3seasons

Hers a podcast with us talking about the hunt and the audio of the hunt Hipe y’all enjoy https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ke866-ad086e

I agree 110% No way we would have done it in the woods or on public land, but the spot these birds were in was perfect. Wide open and out of sight of the main road. We knew no one was in the area and no way someone could have snuck up on us. It was a perfect set up.

Yes that's 3 states so far this year and should have gotten one in Mississippi. I'm working on my super slam but I'm having fun bouncing state to state. Florida was just a fun hunt. This year my work schedule worked out where I can get a good bit of time off so me and my traveling buddy will be hitting 12-14 states this year. Sleeping in the truck or tents and cooking our meals helps out on the cost.

Georgia 3\28\2019 After finding some success in Alabama I took off to NW Georgia and was ready to hunt a WMA for the Georgia opener. I was standing on the side of a mountain at daylight overlooking a couple miles off river bottom and the face of another mountain. I could clearly hear a dog barking at a house 2miles away. But that’s all I heard opening morning. I didn’t hear a bird nor see a bird through midday so I headed East to hopefully find a gobbling bird. Sunday morning I heard a bird in the distance so I took off in search of him. I ended up getting in-between two gobbling birds and was in a pretty good position. One bird ended up going onto the private land that bordered the public land but the main gobbling bird kept gobbling. He was in a bowl roughly 100yds from me, just over a small ridge. I got as close as I could get without topping the ridge to give away my position and I sat down. I called a few times and he would cut me off but wouldn’t move. I figured he had hens with him so I pulled out my gobble tube. I’m just over 1.5miles deep in the woods and I was the only truck anywhere on that road. So I gobbled and he went nuts. We gobbled back and forth and he started closing the distance. Once he got just under the edge of the ridge, maybe 50yds, he gets quit and flies across the swampy area and takes off onto the private land. I couldn’t believe what happened he was committed and so close. I got up to see what I could have done better or see what had happened and as I walked the bowl where he was I see a decoy on the far edge and a guy sitting there. He had come in on top of us and spooked the gobbler and set up. I just waived and turned around and started the walk out. He had come in on a small access road that went next to a house that I didn’t know about. He had about a 400yd walk. Sunday night after I got done hunting I stopped to talk to a guy walking down the road and offered him a ride when he said he lived a few miles from there and his phone was dead so he couldn’t tell his wife to come pick him up. When he got in the truck he told me to turn around and he showed me some places to hunt. He told me where he had just roosted 2 gobblers and to hunt them the next morning since he had to work. I thanked him and told him he didn’t have to tell me where they were. He said he really appreciated the ride. So Monday morning sure enough they start gobbling where he said they would. I get set up down the ridge from them and as they start working to me BOOOOOMMMM someone had slipped in-between us from somewhere and shot at the birds. I see birds flying off and the guy starts calling. Well about an hour later another bird cranks up and I get him to about 60yds through some real thick woods and the guy comes in on top of me again and starts cranking on his call spooking the bird. I’ve about had my fill by this point. Tuesday I couldn’t find a place to park because of all the people in the woods. Wednesday I’m sitting next to the tree I want to be at 2.5hrs before it is even thinking of breaking day. It’s still dark and I can hear 4 different people owl hooting and I hear a bird way off gobble then I hear the same guy start cranking on his call, its dark dark and he’s just a calling. I sit tight and bam I hear a gobble close to where I’m at so I make a quick move to better my position and get ready, they are roosted over a big cypress slough and I’m sitting 100yds from the edge of the water. 5 birds pitch out and land 80yds from me, 2 strutting gobblers and 3 hens. They slowly work their way up towards me and I’m soft calling. The two gobblers gobble 2 times on the ground but it was just enough for me to hear 2 different guys closing the distance on me. Like an idiot I get impatient and rush my shot, the big gobbler flips gets his wings under him and takes flight, he hits a tree then sails over the big slough then the worst thing happens I see him fall dead deep in the swampy area. I looked for 3hrs but never found him I was sick and aggravated with myself. Bradley had text me telling me he had killed a bird in NW Georgia and he had found a couple more and there wasn’t near the people where he was. So I loaded up and took off west. Thursday morning were 2 miles off the road and were on 3 hot birds when what do we hear 2 different calls closing in on us. I just shook my head. One guy came in on top of us and I whistled at him and he apologized and backed out but it was too late the gobblers had left the county. Bradley need to make a run to South Carolina to pick up his turkey tags for this week so he left me to do some hunting on my own in the mountains. On his way out he struck a bird and he sent me a text and a pin on OnX maps. With no service I didn’t get it until I to had heard a bird and it ended up being the same one he had heard. While I was moving on that bird I got his text and pin. It was a chess match I had to keep moving and calling and moving until I got them close but it was so thick I couldn’t see them. I let them work on down the pine ridge and I looked at my map and I decided to make a big loop and try to get in front of the flock. I did just that I caught a deer trail at the bottom of the ridge and took off running to get to the hard wood bottom a 1/4mile away. As I was looking at a tree to sit against I hear a put and we ended up meeting at the same time. Turkey flew and some ran left, I see a strutting bird with a jake and a hen to my right. I get my gun ready and the strutting bird walks into an opening and cranes his head up to look at me and I let my little 20 eat. He is a gorgeous Georgia mountain gobbler and I couldn’t have been happier. Thursday afternoon I roost a bird and Bradley gets back from South Carolina. I tell him we need to split up and get on both sides of him in the morning so one of us should get a shot. Friday morning worked out perfect. We set up on both sides of the bird, I use a ditch wash to get within 80yds of the roost tree and Bradley sets up above him in some pines about 60yds away. Its not 100yds between me and Bradley. I’m in the creek bottom and 2 hens pitch out and land 40yds from me. The gobbler pitched out in a thicket and walks to check on the one hen he heard in the pines. That’s when Bradley lays the hammer down on him, another fine Georgia gobbler. The cool thing is I got the whole 11 minute and 30 second hunt on recorded audio. So Georgia is ranked #1 in the best and worst category so far. We were blessed with a great week of hunting.

