2011 Realtree Forums success thread

[Strut10]

Better get this started. There's gonna be Osceolas falling soon!!

Use this as a place to post pics of your success along with the story of your hunt.

Good luck to all this spring!!!

HUNT SAFELY !!

[loner]

opening day success

http://www.realtree.com/forums/turkey-hunting/104584-opener-success.html

[Rhino]

Copied from my Season Began with BANG thread.

Opening day of the Mississippi spring turkey season was perfect, weather wise. Mid 40's clear and calm...only problem was gobblers didn't know it where I spent my time opening morning. I was in the woods before daylight and threw in the towel at 11:15....never heard a single bird gobble. Called in 2 hens with no gobbler in tow though.

2nd day close the the same conditions but the birds went nuts. I was in a totally different area though. Birds were gobbling on the roost like crazy. Only problem was the closest ones were on the wrong side of the property line. After messing up my chances to get on the 1st bird (my bad!) I heard a stong sounding old bird in an area I knew well. As I'm moving in I realize there's 2 birds gobbling here. One off the side of the ridge and the other near the top close to a 3/4 acre food plot. It's now about 20 minutes after the birds have cranked up on the roost and real close to flydown time. I slip in toward the plot through a thick area to try to figure out when and where to set up. At ~15 yards from the plot the bird hammers down in a tree just off the SE corner of the plot about 125 yards away. Almost messed up again. Can't risk moving now so I'm stuck standing behind a blown down 8" diameter tree with a quagmire of vines balled up in branches for cover. His move. A few minutes goes by with him gobbling ~10 times when I see his black body hit the plot. My 1st thought "this setup sucks!". I'm stuck in a standing position behind cover and can't move. The bird goes in and out of strut gobbling & drumming all worked up in full view. My only chance is to slip my gun through the vines in front of me when he's facing away in strut. The opportunity comes and now I'm ready to take my chances. With the bird 100 yards away on the opposite end of the plot I cut hard at him. He goes nuts double gobbling. It's a great show! He starts strutting my way and hit's his mark at somewhere around the 50 yard line. Now I'm like Strut10...I want them inside the 40 yard line (or what I think is 40) or they win. Also, I'm picking holes through sapplings cuz I'm 15 yards off the plot. The bird locks up there moving maybe a few yards side to side all puffed up...strutting, drumming & gobbling...GREAT SHOW!! Some 10 minutes or so goes by before he starts moving further to my right still around the 50 yard line or so. Time for me to do something. I dish out the softest 3 yelp sequence I can muster with my diaphram. He falls for the trap...here he comes in full strut! He locks up now at ~ the 30 yard line but I have no shot thanks to a group of sapplings in my way. Just a few steps to the left please...15 seconds or so passes and he moves that way hitting a 2' wide shooting hole. Hammer down...oops I was so caught up in the show I forgot to click the safety off. Quick move from trigger to safety and back. Either he saw that little bit of movement or heard the safety click off cuz he went to full alert. Too late for him to sense danger now though cuz I sent a 4x5x7 Nitro load that put him down flopping on the ground at 7:40 this morning. Awesome show put on but this bird that has an 11 1/8" beard and 1" spurs. One down 2 to go here in MS

[heathcoerracin]

One less in Alabama! Killed him the 2nd day of the season at about 1:50 in the afternoon with 3 hens

[slaw]

good work Rhino, thanks for sharing

[maddhunter]

Son's First Turkey

Copied from my other thread, forgot about this one.

Opening Day of Oklahoma's Youth Turkey Season.

The morning started without any gobbles on the roost, so we decided to run and gun and look for recent sighn. We walked for about 3 hours sitting and calling while we rested. We finally had made our way nearly back to the truck where we new there had been 2 toms in the area for the past 2 weeks. we sit out our decoys and got hidden good, calling in between short head bobs (me anyhow). after about 10minutes we heard a gobbles that sounded a few hundred yards away. We had our backs to the fence and some thick under brush hopeing the turkeys would cross the fence and come down on the pasture side but they didn't, they came down the fence just behind us about 5 yards and cole couldn't move for fear of being busted. So after about 10 minutes of them hanging up behind us I belly cralled down the hill trying to pull them in for a shot but they had nothing to do with it and slowly moved on down the fence. We thought, "Well here we go again". We then move across the wood lot and around in front of them useing our crow calls to keep tabs on them. We set up in front them with me about 100yrds behind Cole and they came in runin' and struttin'. Cole had to move his gun a little to the right because they came in so quick and close, he had to make a 15 yard shot and srilled him. BOOOO YAAAA the time had finally come!!!!!!!!!!!

