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.....

Hell ya👍

Nice bird. 1st thing I do when I sit down is to take of the sling off my 870.

Congrats, nice hunt.

Went with my brother this morning. He can only hunt the weekends. So, even though it was raining, we went to hunt the public. Saw several birds out in the fields on private. We were able to circle around and cut them off. This longbeard and 2 hens came to our set-up. Spurs on this bird are a good inch and 3/8. Mine from yesterday "only" go 1 1/8".

Here's a pic of my birds spurs.



Had about a 9.5 inch beard. Couple strands went almost 10. Does one measure a beard to the longest strand or where the critical mass ends?

Congrats, Nice bird.

Heck yeah! Dang nice birds. Congrats!

Thanks guys. Sometimes it comes together, sometimes not so much. Turkey hunting is a rush for sure.

Nice!! That’s a big one for sure. 👍👍

Nicely done, congrats!

Nice bird.

Thank you folks. Appreciate the kind words.

I'm looking forward to the pa opener but I also know it's gonna be frustrating dealing with the pressure from other hunters. Lots of season left.

Nice