Alabama March 21 2019 Hunting with friend Andy in the Weogufka Mountains of central Alabama, we had hunted a day and a half with no luck but had gotten messed up several times by other hunters of the Camp he was in. It was crazy to be on private land and still have people come in on your set. Well after our morning hunt Thursday we fixed our lunch on the back of the truck and went to a high hill in a fresh cut(still being cut) cutover. We could see for a ways and as were pulling up to the top of the hill Andy says the birds will be out there strutting and I said if we’re gonna be wishing they are gonna be 30yds away. As we crest the hill I see 5 birds 1 of which is strutting about 400yds away. We glass them and see its 3 hens and 2 gobblers so we back up off the hill out of sight and make a game plan. We drive down the road past the gravel food plot road they are on and park about 600yds south of them on the other side of a big hill and a creek. We grab our guns and a call and take off. We make it across the creek and through all the tree tops to the off side of the hill from the turkeys. Andy has a fan and said just stay close. This was the first time I’ve ever done this, watched my little girl smoke on in Florida last year at 4ft but this was a first for me. We slowly crawl to the crest of the hill and Andy says he can see them they are about 100yds away and now are looking. I ease up to see the strutting bird start to head our way and drops out of sight below the hill. It takes what seems like forever and nothing. We see the other bird coming too and he disappears. After a few minutes I make a soft yelp and I see a red and white head pop over the hill then Andy says when you see his head shoot him. Well I had seen his head for about 8 seconds before he said that and I was shaking so bad I couldn’t steady my dot on the bird, lol. I took a deep breath and steadied the dot on his waddles and rolled him. After the shot we ease up to see the strutted standing just over the hill and Andy took a shot on him but the bird took flight somehow. I looked at Andy and he was pumping his gun and getting ready to take a follow up shot so I raised my gun up and fired off at the flying gobbler, he crumpled like a dishrag and hit the ground as Andy’s second shot rings out. He runs over and finishes the bird off and we had a nice Alabama double of two real nice gobblers. Talk about a rush, wow I’ve never fanned on and believe me I realize how dangerous it could be but under the right conditions it’s unreal. I got to looking after I was able to stop dry heaving and saw my wad, the felt, the mylar and the over shot card. It was wild to find all that laying there. Thought it would make a cool pic. It was a hunt I won’t soon forget.

