Was running late as usual this am and didn't get up to the farm until 6:15am...Was able to hear and get on a bird still gobbling on the roost but after flydown...he just shut up...I gave him another 20 minutes and headed back to plant some sweet corn before the rain hit..."I've been playing hookey too much this season"
When I got back to the barn & greenhouses, my dad told me he had seen a gobbler strutting in one of our fields up the road a bit...So, after needing to run to Southern States to pick up a buggy of fertilizer, I left the farm and went up the road a bit.....Just as I crested the big hill...2 jakes and a long beard crossed the road in front of me headed into one of our old bean fields....Long story short....I postioned myself on the other side of the pine thicket they were headed to via a state gravel road we own both sides of.... Jumped out the truck...thru on my hunting clothes...vest.....grabbed gun and mouth calls and made a mad dash thru the pines to the field edge hoping to cut them off....As i neared the field..I crow called...nutin!....Crawled out and looked in th field but didn't see anything....The fence row bumps out about 100yards down from me and I assumed they hadn't rounded the corner yet....Found a cedar to nestle up to and a nice gap to shoot to the field and began calling a bit...soft at first and then picked up w/ some hard cuts and yelps....Still nutin!....Decided to crawl back out to look down the field edge and sure nuf there they were..Heading towards me ...but out in the field 60 + yards.....When they go to 80 yards I yelped softly and all 3 raised their heads..but went right back to feeding...The big gobbler was the closest to the woods edge and I decided to let them get closer...As the jakes crossed my opening they were about 60 yards and not long behind the gobbler stepped out...He was 50....I let him pass the opening and yelped softly...muffled.....He throws his head up and stares my way....Just as I though I messed up calling to him in the open...He turned...puffed up slightly...and started heading to my opening....Picking all along the way...I popped off the saftey and let him get to 25 yards and ended my VA season with a nice (non-gobbling) gobbler..... He weighed 19 LBS had an 11inch beard and 1 1/16 even spurs........
This hunt wasn't exciting but it was special!.......It is the first year I have tagged out with gobblers all 3 from my home farm!.....and there's still plenty there for next year!
