We made the grueling 15 hour drive home yesterday evening/last night/this morning and got home at 3:30 am. We had a great trip this year and killed a bunch of birds. The farmer told us to kill all of them we could so we obliged him. I killed this bird on Friday morning as me and Ken tried to double team him. He was gobbling on he edge of a field and dropped right off the roost in the woods and started towards the field where we were set up. He came out in the field and was on a mission. He completed ignored us and down the field he went. Two gobbling jakes came out behind him and followed him. They kept right on gobbling so I could keep up with him. Ken decided to stay put so I eased back up on the hill and followed him. He left that field and went into another field and then I found out what he was after. The other field had 3 longbeards in it. He headed straight for them. I watched them fight from the top of the hill and could see they were headed for the corner of the field. I dropped off the ridge and went through the feed lot and found a hedgerow to use to sneak closer. I belly crawled down the drain until I got about where I needed to be and setup. I called and got no response. A few minutes later I hear one gobble on down the field so I decide to get a little closer. I ease across the pond dam and hit a drain that leads into the creek. I'm trying to find a way across the barded wire fence and finally spot a little gap. I'm halfway through the fence when he gobbles and I can tell he's getting closer. I dive through the fence and gather my stuff and he gobbles again and is really close. I'm in the wide open so I dive for an old blowdown. As soon as I get ready his head pops up. He's well within range but can't tell if its one of the gobbling jakes or not. He starts down the hill towards me and I see his beard. I get my gun up and he sees something he doesn't like but its too late. The TSS cut him a flip when I squeeze it off. Another solid bird about like the others we killed. 9" beard 3/4" spurs and 19 lbs.


I killed this bird yesterday morning in the bottom of the ninth inning. We had decided to leave at 10 am to head back to the motel to pack up and leave by noon. I got in early and got set up on the field where he had been. I needed my full strut decoy but somehow we lost the stake for it so I thought I would just take a fan and try fanning one (which in a cut corn field SUCKS!!!). He flew down in the field behind me and came through the fence with 2 other long beards. He was all bristled up looking for a fight. He came right in front of me at 80 yards but was looking to fight. A long beard in the other end of the field had flew down with 9 hens and 7 jakes and this ole boy wasn't having that. He made a bee line right to them. They all start fighting and gobbling and another gobbler in the adjacent field starts gobbling. All the longbeards and jakes head for that field looking for a fight. Now, all the gobblers are gone and its just me and the 9 hens. About 20 mins later, I see him coming back in the field. The hens have worked their way 300 yards towards the other end of the field so he's on a mission again. I get my fan and crawl out into the field and call to him. He sees me but continues on towards the hens. I ease back into the woods and move up the fenceline a little. He gets with the hens so I try fanning him again. He starts my way but quickly turns back around and goes to the hens. They are headed for a corner of the field and towards so private land so I decide to try and cut them off. I dip back into the woods and make the long trek around the field. I get to the other side and can see they are awfully close to going into the other field so I haul arse. I get up to where I think they are and ease in to the fence row which has a drain in it. I use the terrain to get closer to them. I peek up outta the drain and can see him about 45 yards out. He's strutting away from me so I get my gun up and on him. He's a ways out there but I had confidence that the TSS would do it's job if I done mine. I put the red dot of the FF3 on his eyeball and clucked. He craned his neck and I touched one off. It looked like you hit him in the back of the head with a boat paddle. His head and ass changed places in an instant. I haul arse outta there and I got my boot on my 9th gobbler of the year and our 13th nd final bird of this epic trip. I could tell when I picked him up he was a toad. I stepped it off back to where I was at and it was 51 yards. He is my heaviest bird to date at 24 lbs on the nose. He's got 1 1/8" spurs and a 10.25" beard. I looked at my watch when I got back to my shooting spot and its 9:45. I gather my stuff and haul butt towards the road where they are waiting on me. Couldn't have ended any better!!!

Congrats.... What an adventure!

Good stuff

Great hunts
Congrats

Awesome Stony! Glad y'all all had a good trip!

Congrats again, Stony! Thanks for taking us along with the stories and pics.

What a trip! Congrats Stony!

Congrats man. Sounds like yall had a blast.

Congrats Stony. Yall had a heck of a run

awesome

Congrats, Yall wore them out

congrats ! great job layin them out!

Awesome man.

Congratulations!

Congrats

you being awful mean to them

That's so much fun! Enjoyed the read and congratulations!