That’s good stuff Al congrats!! To you and your buddy

Back story; back on March 2 2013 Reid and myself had planned a trip to Florida to finish our grand slam. It was an awesome experience ending in us sitting shoulder to shoulder on a pine tree in a palmetto thicket and doubling on our first Osceola turkeys. That completed both our grand slams but we went ahead and made a spur of the moment run out west that year and was able to make it a single season grand slam. When we met the land owner of the property we hunted and they ended up being from the same area that were from and it made for good conversation. This year it took some digging and research but Reid was able to contact the landowner and was able to get permission to come hunt it once again. (We tried contacting the guy we hunted with and his number was no longer the same not had he land owner had any dealings with him since our hunt that one time) We wanted to go public land but figure it was worth a shot to try and ask and it was well worth the effort. We left MS Thursday mid morning and arrived in a little town south east of Tampa around 12:30am Friday morning, after trying to help a family headed to Orlando get their car started for an hour or so. As the day started to come alive we were standing in the cattle field on the woods edge waiting to see what we had to work with. We heard 4 different gobblers that morning spread throughout the pines and burnt palmetto thicket. We had a hen right by us that was as vocal as could be it was so cool sitting there for over an hour listening to her talk. As they eased off in the distance we slipped out trying to formulate a game plan to scout the area with it being so open and decided it wasn’t worth bumping and spooking birds. There was a couple fire lane/trails running through the property so around lunch we drove through the area. We saw the old live oak we took pictures on back in 2013 and it brought back some good memories. We saw a pile of hens and jakes and 2 longbeards during our drive and all the crazy cows that lived on the property. So we had a good feeling about the next morning. We tried to roost a bird that afternoon but it was all quiet. Our game plan for the morning hunt was to be pretty much centrally located between where we had heard the birds the morning before. It was still pretty dark and we hear a faint gobble in the distance so we moved in that direction. Once we got closer I hooted and birds gobbled down through the trees, 3 to 4 of them. Then 2 Owls got cranked up on top of us and the gobblers shut up for some reason. (Lol made me feel good though, I could make them gobble but the real thing couldn’t, guess I sound so bad that the ol gobblers laugh gobble at me) we ease deeper into the pines and a hen starts up and the woods come alive. It’s birds gobbling from every direction. We decide to set in between the groups of birds and see what happens. It’s way to open to move any closer. We find a tree that has some scorched bushes around it but is enough for some extra cover. After fly down the bird work their way away from us and all gobbling stops. Reid gives a soft yelp and one of the hens in the distance answers back. So they get to talking to each other. Before we know it there are 4 hens running our way and behind them there are 2 gobblers trying to keep up. The hens literally run by us at less then 5yds, Reid had to close his eyes so they didn’t spook. The gobblers close the distance to about 50yds when out of nowhere a cow comes charging charging in and literally, if you’ve ever seen a cutting horse work, cut the gobblers from in front of and and had them running away from us. We couldn’t believe what had just happened. The cows finally work off and Reid makes another call and the hens crank up behind us and here they come again. Running back by us and off into the pines where the gobblers had run to. So we’re sitting against this tree facing south. My gun shouldered right handed. Reid had repositioned to shoot left handed and was also facing south. As we watch the hens disappear I hear a faint pthuuummmm and I say to myself that was a turkey drum. The sound seemed to come from behind us and I ease my head around the gobbled steps out from behind a tree at 10yds. Directly behind us. He is in full strut and is breathtaking(literally I couldn’t breath or half see because of the way I was craning my neck lol) he drums again and I’m trying to tell Reid that he’s on top of us but he can’t hear me. He makes a soft call and the bird realizes something isn’t right and breaks strut and starts walking towards his side of the tree. I try telling him again to get ready but he still never heard me. Then the bird walks behind a clump of trees and I make my move to shoot left handed. The bird probably heard me and is now going straight away for us and he’s getting it pretty good. I got an opening and I pulled my shot just to the right of his head. I was so aggravated at myself but it happens still doesn’t make it any better. We let the woods quieten down and I slipped out to make sure I didn’t connect since I went cross eyed after the shot and couldn’t really tell what happened. After I looked around and we relived the hunt we got up and eased down to where we had see the other birds earlier. Reid is a little ahead of me and he stops next to a pine tree just before a clump of palmettos. As I ease up to him I hear him say gobbler 120yds and we both hit the ground. I crawled to the right to a tree and he got against a tree to his left. He calls and after a few minutes we don’t hear or see anything so he crawls over to me and stands up next to my tree. He can now see a strutting bird and a few other gobblers. He makes a series of yelps and says “here they come” and drops down beside me. We’re on a small pine sitting shoulder to shoulder and there is a clump of palmettos and a burnt scrub bush in front of us about 50yds out. He whispers that they are gonna come around that bush. And then I see a glimpse of one through the thicket. The first bird steps out and we see his beard swing. The next one steps out and his beard is hanging but isn’t swinging and I whisper to Reid “he’s good enough for me”. Reid calls one more time ever so softly and the birds start our way. There are a few pines between us and you know it the closer they get the more frantic we get because we can never see both birds at the same time. Then we they get to about 25yds they finally spit the tree and we can see them on each side of it. Reid draws down on the left bird and I draw down on the right. I count down 3,2,1,Zbooooommm both birds hit the ground. We had done it again. We jump up and walk towards the birds honestly expecting to see a couple 2yr olds but couldn’t be happier with them. Well to both our surprise when we get about 5yds away I see the first set of spurs then the second. I couldn’t believe it and of coarse my dry heaving starts up and I’m out of commission for about 20 second. After I get all that over with i go and we’re both amazed at what we had just done. Doubled on two 1.5” spurred birds. His has 1.5” spurs and a little over a 9” shot up beard and weighed 15.02 pounds. Mine has 1.5” spurs and a decently thick 6” beard(it’s like it was cut with scissors, maybe it got burnt off while feeding after the controlled burn) and weighed 15.72lbs. We relived the hunt and said a prayer thanking the Good Lord for blessing us and then we took pics on the same old live oak from 6yrs ago. It was pretty cool. 2013 2019

I'll actually have some time off this year and plant to hit a few states so it should be a fun year. I'll keep you guys posted on my hunts. Hopefully I'll be able to share some pics and stories along the way. Good luck to everyone and I hope yall have a blessed and safe season.