Cole has been turkey hunting since he was six and we have had alot of toms close but no cigar and finally it all come together. Best hunt I ever been on!!!!!!!!(tears in my eyes)

It don't get no better than this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DropTine49]

I killed a 15 lb bird with a 7 inch beard on Saturday the second day of the season. Pictures to come.

[jcwa]

I stared my hunt Sunday afternoon. I didn't see a turkey or hear a gobble that afternoon or that evening. Monday morning I can hear 8 to 10 gobblers in the area but no takers. Once they hit the ground they didn't make another sound. I tried several locations throughout the day but I didn't see one turkey. Tuesday I started in the same location. I didn't hear a single gobble. I decided to give it 10 more minutes before I move to another location. I started excited hen yelps with some gobbles, then I had two gobble back at me, there 75 yards out coming to me. Two jakes come walking up to the decoys. I decided to pass on the jakes, but I love to hear the gobbles so called to them and keep them gobbling at me for about 10 minutes. They walked on by me and keep gobbling at me as they walked off. So I called for another 20 minutes and 3 more jakes came in. I just sat back and watched the show. Once they left I moved to another location, but I didn't have any more takers that day. Wednesday morning I started calling a different location I had a strutting decoy and 2 hen decoys set up. I could hear two or three gobbles down by the river. I keep calling and they keep gobbling. I could tell when they hit the ground, so I started excited hen yelps with some gobbles. I could tell they were coming in, they were getting closer every time I called, so I stopped calling for a minute of two. I hit the call and they about knocked me out of my chair. There were four gobbling 10 feet behind me. I couldn't do anything but sit still I could see one of them out of the corner of my eye. They started to circle around me and the decoys, they made their way around to the other side of the decoys. It was 4 more jakes; they just keep circling around me and the decoys. They got back behind me again and were gobbling, spitting and drumming. That is an extremely cool sound when there 10 feet away. After they left, I only had 3 more hours before I have to hit the road and head home. I tried another spot and heard 1 gobble way off in the distance. I had time to try 1 more location so i went back to the location where I called in the 5 jakes the day before. I called for a few minutes when I hear a gobble off in the distance. I called again and it was closer, I could tell it was more than 1, they were making their way across the large tank dam but I couldn't see them because some brush was in the way. I keep calling and they keep gobbling their way across the tank dam. The first one was a Jake and the other two were long beards. They never saw the hen decoy as they worked from my right to left 75 yards out. Once they got behind some brush I started excited hen yelps and gobbled. That turned them in my direction. The two long beards started strutting in. They got to within 40 yards and stopped and strutted around. I was waiting for 1 of them to pop there head up, I yelped a few times and one of the stuck his head out to gobble and I rolled him. I tried to get the other one to but I missed.

10" beard

13/16 spurs R and L

[Ohiobucks]

First ever opening day longbeard for me! I must have heard 10 different gobblers on the roost this morning, along with several hens. I was hunting the same farm that I was on last spring when I took my biggest bird ever, within 20 yards of the same tree as a matter of fact. I was in the woods well before daylight, with a lone hen decoy set up about 30 yards from me. Waiting until the birds started up on their own, I would call sparingly until they hit the ground. When they started flying down, it was like turkey rain - they were falling to the ground all over the place. The birds started gobbling from the ground, I fired up my new slate call from our very own Redbeard, a mini 8 track turkey calling machine. It worked like a charm, and brought in two very curious toms straight to me. I had a little trouble lining up on them, and they sensed something was not right. With little to no ground cover this early in the year around here, you can barely get away with a blink it seems. I switched to lefty and shot the bigger bird at 35 yards. He ended up sporting 1" spurs, a 9-7/8" beard, and weighed in at a hair over 20 lbs.

I've been on a few quick hunts before, and this one was one of the quickest. Birds started gobbling from the roost around 6:00am, I shot this guy at 6:45am, I was back home by 7:15am....

