Man I am way behind on looking through posts.. congrats to all that have scored.. I have yet to pull the trigger, but I have watched 4 die so far this year that I called in..
This past Saturday Luke and I went to a farm that held a bunch of birds last year, but my scouting had told me that the population was a down in preseason. However the farmer called me a couple of days before youth weekend and reporting seeing some finally. We went the Sunday of youth weekend and heard one bird give one gobble and that was it. I was discouraged, but trusted the farmers insight. He called me about a couple of days before the opener and reported seeing two birds in a life and death battle fighting like crazy. I told him I would be up there mid week as I had a few other spots I wanted to hit, and was kinda saving that one for later, thinking nobody else would be in there. Well a guy that the farmer has work for him ask him about going in there and he let him go on Tuesday opening week and he went 50 yds past the blind I had setup and killed a nice bird right off the roost. I figure it was the loser of the fight he reported. I went the next day with Gunner and heard the boss bird, but he wouldn't gobble much and would not leave his hens.
Saturday comes and I tell Luke I want to try the place again, We heard not a peep at roost gobbling and I was discouraged again. We moved over the back side of the property around 8AM and found this bird and he gobbled well, and was lonely. I'm not sure if this is the boss or not because he was about 1/2 mile away from where he had been spotted on a regular basis, but he is a good one. 1.25 inch spurs and weighed 20 lbs. Had to call him in across about a 10 foot creek, but he finally came when I gave him the silent treatment.
Here is the video..
https://youtu.be/I9WurDA8Wmg
and some pics..