I shoulda added this in the story but working mids and trying to get all this in at work is a bit tough. I was talking to Bradley on the long ride home and we were discussing crawling birds and the technique he uses. Its the same as I do and probably most others do but in my case my hindrance comes in the form of a little green 3-5 leafed plants that loves to show up during the spring. Poison Ivy and Oak are not my friends and therefore when it comes to getting down and rubbing elbows with it I choose to stay on my feet and let my calls do the work. When the forest floor allows ill crawl with the best of them if I have to but if its covered in green I'll let my calls do the work.

Dang impressive Don, HUGE CONGRATS to you and your brother and your daughter on some fine birds. When you catch them right there is nothing like it, same can be said when you catch them when they aren't right. Sounds like yall hit it perfect and had an outstanding trip. Hats off to you.

2018 turkey season is officially over for me, it was a tough one but I was very blessed this year. Wisconsin and Minnesota The caller and the crawler Saturday May 18 Bradley and myself leave for Wisconsin for our final hunts of the year. We arrive at our chosen WMA at 2:20am Sunday morning in the driving rain. We sleep in the truck for a few hours to wake up to stormy weather surrounding the entire portion of the state that we are in. We decided to head to Minnesota in hopes for better weather. We arrive in Minnesota to more rain and cold windy weather. There were hikers and hunters in every spot we had hoped to hunt. Around 3:30 we decided to go check out some state land that a friend had told me about, when we pulled up to the first ag field on the state land we see a bird strutting with 2 hens. We devised a game plan by looking at our maps and took off after the gobbler. We climbed down a big hill crossed a bottom and then climbed our way back up to the ridge top where the bird was strutting in the ag field. We eased up to the field edge but couldn’t see anything in the cut corn field. I told Bradley to ease on up the field and set up and I would go to the back of the field over the hill and start calling in hopes of pulling the gobbler into range. Bradley is impressively slick when it comes to sneaking in on a bird. We spit off and I find a spot to start calling from. I start calling and after about 10min I hear the shot. I take off to the top of the hill to see Bradley standing on his Minnesota bird. It actually worked out just how we had planned. He said the bird came in strutting coming towards the call then realized he had left his hens and turned to go back to them so he rolled him. 22lbs 9.75” beard and 1 1\8”spurs. We looked around for another bird the rest of the afternoon but never found another bird. Bradley apologized for cutting in on the hunt and I told him it worked out exactly how I had hoped it would. He then said it did work out good and he always sees me as a caller and him a crawler. I laughed and said yea I can see that. Monday greeted us with more nasty cold weather. We did hear a bird gobbling on a far off ridge but by the time we got to him he had gone quiet. We also had 2 groups of hunters park by my truck and come in on us. We were in the corner of the wma so it wasn’t like there was a lot of land to hunt so it got crowded pretty quick. We found a bird gobbling really good that afternoon in the misting rain, but he ended up being on some private land that bordered the wma we had found. We did actually get permission from the land owner that night to hunt his place so we had high hopes for the next morning. Tuesday early morning it flooded and then broke off foggy as heck. We got set up well before daylight and didn’t hear anything for about an hour after it broke light. When the bird we had hoped to see started gobbling he was over on the neighbors place in a thicket. We had been told the birds would come to the ag fields but this was not the case today, he stayed on the neighbors place and wouldn’t move. Another bird started gobbling up on the public land so I took off after him. I got set up and made my first series of calls when I hear something coming, wouldn’t you know it, it was a guy and his two dogs walking around in the wma 1.5miles from the parking area. So my hunt was over for that area. Wanting to change my luck we decide to go back to Wisconsin to give them a try. It had rained for 3 straight days in Wisconsin but he weather looked like it would break for a few days. Wednesday morning we hike 1.5miles in to a wma where we should get on some birds but the rain had flooded the woods and made it almost impossible to hunt. We heard a couple birds but couldn’t wade to get to them. On our way out we spotted a gobbler strutting with a few hens. As we moved to get closer one of the hens took off hauling all the other birds off with them. Once we got up to the top of the hill where those birds ran into the ticket from the ag field Bradley noticed 6 hens and a gobbler at the far end of the field. Straight line it was 800yds but to get to them it was around a half mile. I told Bradley I would spot for him and let him know if they left. He took off and after about 30-45minutes as I’m watching the birds work their way in the field I see the hens start to move to the opposite side of the cove where they were feeding. The gobbler follows then I hear a boom in the distance and see birds flying everywhere. I couldn’t tell what had happened but had my fingers crossed that he had connected, after about 5 min I see Bradley emerge from the woods and walk over to a flopping bird that I can now see. He had done it again. He had gotten his bird for Wisconsin and had made an impressive stalk on him. 21lbs 11.5” beard 1.25” spurs. We never saw another bird but we did find a bird on some private land that bordered the wma land. I got Bradley to drop me off and I made my way to the edge of the wma and got in positon to try to call the bird across the line. As I was calling the bird really could have cared less and just milled around in the cut corn field. He did eventually work his way to 15yds from me and I was on my phone texting Bradley asking him to go ask the land owner if we could hunt their land. The