I called in a nice bird today (9 inch beard with 1inch spurs), or actually I called in 3 gobblers together, and shot one. I heard a bird gobble to an owl at about 0545, and had sporadic gobbles after that. I think I heard 4 different birds pipe in. The closes one was on the next ridge, so I decided to move, and as I was moving, he thundered fairly close, so I sat at the base of an oak, and gave a few yelps in the rain on a mouth call. I saw him running down the hill toward me, and then he stopped on the other side of a deadfall and strutted for what seemd like an eternitry. After about 10 minute, 2 other birds ran down the hill toward him. I gave a cluck or two, and the first bird broke strut and came into range, moving right into the sight picture I had been holding for over 10 minutes. What an awesome hunt. 3 birds looking for the hen. This is my fourth season turkey hunting, and I have called in several birds, 2 within shotgun range and blew it, so this is my first bird ever. I got him on national forest land in the north end of the state. Awesome hunt. It feels really good to finally score after all that effort finding birds on public land, and chasing them for a couple of years pretty hard, with land that seems to have pretty low turkey density and high hunter density. I think the rain helped me, because I don't think I had another hunter in the area, so they probably stayed in bed. I am glad I didn't.

YOu will find, I think, that you can rememeber every detail of that hunt for the rest of your life. Congrats.

Way to go!! Nothing but empty checkbooks and sleepless nights from here on out.

love it...hard earned and well deserved.
the first of many more great memories to come for sure!!
Congrats!

Great job on a nasty day.

Doug

Congrats on a great first!

Congratulations! You have leapt into the minority; Successful Turkey Hunter. Your next Gobbler will not take as long as the first.