Sorry for tardiness of posting:
I went on Thursday 5/8 for about an hour, At the house where I stayed they said they have seen a loner come along the near field in the afternoon. So I sat in the brush for just over an hour, no Birds.
My turkey hunt on 5/9 near Eau Claire, WI was pretty much washed out. (BTW: did you know I was chicken? Yup, when the lightning went zzzzzzCRACK and THEN I saw the light I headed for the house... and was called a chicken...) Went out Friday afternoon (Long after the thunderstorm was over), I Saw some birds WAAYYY over there...
Got up and out again Saturday 5/10, had decoys set up on a logging road near the back hay field (And a blind was still set up from the rain Friday.). I set one hen and one jake decoy out. About 5 am I heard the first gobbles, I called softly, and they hammered back. I thought"I better not call too much or they'll be here before I can shoot them." Something came to a halt right outside the blind, I assume it was a deer but I did not have a window open to see that way. I was worried it might be a coyote trying to stalk my decoys.
I heard 2,then 3, then 4, eventually 5 gobblers answer my calls. I heard over 70 gobbles BEFORE one came out of the fog in the hayfield and strutted right up to the hen decoy, then turned directly to the jake, walked right up to it, and didn't care when I said PUTT the first two times,
IT WAS SELF DEFENCE! I had to shoot to protect my decoy at 5:30 AM.
stats:
22 1/4 lbs (Sure felt heavier than that)
over 9 1/2 " beard
1 1/4 inch spurs.
My dad thinks it was a 4 year old bird. (I don't care, it needed a 1 " beard to be legal...)
Yes it was on my buddies family farm. they see a flock of 25-30 on the field south of the house all winter AND a flock of 50-60 North of the house at the same time... Lets talk about Deer in another thread, shall we?
I used my NEW MOSSBERG 835, and Federal #6 3" load, which patterned nicely at the range last month. A different sight set up is probably in the works, because the beads are hard to see in the early morning hours.
Now, Since I only had 1 tag, that was my season.