bird actually goes into some grass and lays down about 20yds from me. I get a text from Bradley saying the land owner said not no but heck no! she likes here wildlife on its feet. She told him that most people don’t ask they just do whatever. He told her that that’s not how we do things and that’s why he was asking. She wouldn’t change her mind so I told him to come get me because I wasn’t going to shoot across the line. We decided to go check out another wna farther west for the next day. And if you are wondering, Yes, if he had asked and she said yes the second I got the text saying we could hunt there I would shot. So it would have basically been; could we hunt your land, yes you can, text yes, Boom, thank you for allowing us to hunt your land. All in about 30seconds. Thursday morning we hike in 1.5miles to our listing spot on this new wma and we hear about 8 different birds gobbling in all directions. We choose one to start our hike to and once we get in close he gobbles about 150yds away. We ease up a little more and set up. Bradley sets up about 40yds behind me and starts calling. After a few minutes I can see his tips shining in the early morning sunlight about 80yds from my tree. He gobbles and gobbles and two jakes walk by me at 20yds, a hen starts raising cane just below us on the ridge side. The gobbler drops off the side of the ridge and goes to her, when they come back up on the ridge she crossed about 25yds in front of me and he is still out there about 75yds away and skirts me. As they work off I couldn’t help but smile, it was the perfect hunt minus getting a shot. Bradley then split off and went after another bird and I made a loop to try to get back on this gobbler. I get set up around the last place I heard him and made a series of calls, I hear a hen call then I hear a limb pop and I see ahead pop up about 30yds from my position. It’s not a gobbler head or a hen head, it’s a person’s head and he has an orange mouth call. I yell hey, hey and the guy raises his gun to the side and stands up. I stand up and we talk for a little while, he thought I was a turkey and he was sneaking up to see if the gobbler was with the hen he had thought he had heard. When I went to walk away the gobbler spooks and pitches into the air crossing the valley. He was about 60yds away when we spooked. I can’t catch a break. We had plans to hunt him that afternoon but the gnats were beyond horrible, you couldn’t see or breathe they were so bad. I had some vanilla and it made it worse. So I cut my afternoon short after my lip had swollen up and my ears looked like I had been fighting in a mma fight. It was horrible. Friday morning I found myself on the same ridge with the same gobbling bird but this time I was able to get close but not to the spot I wanted to get because of a large opening in the woods. I watched him pitch out onto the ridge where I wanted to be and left the area. The gnats carried me off and we headed to town to find some relief from these gnats. We found some head nets at the local ace hardware, which turned out to be one heck of an outdoor store. Friday afternoon I was set up and gnat free on the ridge where I had hoped he would come back to. Around 6:30 I hear some leaves rustling and out pops a turkey from the ridge edge, he runs up to three yards from me and all I can tell is it is a male turkey. It’s so thick I can’t tell anything. I finaly see his beard and he’s a jake and I guess he sees my eyes and he spooks. About 20min later I hear the leaves rustling again and out pops another turkey, this time at 12yds working from my right to my left. Next is the jake. I’m waiting on the gobbler to come into view when I see a bird hop up onto a log and start preening itself. I told myself to concentrate on the opening and the gobbler that should be following. But I kept getting drawn back to that other bird. I eased my binoculars up and looked at the bird on the log and could tell it was a male bird but figured it must be that jake. Well I kept looking since I could see the beard and when he turned a little more I caught a glimmer of sunlight between his breast feathers, could it be. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I dropped my binos and raised my gun, I had almost let my Wisconsin bird get by me again . Not sure where he came from but he’s a cool almost white tipped bird that was 19lbs 9.5” beard and 1 1\16” spurs. I was truly blessed on this hunt. After I picked Bradley up from his spot we headed back to Minnesota in hopes I could find a bird. Bradley drove so I could sleep and we arrived at our wma around 2am Saturday morning. Saturday morning I hear a bird start gobbling around 4:45 at 7 I’m sitting 60yds from him and he’s probably gobbled 200 times. He gobbled at everything I threw at him but he flew down on the opposite ridge and then stayed on the side of that ridge working away from my positon. I crawled to the edge of the ridge and he wasn’t 40yds from me but I couldn’t see 15yds. It was so thick. While I was hunting Bradley had walked into the woods where earlier in the week we had seen some morel mushrooms, he gathered a few of them and we got the local Italian restaurant to cook some of them for us. That afternoon I found some birds in a field but they ended up not having a gobbler with them. Sunday morning I was sitting 50yds from the tree the gobbler was roosted in and he was on fire again. It was so thick I could see him in the tree but he was about to blow my hat off every time he gobbled my way. I had an open ridge to my right and left and a briar thicket in front of me. At 7 he decides to fly down and he drops off into that thicket then off the back of the ridge. I was pressed for time so I crawled down the ridge and eased over to hope to see him. Once again it was so thick I couldn’t see anything. I caught his wing flap as he flew to the other ridge. My Minnesota hopes were about gone, but I had two amazing hunts and other than not getting to pull the trigger I couldn’t have asked for much more. I’ll be back on that ridge next year before it gets thick. 2018 was a rough season but I was beyond blessed. Getting to take birds in Hawaii, Wisconsin and Mississippi was just awesome. Looking forward to see what the 2019 season will hold in store.

