posted May 13, 2010 07:14 PM            

I've give you the whole days report.

As per usual I started the day at first legal light. Temps were hovering right around 32 this day and I didn't hear any roost gobbles in a couple places I stopped by. I ened up calling a bit (with no response) at my current favorite place and when I went back to vehicle as always I did a look-see up and down the road (I can see about a half mile of road from where I park). I have been hunting this place (all woods) for a a number of years and when I looked up the road (and it is up) I saw 'something' that looked a little different or out of place. I turned the vehicle around and drove up there to find 3 birds, 2 stubby bearded ones and one with a longer thin beard. I turned back around and went back to my spot and attempted to call LOUDLY as it was a long ways away, but to no avail (and the wind was starting to pick up pretty good). I then drove 'UP' the road and parked at the closest place I could beyond where I saw them. It was again pretty far away and up there closer to top of ridge the wind was just howling relentlusly and I couldn't get anything going. I decided to hit the road again and about 5 miles away there is a really big meadow right next to road (one of very few openings in the state land areas I hunt).

Back in 08' I saw birds there all the time but was never able to harvest one. Either I got busted going in early or if I went later when they were in the meadow I couldn't get them back into woods or close enough (although I could get them to gobble to me). In the fall of 08' they applied herdicide to kill some invasive stuff and until this day I hadn't seen a bird there. This place is also pretty popular with hunters but this day I appeared to be the only idiot hunting (didn't see anyone anywhere in my travels).

As I drove by at 40 MPH I took my usual gander to check it out. I tend to look far down but I caught a glimpse of a bird really close to road and looking in my direction as I went by. Turned around at far end and when I drove by again I saw a reasonable beard on him. There is a house very close by across the road and a vehicle backing out of drive and I wondered if it would chase him as I went down the road to get turned around again.

When I did get turned around and back to where I could park even worse (as I looked over rise in road) was a school bus stopped to pick up a child. Now I really wasn't sure if the bird would have stayed close or run off somewhere but I had to try anyway.

The landscape here drops off from the road and you really can't see well down into woods as you drive by. When I crossed the road and started into woods to my dismay I saw that either from ice storm over winter or due to some really windy days we have had this spring there was many many trees down. I had to wiggle/ twist and turn to get down in the woods a bit and finally found a tree to lean against to afforded a couple openings to see through. I was about 100 yds or so from the meadow edge.

The gusty winds were stopping on occaison long enough to allow for calls to be heard and I called about half a dozen times during these periods when somewhat to my surprise he gobbled fairly close by. I answered with a call, waited, answered again to another gobble and once more before I finally saw his head pop up just the other side of stone wall that is border of meadow. Put the call down and got my hands on the 10 GA while I waited to see if he would cross the wall. He did and was doing the zig zag walk towards me. The downed trees prevented him from going between me and road (a good thing) . In about a minute he was close enough and when his head went behind a tree I raised the gun up and popped him when he got to other side.

The shot could have been better as while he went right down he came back up flopping around. The early warmth we have had this spring (not this day of course) has the ferns growing high and thick in this spot and I couldn't see his head to whack him again so I got right up to hustle over to where he was (forgetting the little sitting stool I had to look for after). I had to wander among the downed trees to reach him and the darn bird wasn't there when I got there. Just as I was going to start circling around I saw he had managed to flop about 10 yds through the one opening in another stone wall that runs perpendicular to the meadow wall and was partialy obscured by it. Got right over there and stepped on his neck till he expired.