[RackBlaster]

Shot this guy 2ND day of 2ND season here in Illinois. He came out of the woods across the field where I had my decoys set so I hit the box call hoping to get his attention , not sure if he heard me or not due to 25-30 mph winds, but he started barrelling across that field like no tomorrow. After about half way out came 4 Jake's that took off right behind him. He came right up to the 2 hen decoys and circled around them a couple of times , started to look uninterested so I took the shot. As soon as he started flopping those 4 Jake's ran up to him gobbling and started beating the crap out of him. That lasted about a minute til they walked off into the woods gobbling the whole time .It was a good morning

20 lbs , 9 1/2 beard, 3/4 inch spurs

Edited April 23, 2011 by RackBlaster

[USAFbowhunter]

My Florida Osceola turkey 13lbs, 4 inch beard, 1/4 inch spurs.

My Illinois Eastern turkey 25lbs, 9 1/2 inch beard, 1 1/2 inch spurs.

[elkoholic]

Yesterday, on the way home from a drive to check out the boat launches at the lake I spotted a couple of hens with a gobbler in tow heading up a ridge away from the highway. My first thought was to approach them from the opposite direction and try to locate where they would roost for the night. Upon arriving home I quickly grabbed a couple of calls, the 870 super mag and some camo, just in case I got lucky enough to close the distance in the last few hours of light and headed out. A one mile drive on a rough forest service road and a 1/2 mile trot down a ridge to close the distance to the road and I was near where I thought they would come up the ridge to roost. I gave a few soft calls hoping for a response so that I would know where they would go up the ridge. Sure enough, the gobbler responded less than 100 yards away and I moved to cut off their march up the ridge. The gobbler and I spotted each other at the same time at about 70 yards and oddly enough he started strutting. The hens hadn't seen me and continued on up the ridge and he decided to follow. I ended up with about a 30 yard shot, resulting in a filled tag for this spring. There has been very little turkey movement so far this spring due to the cold and wet (often snow)weather and I was somewhat surprised how this quick little hunt came together. By the time I packed the bird up over the ridge to the truck and drove home it was already dark but I snapped a few pictures before getting down to the task of getting him ready for the freezer. He was around 18 lbs and the beard was 8&1/2 inches, and both spurs were broken off.

[Shaun_300]

Posting pictures for Colorado Bob.

[maddhunter]

Awesome Birds Guys !!!!!!!!!!!

Keep em' comein' !!!!!!

[Flintlock1776]

Opening Day results yesterday

Up early and set up in the back 82 acres at 5:20AM facing south on a gently rolling hill that goes down into the holler.

5:25 AM and I hear a Tom gobbling like all get out. I hit my Cody Drop Dead slate and get an immediate response. At my direct right off 40 yards is the end of my property line. About 20 yards out is an old stone fence put there during the 1700's by farmers.

The stone wall runs south to north and the other side obscures the Tom. I see him fanning but I just see the top of the tail feathers. At 5:30am I see a turkey fly down off the roost but I can not tell if it is a Tom or a hen. I call and get a response but the Tom stays on the other side. For 40 minutes he calls and struts and occasionally. I see him in full strut. He responds to my calls and I try to not to over do it. Then off he goes straight off to my right and deeper into my neighbor's property. Then, silence. I felt that was it but I was still excited to have held a Tom that long and have him calling so often.

Deer come up from the holler and follow the same path the Tom took.

About a half an hour later he comes back calling. The deer are also back and now I see hens with him!

I call gently every now and then. Finally after 30 minutes, I peak his interest again with my occasional calling. Over the wall he comes. I hold and wait as some downed trees block a clean shot. He is call and strutting and his wattles are deep, deep red.

One more call sequence and he commits and moves across me going right to left.

At 20 yards I see a clear opening. I raise my Mossberg 835 Ulti Mag and get the Bushnell Holo Sight and get his head dead center in the sight. The Hevi Hot 3 1/2" shell sings out and he does a back flip and down!

It is 7:15 AM and I have all my gear packed and bird in tow heading back to my truck and then to the check station.

I surprised the guys at the Firehouse that night with a fully cooked Tom with all the fixing.

I have gotten significantly larger Toms over the years but I have never had a Tom so close and calling so long and often. It sure made for a memorable opening day!

[Rhino]

I had a brief 15 minute encounter with this gobbler this past Saturday before hens took him away. The Grissmill gobbler (named for location) is one of those strange birds that never gobbles on the roost but will on the ground...go figure.