Congrats on another fine bird.

Good looking bird. Congrats on a cold weather bird. I like the shadow pic. I did some of those in Hawaii this year

It’s been strange here in MS too

Heck yeah good job Al. Congrats

Nice. Congrats.

Awesome. Congrats

I’ll post the story after I get some sleep. 19.31lbs 12 5/16” beard 1 1/8” 1 1/4” spurs Truly blessed this morning. Talk about a great end to my MS season or lack there of. This season has been a depressing nightmare for me beings I’m working an outage, 6 12.5hr midnights a week. That only leaves me one morning a week that I can actually hunt normal, and the weather has been horrible on the few days I’ve been off. But I’ve walked a many a mile and found some great spots for next year on my mornings after I get off work. Birds having lock jaw sure didn’t help. I had a buddy ask me if I had any days off to hunt and I told him Monday would be my last day to hunt. He asked if I wanted to come with him that he has been on a bird the day before. I said heck yes if I can hear a bird gobble that would be a great ending to my season. We met up around 4:15 and made the drive to our hunting area. He said where we were gonna set up that we would be really tight in on the bird if he roosted in the same area he has been all year. As daylight started to break he sounded off not 80yds from where I was setting. He gobbled about every 45-60seconds for what seemed like 20minutes until it got light enough for flydown. He dropped out of the tree with a few hens and started working up the ridge away from us. My buddy started calling behind me and the bird would answer but kept getting farther and farther away. Once he got out of hearing we decided to move to another location side getting ahead of him would be near impossible. Just as we get to the truck he sounds off and he’s in a spot we know. We are wanting to set up on a old path leading to to the ridge where he last was. As we’re walking my buddy says if he gobbled far away he will take off in the opposite direction calling in hopes of bringing him in closer. As we’re getting close to where we want to be he gobbled about 70yds away and I hit the tree I wanted and my buddy sets up on the tree between me and the bird. I look at him and he points down in another direction. He thought the bird was flanking us, he couldn’t tell where he was. Once he realized he was on the end of the path as the bird he had to slide around the tree to get lined up the right way. We swapped rolls and I started calling and scratching the leaves and the bird gobbles. He goes goes quite on us and after about 15min I wanted to try to slip farther down the road away from him calling along the way. I scratched in the leaves one last time and he gobbles 40yds away. I start watching my buddy as he aims left handed and then a hen steps out at about 3yds from him. She looks around and clams back down and then my buddy shoots. I look around the tree to see a bird run and take flight, as he flies through the treetops I see my buddy trying to get his gun back right handed and I picked my gun up off my lap and rolled him as he passed by. As soon as he hits the ground my buddy’s said good gosh what a shot and runs out to him. Then I hear my gosh what a beard and spurs. We’re looking at the bird and he’s looking at his head for any sign of a hit, there was one small nick on his neck either from a pellet or a limb. I finally said well I gotta ask, who’s bird is he? He says well it’s obvious if you hadn’t shot he would be long gone and doesn’t look like I hurt him at all so he’s yours. My reply was I’m not gonna argue either way with the season I’ve had but THANK YOU!!! For a great hunt with a wild ending. I didn’t dig around in the cavity but I believe my wad was in him and I did retrieve about 1/2oz of shot out of the hole I put in him. The good Lord really blessed me with a perfect ending to a rough season. That’s a wrap for my MS season 2 fine birds.

