Opening morning textbook hunt


Ethan Givan

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Roosted was roasted this morning. Went out last night with my cousin to roost birds for this morning's opening day hunt. We heard several birds gobble, but there was one near the middle of the farm that we focused in on. Got him to gobble several times last night, and we knew the exact spot he was in.

Got in there early this morning, well before daylight. It was cool at 38 degrees, clear, and calm. We set up about 125 yards from the bird we had roosted the night before. He had roosted in a large oak tree on the edge of a woodline, next to a large field planted in wheat. As it begin to get daylight, we heard alot of birds gobbling all around, and the one we had roosted started to really get with it as well. A little after 7am he glided down out of the big oak into the wheat field about 100 yards in front of us. He was in a low spot in the field so all I could see was his tail fan when he would go into strut. He had no hens with him, so I started calling to him fairly agressively. He gobbled several times to the calling, and strutted in circles. I stopped calling altogether, and after about 5 minutes of silence he started our way. He crested over the hill at about 80 yards, and saw our decoys. From there he came on a string, full strut the whole way. He came into the set up, did a full circle around Pretty Boy, and my cousin dropped him at 15 yards at 7:30am. This was my cousins first longbeard. Killing a bird you have roosted the night before, right off the roost the next morning, doesnt happen very often. What a great way to kick the season off!!

Didnt have a scale to weigh him, but Im guessing it weighed 23+ lbs. Double beards, 11 inch and 9 inch. 1 1/8" spurs. A real nice bird.

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