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Stepped outside this am and the wind was blowing....about went back inside to finish off the pot and say the hell with it....But Like I always told my daughter...ya can't kill um on the couch... I went and had to park 1/2 mile from where I normally do as my lil hunting truck was in the shop and the F250 wouldnt fit down the skinny trail. 1/2 a mile later Im where I normally park, I fire up the GPS and dive into the swamps... I got another 1/2 mile to go before daylight.
I get to my listening spot @ 06:15 and wait.... By 06:50 I had heard nothing..not even an owl. I gave a hoot..GOBBLE 300 yds. I also heard one way off towards where I started in from(I put that in the for later this am file). I make a move and realized I had to stop and get setup or I would be seen across the pine hill he was on in the swamp. 150 yds to the bird. I give a few clucks..He responds and thats it for 15 min. He knows where I am.. 07:15 or so, he pitches out of a tall pine and glides up to me over my left shoulder and goes past another 100 yds easy and lands in the swamp GOBBBLE.... I cutt..he answered.....I moved around to the other side of the tree.... about 0730..he gobbled again...about out of hearing going away... no game...so I picked up and went towards where I heard the other bird gobble one time..
I'm slipping and calling every 200 yds...nadda... I made it almost back to where I normally park at frustrated I didnt strike this other bird up. I thought I saw something shiny in a little clearing....so I pulled out the binos...BAAM two toms feeding in an opening 75 yds. I set up give a cutt..heads come up...look for a min..and go back to feeding.... no luck.. After a few I decided to move on them. I backed out about 200 yds and made a big loop. Got behind some thicker woods and closed the distance. When I was about 100 yds from where I saw them last, I ditched the vest put a diaphram in my mouth and started crawling in...
50 yds later I could catch glimpses of them feeding..but there were a lot more eyes then I thought...4 jakes and the two big Toms in a bachlor group. Time to get low and do the old Scout recon get in close belly crawl...20 min later I had covered about 25 more yds and closed the distance to about 40 yds.. I watched the birds slowly feeding to my right and saw the Toms were leading. After what seemed like 8 hours all the birds had their heads down feeding at the same time. I poped up onto my knees inside the brush and was not noticed....the ol heart rate kicked it up a notch then..I aint gonna lie... I waited again for a few min for all the birds to have their heads down, when they did I slowly raised the Mossy 835 to my shoulder and flipped off the safety. I CUTT loud and sharp on the diaphram and up came all their heads.The two toms looked like twinns ,so I pulled a bead on the left birds neck...BOOM he did a back flip as I felt the recoil of the 3.5 load of #5's go out the barrel.The second Tom took flight as well as one of the jakes.The other three young birds just stood there putting and looking at my bird untill I got up and started moving.
08:49 hrs Best bird of the year for me, Great way to close out the season 10.5 in beard 1 3/8 in hooks 17.5 lbs Another public land swampbird.
I get to my listening spot @ 06:15 and wait.... By 06:50 I had heard nothing..not even an owl. I gave a hoot..GOBBLE 300 yds. I also heard one way off towards where I started in from(I put that in the for later this am file). I make a move and realized I had to stop and get setup or I would be seen across the pine hill he was on in the swamp. 150 yds to the bird. I give a few clucks..He responds and thats it for 15 min. He knows where I am.. 07:15 or so, he pitches out of a tall pine and glides up to me over my left shoulder and goes past another 100 yds easy and lands in the swamp GOBBBLE.... I cutt..he answered.....I moved around to the other side of the tree.... about 0730..he gobbled again...about out of hearing going away... no game...so I picked up and went towards where I heard the other bird gobble one time..
I'm slipping and calling every 200 yds...nadda... I made it almost back to where I normally park at frustrated I didnt strike this other bird up. I thought I saw something shiny in a little clearing....so I pulled out the binos...BAAM two toms feeding in an opening 75 yds. I set up give a cutt..heads come up...look for a min..and go back to feeding.... no luck.. After a few I decided to move on them. I backed out about 200 yds and made a big loop. Got behind some thicker woods and closed the distance. When I was about 100 yds from where I saw them last, I ditched the vest put a diaphram in my mouth and started crawling in...
50 yds later I could catch glimpses of them feeding..but there were a lot more eyes then I thought...4 jakes and the two big Toms in a bachlor group. Time to get low and do the old Scout recon get in close belly crawl...20 min later I had covered about 25 more yds and closed the distance to about 40 yds.. I watched the birds slowly feeding to my right and saw the Toms were leading. After what seemed like 8 hours all the birds had their heads down feeding at the same time. I poped up onto my knees inside the brush and was not noticed....the ol heart rate kicked it up a notch then..I aint gonna lie... I waited again for a few min for all the birds to have their heads down, when they did I slowly raised the Mossy 835 to my shoulder and flipped off the safety. I CUTT loud and sharp on the diaphram and up came all their heads.The two toms looked like twinns ,so I pulled a bead on the left birds neck...BOOM he did a back flip as I felt the recoil of the 3.5 load of #5's go out the barrel.The second Tom took flight as well as one of the jakes.The other three young birds just stood there putting and looking at my bird untill I got up and started moving.
08:49 hrs Best bird of the year for me, Great way to close out the season 10.5 in beard 1 3/8 in hooks 17.5 lbs Another public land swampbird.
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