That’s awesome. Huge congrats. That smile says it all

Huge congrats on your milestone bird Al. I love to watch them too my only issue with that is every second that goes by means my heartbeat get faster and faster and my gun barrel gets to shaking pretty bad. Lol. Good job

not sure how to edit but here is a little more Hawaii 2018 March 18, 2018 Reid and Myself decide to split up to cover more ground and hopefully find a willing bird. As it turns out the bird I was hoping to hunt was nowhere to be found but I did hear a bird past the water feeder and below the road so after 4 gobbles I take off after him. After going about 3\4 of a mile I finally got close to where he was and eased off into the rock filled hillside. As I got close to a ditch I got tripped up on lava rock and almost went down. Aggravated and tired I stopped to gather myself and the bird gobbles again and he’s close. I ease up some more and once again trip in the darkness. The next time the bird gobbles he sounds like he’s 1\2 a mile away, I figured I had bumped him but it was nothing I could have done so I just eased up the tree and after about 2 min he gobbled again but real close. He was turning on the limb but out there when the y turn away there is nothing for the sound to bounce off of so it sounds way off. I ease up a little farther and I see him in the tree and there is no easy way for me to get real close, so I eased off into the rock ditch and made my way to the next tree. I couldn’t go any farther without being in the wide open so I crawled to the base of the tree (soft purring and clucking as I went) and slid around the back side of it. As I looked where he was he was nowhere to be found and I knew I had just made to much noise, then I see him in another tree just looking around and half strutting. The small ridge he is on ends where he is and he's overlooking a bowl and can see literally over a 1/2 mile+ in any direction. He has the ultimate vantage point and even though they don’t have predators like we do here he’s not even thinking of flying down to the ground until he seen a hen under him. I make some soft calls and he gobbles and struts and looks as if he is about to pitch out of the tree in my lap. There is a runway like meadow with scattered scrub trees between me and him. It’s a perfect set up but he’s looking for the hen that keeps clucking and purring. If I had a decoy and could have somehow eased it out there I believe he would have landed on me. So the call gobble look goes on for what seems like forever and just when I think he is about to pitch out I hear a cluck on the other side of the thicket from him. He immediately turns on the limb and gobbles at the hen that he is now looking at and prepares to fly down. I know if he flies over the thicket to a hen it will be almost impossible to get him so as he squats to leave the limb I steady my dot on his head and just as he jumps I pull the trigger. Now he wasn’t on the roost anymore since he swapped trees so l see him as a smart ol’ limb hopper and proudly my second Hawaii volcano Bird. I’ve never shot a bird off the roost and I’ve had a few opportunities to but I’ll shoot one in the air if I have to and to me a limb hopping bird like this is almost impossible to kill since they won’t hit the ground until they see that live hen under them. I once hunted a bird when I was in high school for the entire season, he would light the woods up until the hens got to him. Finally I brought my dad to help me one morning and after he quit gobbling around 9 that morning we walked to see where he had roosted to try to figure him out a little better. Little did we know he was still in the tree. He pitched out of the tree and sailed through the timber and we both just stood there in awe and disbelief, He was a white gobbler or white phased and he was unbelievable looking. That was the one and only time he was ever seen, he disappeared into the timber like the ghost he was. Hawaii was one of the , if not the hardest places we’ve hunted to date but It was fun and I'll for sure go back.

Hawaii 2018 March 18, 2018 Reid and Myself decide to split up to cover more ground and hopefully find a willing bird. As it turns out the bird I was hoping to hunt was nowhere to be found but I did hear a bird past the water feeder and below the road so after 4 gobbles I take off after him. After going about 3\4 of a mile I finally got close to where he was and eased off into the rock filled hillside. As I got close to a ditch I got tripped up on lava rock and almost went down. Aggravated and tired I stopped to gather myself and the bird gobbles again and he’s close. I ease up some more and once again trip in the darkness. The next time the bird gobbles he sounds like he’s 1\2 a mile away, I figured I had bumped him but it was nothing I could have done so I just eased up the tree and after about 2 min he gobbled again but real close. He was turning on the limb but out there when the y turn away there is nothing for the sound to bounce off of so it sounds way off. I ease up a little farther and I see him in the tree and there is no easy way for me to get real close, so I eased off into the rock ditch and made my way to the next tree. I couldn’t go any farther without being in the wide open so I crawled to the base of the tree (soft purring and clucking as I went) and slid around the back side of it. As I looked where he was he was nowhere to be found and I knew I had just made to much noise, then I see him in another tree just looking around and half strutting. I make some soft calls and he gobbles and struts and looks as if he is about to pitch out of the tree in my lap. This goes on for what seems like forever and just when I think he is about to pitch out I hear a cluck on the other side of the thicket from him. He immediately turns on the limb and gobbles at the hen that he is now looking at and prepares to fly down. I know if he flies over the thicket to a hen it will be almost impossible to get him so as he squats to leave the limb I steady my dot on his head and just as he jumps I pull the trigger. Now he wasn’t on the roost anymore since he swapped trees so l count him as a limb hopper and proudly my second Hawaii volcano Bird. Hawaii was on of the if not the hardest places we’ve hunted to date but It was fun and ill for sure go back.

