were hung up. We moved on them and got another gobble or so, but no takers. Had heard hens so we assumed they were occupied.
We worked back towards the truck along a field edge, calling now and then. All of a sudden a bird gobbled within a couple hundred yards. We quickly set up with my friend covering the field and me covering the woods.
We called and got some good responses. We could tell there was more than one bird. Within about 20 minutes my friend says, "I see them! Here they come, right where your barrel is pointing"
Trouble was my barrel was pointed at a big dead tree about 10 yards in front of me. My friend says, "I can kill him but my guns not pointing right and I can't move". "He's coming, you should see him soon ".
About then I see a bird, actually two. I see beards on both. But they are past my sights. I swing ever so slowly. But my sling catches on a branch. I'm almost on them when one gets behind cover. The other has his head up looking. About then, another bird even closer steps out from behind that tree. I moved my barrel back to him and pressed the trigger. He dropped at the shot. He was at about 25 yards.
The other birds spooked a bit, but then a hen came walking by. We started calling again and got another gobble, but after another 10 minutes we decided they weren't going to come back. So we collected my bird and called it a day.
Like I said, fun hunt and good morning.....