I took off Friday to hunt the new farm a guy at work is letting me hunt on. I had never been there before so I was not sure how to work this. I found the place with ease and was hoping to get out of my truck and hear a bird or two. The guy told me you can seat on his front porch and hear them all morning long. I get out and ....nothing . So I walked down the edge of the field put my decoy's out ,got comfortable and waited. Just at day break I get my wing out and made a couple of calls and did a flydown with the wing. Not 15 second went by and something in the trees just behind me started flapping it wings and took off. Not sure what it was,but it had some good sized wings on it. Scared the crap out of me. About 6:40 I had made a few calls ,but had not heard a gobble . About that time a saw somthing black just to my right. Get this , I thought it was a spider on a web in front of me. (Made an eye appointment today). My spider was a turkey about 100-150 years away coming thru a wheat field. All I could see was his upper body. As he cleared the wheat I could see it was a Jake.He made his way over to my decoy ,Clucked around it for about 5 minutes and went off to my left.he was gone for about 10 minutes and came back in front of me. Maybe 8-10 feet. Pretty cool watching him. He had a bread that was maybe an 1". No spurs at all. For a split second I'm thinking ...you have not gotten a bird yet. I watch him for about 20 minutes hoping he would bring his older brother in . But it never happened. I let him walk. All in all a good hunt , I was solo,Zach was in school. Maybe the turkey Gods will bless me Next weekend.
Have a great day all,
Tim

Good choice.....the farm I hunt in KY gets a decent amount of pressure....last year 5 Jakes were shot off of the farm...now everybody wonders why there aren't any gobblers around this year.

Like Samuel Adams says: "Always a good decision!"
Good sportsmen reap rewards later.

Simply...nice...

Applause on letting the jake walk with all your tags intact. Many a hunter would have done otherwise. Congrats on a fun hunt.

You have arrived at that point where it is not simply a quest to notch a tag! Congratulations! What a cool hunt too, and just think how pleasing it will be to shoot a 2yr old bird next year with 7/8-1" spurs possibly that gobbled his head off!!

Tburt, Coming from a guy with only thre birds under my belt. It was hard at frist , but to be able to sit there at watch the Jake doing his thing was pretty cool. My son Zach,12 got his first bird on the day 1 of this season. It was a nice Jake , almost full fanned with a 5" beard. I left it up to him about taking it. He told me from now on he wants to let Jakes walk....we'll see. But I like his thinking.
Tim

vabirdhunter,

May the hunting Gods smile on you and let that same bird strut in to your calls in the future as a longbeard.
The '04 spring season left me with all 3 tags after the season was over.
Passed up some jakes that year but did not regret it.
But remember, a trophy is in the eye of the beholder. Be it a jake or a 5 year old, as long as it is a prize to you that's all that matters.

barry

That is great for your son! My first spring bird was a Jake, and I still proudly have his fan and beard on my wall. I shot him when I was young and it hooked me for sure! I hope you and your son share many spring hunts!

Tburt, We are drying the fan out now , kept the legs and beard.
He has already moved his baseball/football thophys. Going to put it over his head board . Asked his mom yesterday could he MossyOak his walls.. Like that going to happen .
Tim