With a faint hint of dawn approaching Wednesday morning, I'm sitting close to where I heard a bird gobble 15 times on the roost while hunting the Grissmill gobbler this past Sunday morning. It's 50 degrees, clear and calm. As dusk turns to dawn an owl cuts loose waking up a gobbler that's roosted ~125 yards in front of me near a bend in the ridge. Part of our TMAP participation is reporting total number of gobbles so I decide since this bird is gobbling good I'd do an accurate "to the gobble" account. Then a 2nd bird cranks up in the distance west of me. 128 gobbles after the 1st bird cranked up they fly down. Yep a gobbling frenzy went on between those 2 birds. However, the dang bird I'm on flew down to the ridge across the bottom from where I am. Gotta get on the same ridge with him so off I go, backing out to swing around to get on it with him. 10 minutes later I'm easing in on him to set up while he's gobbling giving away his location. Shortly after I set up I hear hens cutting loose near him. Not good! Next time he gobbles he's on the next ridge, which is Grissmill Ridge...except this time not only does he cut loose with his weaker sounding gobble but a 2nd bird with a strong gobble hammers down too. Here we go again...except I have to make a big loop this time covering about a mile to get in there. Back out to my EV and drive the 1st 1/2 mile. I ease in to the head of Grissmill Ridge and as I arrive the hens cut loose firing up the 2 gobblers again, giving away their exact location. Time to slip into position.

As I ease to a high point above a small woods field (planted in chufa ~3 weeks ago) I glass for the birds. At 1st nothing then I catch a glimpse through the trees of a strutting bird. Game on...now to get into position to hunt...not much in the way of trees to sit on without getting busted. I spend ~20 minutes very slowly moving some 25 yards to a small down tree at the point of a high spot some 40 yards from the edge of this 1/3 acre field. This spot also puts me ~20' above them. I check my watch...8:30. Now as I was moving in I discovered there were 8 birds in there. A strutting gobbler, a strutting jake, 2 more jakes, and 4 hens that are all on the far end of the field at ~125 yards. With the way he's strutting & drumming for those hens my only chance is to call in the hens. I choose to go with passive calling...light purrs with some light clucks mixed in and delivered from my Madhatters 3 track slate call (one of Redbeard's calls) teamed with one of my old strikers that delivers a perfect reproduction of these MS hen's soft talk. It slowly begins to work as the hens slowly peck around toward me. Every time they would pause, I'd dish out more light purring. All during this time the gobbler is strutting and drumming...great show! The jake goes in & out of strut. As they hit the 60 yard line 4 more hens enter from the far end of the field. Gotta dish out some more clucking & purring. They trot over to the other 4 hens...game plan still working. Minutes later the hens began moving behind trees to my right where I couldn't see them. The Grissmill gobbler is still in full view strutting his stuff. Several minutes later, I catch movement of a hen not 20 yards from me in the timber moving my way...then 2 more hens. Plan working real good now! The 1st hen passes moving toward my left at the 10 yard line with the other 2 hens about 5 yards behind her with more hens in tow. The Grissmill gobbler begins to move in from the field toward my left from the mark he'd made around the 50 yard line. He hits the tree line and crosses into the circle of death (my self imposed 40 yard limit) but steps behind several big trees. He steps into the open briefly at 35 yards then behind a big tree with a big opening on the uphill side. I move my shotgun to that point and a hen to my left putts. The gobbler briefly steps out and steps back behind the big tree again...got him on the downhill side though. When he steps out a Nitro load from my SBE II hits him at the 35 yard line. The other 11 birds fill the air. I check my watch...9:15...a great 45 minute show watching and working those birds. The Grissmill gobbler carries a 10 1/2" beard and 1" spurs. 2 birds down & 1 to go in MS.

BTW...all total I heard 5 different gobblers gobble a total of 186 times including the 128 gobbles dished out off the roost. I heard a couple more while working this bird. I hope to be on one in particular (very strong gobble) this weekend.

Edited April 27, 2011 by Rhino

[Rhino]

3rd MS Gobbler...Season Finale

More often than not the 1st encounter with an old wary gobbler is a learning experience...and so it was for this old bird.

