About ten days ago l filled my last Tenn tag on a bird out of a flock l had hunted four times with no prior success. Freddy and l actually hunted for these birds on the second day of the season, but the weather was awful and they did not show up. Later l set up accidentally right under their roost trees and that hunt was over before it started. Another day they didn't show up in the field and l left after a couple hours. But the farmer told me the birds were there and l went back on a nice clear morning to give it one last try. Got in a small grove of cedars in the middle of a pasture. Birds typically coming in to the area shortly after daylight and sure enough l heard the first gobbles at the head of a cedar filled hollow where l knew they usually roosted. Four hundred yards away, but chances were good they would head my way. l waited until they were on the ground and made one yelp series. Heard several gobbles but not sure actually answered me, but theta least two were gobbling and moving closer down the draw as the light began to grow. Thirty minutes after flydown l see dark shapes moving through the woods and five jakes enter the field. The gobbling though was coming from a hundred yards further down the pasture in an are al could not see clearly. Soon l make out two gobblers and five hens coming slowly up the creek towards the jakes, but all of them were hundred plus yards below my set up, and at an angle where l was not sure the could even see my decoys. Then the jakes made a run at the hens and the two gobblers ran them off to an acceptable distance--a picture of that is attached. For an hour the birds stayed down close to the creek , and my calls were answered but the birds would not leave the hens, as the jakes were not far away and still making moves towards the hens. Eventually the hens slipped away, and although I has used several calls, l had not used the old Cody world class slate yet. When l hit that call the first time both birds double gobbled and l knew it was then a matter of time. In five minutes both birds were in full strut around the avian x jake, and l took the largest. l was surprised when l turned it over that it was a two year old. Nice bird though,and a beautiful Tennessee season was over for me as l had filled my fourth and last Tenn tag.. …you can see the dead bird in the field in the set up picture, and the decoys to the left of it
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