iawaterfowler88
05-11-2008, 11:53 PM
I'm going to apoligize now for the long story, but it was an exciting one for me.........:lol:
So losing out of the conference tournament wasn't all bad, because it allowed me to get out and enjoy Iowa's 4th turkey season. After a late night I went to bed at 2 am with a 4:15 wake up. Well the alarms went off and I clicked them off and apparently decided to go back to sleep and just let my dad get me up when he woke up. Well at 4:50 I woke up in a panic, he never woke me up...went upstairs to see what was up and I found out that the anti biotics for his lungs had made him even sicker. So I decided to head out on my own. Leaving at 5 am (shooting time was at 5:30) and an hour drive ahead of me, I tried to waste no time. While driving, it started to rain, I started thinking, great what else can go wrong....then I about get pulled over while speeding.....but he got the guy in front of me instead. When getting to my farm the neighbor pulled up and wanted to chat....GREAT I'm going to be even worse off. After cutting him short I started to approach my blind in hopes of hearing some gobbles.....nothing. That was until I got settled and the woods were erupting around me....it was 6:15. There were at least 6 birds within our 170 acres that I could hear, and others on the surrounding farms.
After a few short calls, I was interrupted by 2 birds within 150 yards in the woods. It wasn't more than 2 minutes later they were out in the field, and headed right towards me. After a little more coaxing, and a lot of gobbling, spitting, drumming from them the boss bird finally came to 30 yards and lets out a thundering gobble.......cluck...........BOOOM he just hit the dirt and doesn't even move. His buddy flies 10-15 yards and lands in our food plot and I still have another tag.....I swing over....BOOOM and he flips onto his back. I was in the blind no more than 10 minutes and I had 2 Iowa long beards on the ground!!!! It was by far the most exciting experience ever while turkey hunting, especially after having so many things go wrong, or almost wrong.
I just wish that my dad would have been there with me. BUT, when I called to let him know, I could tell how excited he was for me. Now I have next weekend to get him a bird, and I'm hoping to get it on video, which will be a first for me.
Here is a picture of the two together....
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/5831/tcpic51008doubletoms4bk1.jpg
The boss birds spurs and beard (1 1/4" spurs and 10" beard)
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/5403/51008doubletoms4ol4.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/484/bossgobblersbeardbd2.jpg
The second birds spurs and beard (bad angle, but they were a tad under an inch and 10 1/2" beard with a few strands at 11")
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4528/51008doubletoms3mw2.jpg
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/8227/secondbirdsbeardbi7.jpg
Sorry again for the long story..... :D
So losing out of the conference tournament wasn't all bad, because it allowed me to get out and enjoy Iowa's 4th turkey season. After a late night I went to bed at 2 am with a 4:15 wake up. Well the alarms went off and I clicked them off and apparently decided to go back to sleep and just let my dad get me up when he woke up. Well at 4:50 I woke up in a panic, he never woke me up...went upstairs to see what was up and I found out that the anti biotics for his lungs had made him even sicker. So I decided to head out on my own. Leaving at 5 am (shooting time was at 5:30) and an hour drive ahead of me, I tried to waste no time. While driving, it started to rain, I started thinking, great what else can go wrong....then I about get pulled over while speeding.....but he got the guy in front of me instead. When getting to my farm the neighbor pulled up and wanted to chat....GREAT I'm going to be even worse off. After cutting him short I started to approach my blind in hopes of hearing some gobbles.....nothing. That was until I got settled and the woods were erupting around me....it was 6:15. There were at least 6 birds within our 170 acres that I could hear, and others on the surrounding farms.
After a few short calls, I was interrupted by 2 birds within 150 yards in the woods. It wasn't more than 2 minutes later they were out in the field, and headed right towards me. After a little more coaxing, and a lot of gobbling, spitting, drumming from them the boss bird finally came to 30 yards and lets out a thundering gobble.......cluck...........BOOOM he just hit the dirt and doesn't even move. His buddy flies 10-15 yards and lands in our food plot and I still have another tag.....I swing over....BOOOM and he flips onto his back. I was in the blind no more than 10 minutes and I had 2 Iowa long beards on the ground!!!! It was by far the most exciting experience ever while turkey hunting, especially after having so many things go wrong, or almost wrong.
I just wish that my dad would have been there with me. BUT, when I called to let him know, I could tell how excited he was for me. Now I have next weekend to get him a bird, and I'm hoping to get it on video, which will be a first for me.
Here is a picture of the two together....
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/5831/tcpic51008doubletoms4bk1.jpg
The boss birds spurs and beard (1 1/4" spurs and 10" beard)
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/5403/51008doubletoms4ol4.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/484/bossgobblersbeardbd2.jpg
The second birds spurs and beard (bad angle, but they were a tad under an inch and 10 1/2" beard with a few strands at 11")
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4528/51008doubletoms3mw2.jpg
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/8227/secondbirdsbeardbi7.jpg
Sorry again for the long story..... :D