Round 1 After listening in another area I heard this old bird rocking the ground with his gobbles about 7:30 on the morning of April 16th. As it turned out he was near the end of his pattern of yo yoing back & forth on a ATV road atop a ridge that dropped down into one of our largest fields that's split by a narrow ridge breaking the roughly in half. As I waited for the opportunity to move in and set up on one end when he gobbled on the other 2 hens passed headed his way. After he gobbled on the far end I moved in, set up and the woods became silent for some 30 minutes before I heard him gobble off in the field. When I arrived he was nowhere to be seen and his hens were just starting to make the move around the ridge to the back field. Seconds later his gobble told the story...he was back there already. Using the the ridge as a vantage point I was able to glass the old bird through the timber. Wow...what a rope! That beard has to be over 11"! I moved to set up and cover the front door which was the 40 yard strech of road between the split field off the end of the ridge. Game on! Gobbling activity dropped with him now strutting his stuff for the hens. Some 20 minutes passed when a couple of 2 year old gobblers appeared out of nowhere (never gobbled) one going into half strut as they quickly shuffled their way toward the trio of birds. All out of sight now somewhere toward the east end I figured it was only a matter of time...figured wrong. After another 30 minutes of silence I catch the unmistakable bob of the top of a turkeys head off my right shoulder crossing from the back field to the front. A 10 minute wait and ease around the downhill side to glass the front field. No birds...they had vanished to parts unknown. OK tomorrow's another day...cept that was the day my buddy decided we were going to plant those 2 fields in alyce clover. Hope the disturbance doesn't booger him.

Round 2 Before dawn I'm sitting on a tree about in the middle of where he had been yo yoing yesterday morning. 4 deer pass inside the 20 yards line about gobbling time...cept no gobbles. Bout an hour past gobbling time I accepted the fact that all that disturbance yesterday had boogered him. Time has a way of fixin that though.

Round 3 Good Friday morning, well before the crack of dawn I'm slipping back to the same tree using moonlight to my advantage. Turns out I was there bout 30 minutes before the crack of dawn. Some 10 minutes or so passes as I'm sitting there going through my mental anticipation of the morning's events when I hear sticks snapping behind me off my right shoulder. I ease my head around and suddenly out of the brush steps a boar (~175 pounder) at 4 steps . This is NOT what I need for my old heart! Gun's on right shoulder and pig is too! I really don't want to ruin this hunt with a self defense shot, especially at that range. The pig roots around at the base of an oak crunching acorns...yep didn't know there'd still be any gooduns left either. After 15 seconds or so...felt like forever...he moves away to my right. Thank you Lord!!! Now...breath!!! Another 10 to 15 minutes passes when a large body deer passes at the 8 yard line. Oh boy...this tree's gonna wear a hang on stand come fall. Dawn arrives with the awakening of song birds. Then...a loud thundering gobble is blown out from a tree bout 125 yards to my front right side. Slight seat repositioning in order & start the process of counting gobbles for recording in my TMAP book. Bout the 40th gobble a 2nd bird chims in behind me in the distance. Finally at the 76th giobble he rocks the ground to my right...time to respond. After his 2nd at ground level I cut back at him with my Woodhaven Red Wasp diaphram...no repsonse...seconds go by of silence that seemed like forever when he gobbles again further away to my right...gotta change calls and gotta prepare to shoot south paw too. Out comes the same combination of Madhatter slate & stiker used to coax bird no. 2 in range this year. As I'm preparing to deliver a call he gobbles further away. A couple of clucks followd by a purr is cut off by his gobble...he really liked that! Another unprevoked gobble tells the tale...he's coming!!! Somewhere around the 50 or 60 yard line he hangs up momentarily with 2 gobbles delivered that echo across the ground. Some more light clucks and purrs convinces him she's just right over there. I finally catch the 1st movement of his head bobbing through trees. Just clear that bigun and your mine! He does and a Nitro load hits him at the 32 yard line. From the looks of his beard there's no doubt it's the same gobbler I glassed on the 16th. His rope measured 11 3/4"...he was an old battler too...left spur 1 1/8" and right spur was busted off with just a 1/2" nub left from educating other birds in his domain. This old bird fills out my 3 bird bag limit for MS and a fitting end to this spring season!

Whenever I figure out what I can't copy and paste the pic here anymore I will...until then, here's a link.