Hawaii 2018 March 14,2018 We arrived to the big island in a rain storm on March 12. The next day we had to register our shotguns with the police station and get our turkey tags from the Wildlife department. After our morning of getting ready to hunt we made a quick scouting trip up to the mountain to see what it was going to be like and boy we had no idea. We found lots of tracks in the road and we did see one gobbler walking through and opening. We had an idea of where the birds would be the following morning. Wednesday morning greeted us with 68deg at the house by the beach 48deg raining white out on the mountain. Less than ideal conditions but we had to hunt with what we were given. We park the jeep and as day starts to break we can hear birds all over the place. While this is exciting understand you can hear a bird over a mile away, easy. We made our way to the closest bird which was up the mountain from where we were. Once we got close we set up and we could hear him drumming. He would gobble at our calls and just drum. We can’t see 30yds because of the clouds and this goes on for about 45 minutes. Bradley had to go back towards the truck and as he did so I called and the bird gobbled off to my right then Bradley called from a distance and he gobbled again farther up the mountain. I decided I had better make a more and started around the hill to try to get closer. As I walked up the hill I could see where the gobbler had been standing and gobbling the whole time, it was a big rock mound and it wasn’t 40yds away but we couldn’t even see it. I was calling as I eased up the side of the mountain and was looking for sign. I found some fresh tracks and droppings and knew I had to be close. I made a couple soft calls and walk a little higher. I call again and in the white out I see a hen step out from behind some brush up on the side of the hill, then I see the outline of a gobbler. As I get my gun up the clouds make his ghostly appearance disappear, in a bit a disbelief I just stayed on target looking and finally the clouds gave me a slight outline of the gobbler and I took the 25yd shot. I couldn’t believe it, I had taken my Hawaii bird in white out conditions it was crazy. I said my prayer and took some pics and then I hear Bradley hoot and I hoot back, it took us a little while to meet up. I shared the story with him then took some more pics, then we made our way done the mountain to the jeep.

So we get back from Hawaii around 10am and I clean my poor gun that has been getting rained on for a solid week. Then me and Caitlin sit down for a second and completely crash out. I had set my alarm for 12 but we finally got up around 1:30pm I got my fans and took them to Mr. Alans and told him all about our hunts and then we talked about birds that drove us crazy last year. From there I rode by and talked to Granny June until it got later in the day and I told her I needed to leave and go check some cameras we had put out before our trip. I get home and tell Caitlin that im going to go check the camera and she said she wanted to go too. She’s in her PJ’s (Oscar the grouch pj’s) so she throws on a jacket and her boots and I grab my gun and a call just in case. We get to the gate and while we are walking in I make a few soft calls but never hear anything which is expected. Once we got to the first camera I told her we would grab it on the way out and made a soft set of calls. We then walked to the last spot and picked up the camera and started out. When we made it back to the first camera I was standing in the road as she went to retrieve the camera. As im looking at some hen tracks I look up and around the curve comes the ghost I had been hunting all the prior year. There he is standing there looking and all in can do is look down at the ground in disbelief. He clucks a couple times and starts my way I couldn’t believe it, I slowly get one hand out of my pocket and ever so slightly motion for Caitlin to stay still and she finally sees me and locks up. Now the bird has closed the distance to about 50yds and I reach behind my back with the hand that I was motioning to her with and turn my scope on. I then ease it back to my side. The bird is hesitant but still not spooked. He actually starts pecking in the grass and when he did that I made a quick move and got my left hand around and on my forend of my shotgun. He looks around and keeps walking (the only thing I can figure is I must have blended enough with the grass and gravel spots for him not to make me out, and a lot of divine intervention) towards us. Now he is about 35yds and can start to see my wife and +3probably me because I’m shaking like crazy now. I ease my hand out of my right pocket and make my move constant and smooth and he stops and goes to take off and I squeeze the trigger and almost fall forward because I have forgotten to take the safety off. Then panic on both our parts sets in and I slap the safety off and make the shot before he disappears into the thick woods. I couldn’t believe it, I was so happy and Caitlin was in awe. She said it was so cool watching me and the bird. I believe that every bird has one day that you can get them on and that was his one day. Said a big prayer to the Lord and thanked him for everything he has done for me. Ill sleep better now that I don’t have to chase this big ol gobbler again this season. Cool thing was I called my taxidermist and was back at his house before it got dark. He couldn't believe it.

Well what can I say other than it’s been a wild day. Got home from our trip this morning around 10 and decided to go check some trail cameras around 4:30 that Caitlin put out 3 weeks ago. I chased a bird almost everyday last year and never laid eyes on him. He would always show up a couple hours after I had to head in. He drove me crazy. Never would gobble or come to a call. I only would get pics of him walking the roads never strutting. Did some soft calling on my way in and after 30-45min passed look who decided to slip in and check things out. Cool thing was my wife got to watch the whole thing as she was pulling the last camera. Was wishing she was closer to me when it all went down so she could have gotten to take the shot. One of the craziest hunts I’ve ever been on. 21lbs 10 13/16” beard 1.25” spurs