Edited April 27, 2011 by Rhino

[jbeck]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I headed up behind the house this am. the birds were pretty quiet on the roost, I finally struck this bird about 7:10 am. he was in a hollow and I set up as close as I could to him just in case he hit the edge of the hollow and just strutted. I closed the distance to 65 yards before he cut loose and let me know he was close to showing himself, need less to say I hit the ground and got set up. 3 minutes latter there he was in all his glory just strutting and spitting at 60 yards, It was now up to him he was in plain view and any call I made would pretty much ruin my chances of him closing the gap any more. After 35 minutes of strutting and gobbling out of range, I got the break I needed, 2 birds started gobbling up the mountain and they were coming hard, this seemed to up set this big boy and he worked around a small knoll to my left to teach these youngsters that he was king. When he dissapered behind the knoll I shifted my body to allow any bird coming up over the top of the knoll to meet mister heavy shot. I heard him flogging the youngsters and I let go with a series of cutts on the mouth call, all three lite up the woods with gobbles. The next time I saw him he came around the knoll and walked right down the logging road to me, at 22 yards I was sure I could make the shot with two legs asleep, an numb butt, and a gun that by now weighed 48 pounds. I was right, he weighed 24 lbs. 9 1/4" beard and 1" spurs.

__________________

I'll try to extend the grace to you that God has already extended to me.

[Ravin R10 man]

4th Season Tom

2nd day of Wi 4th season only took 40 minutes

22.7# 9" beard 1"&1/2" spurs

[Flintlock1776]

Here was my 2nd Bird story (I never got more than one prior to yesterday!)

http://www.realtree.com/forums/turkey-hunting/105355-what-day.html:flex:

[VermontHunter]

Forgot to post my bird and story here ...

http://www.realtree.com/forums/turkey-hunting/105274-vermont-bird-down.html

[jesse8953]

[ncturkey]

I took this nice longbeard on April14 2011. He weighted 20 lbs. 6 oz., sported a 10" beard and left spur was 1 1/16" and the right spur was 1 1/8"

Edited May 21, 2011 by ncturkey

[ncturkey]

Here is a copy my the story of my hunt on April 14 2011

My daughter was gone to the Outer Banks for three days. So I thought I was going to have three days of hunting. My wife does not like to be alone and she asked me to sleep in. With so many early morning hunts I said yes. I still got down to my hunt club by 7:00 am. I had no more gotten out the truck near the front of my club and I heard a gobble. I got ready fast and headed after him. I setup on him within 100 yards of the property line. The gobbler was just on the edge of the line. I found out when I heard a few clucks that he had hens with him. He would not come my way so I did not waste time with him. It was still early so I decided to head to the middle of our club. I started off toward the back northwest corner of our property. I setup a few time on the way. There were three food plots in the back corner. I setup at the first one and the third one with no luck. So I decide to head back to the truck and rest. It was warm day. When I got back to the truck I was sweaty. I was wearing my Walls Bibs and they were just too warm for my afternoon hunt. I changed into some cool BDU pants. I had noticed on my way back to the truck there were some gobbler and hen tracks heading toward the truck but turned to the right before I got to my truck. After I pasted that turn I noticed a hens track leading to the same turn. So I knew just were they had headed. I hiked down that road to a good spot along a creek. I began calling with some clucks and yelping on my slate caller. I was also caller of a mouth call. After an hour or two I began to mix in some cuts and got a gobble off the property about 250 yards or so. He stayed put for a little while. He began coming straight to me. He was about a 100 yards from me and I could not see him. The woods were thick and knew he work probably be in range has soon as he came into sight. He gobbled about 60 yard out. I put the slate call down and began to just work him in with my mouth call. I finally saw him coming about 50 yards out. He was strutting all the way in. He began moving angling to my right. When he went behind some thick stuff I shifted to my right and got on him when he was in a small clearing. As soon has he was in my sights I fired. He went down and did not flop much at all. It was 4:20 pm. He was a nice longbeard with over an inch spurs. He was 40 steps from where I shot him. I tagged him and began taking some pictures. After I found my spent hull I headed back to the truck. I weighted him at the truck on my Berkley 50lb scales. He weighted 20 lbs. 6 oz. His beard measured 10” even and his left spur was1 1/16” and his right spur was 1 1/8”. It was an awesome day in the spring woods.