April Fools Triple Beard

Rhino

By Rhino
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Rhino Monster Buck

Rhino

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With a few days of perfect weather last week I couldn't resist the urge not to take advantage of it. I also decided to put my Strut10 custom slate call up to bat this time.

The birds sure were vocal Tuesday, including the hens. Had a gobbler coming my way after he had been with hens when another hen cranked up and pulled him away. Around 9:30 I devised a plan for the following morning to be where they wanted to be and left that area.

You're not going to believe this...but later that morning I happened to go sit down off the edge of a small field to listen for a bird. Wasn't there 10 minutes when 4 hens suddenly appeared with a strutting bird in tow. I hadn't even touched a call! Well...since I hadn't done anything to earn this bird (except get real lucky) and with one bird already in the bag, I just watched the 5 minute strutting show that got as close as 25 yards from me before he herded them off.

Wednesday the old bird I devised the plan for did an excellent job of making a fool out of me. I made the mistake of setting up way to close to him in the dark. I didn't know it until he gobbled on the roost the 1st time about 30 yards away. At flydown he touched down 20 yards of my right shoulder in full view. Couldn't move. He disappeared off the downhill side of the ridge, hit an ATV road northeast of me, issued his 1st ground level gobble and 6 hens flew down to him. That turned out to be game over. They carried him away. New plan for tomorrow.

Thursday (April Fools Day) the early morning plan failed again. I set up where they went in the dark to listen and he was roosted almost a half mile north of me several ridges away. Good grief...this bird has no pattern! After looping around to set up on him, he was blowing the woods away with his gobbles...until I set up. Once I set up the woods went silent. 30 minutes later I opted to let him be for a while since he was probably with hens and come back mid morning to check if he'd fired up again. About 1/4 of a mile away I busted 2 hens dusting in the middle of a road. I only mention that because when I came back to listen for the gobbler later, 2 gobblers were dusting in the same spot. Busted! :rolleyes: They ran toward the area I'd been working the gobbler earlier. I just backed out and decided to come try him again after lunch.

I returned to the area around 1:30 or so setting up inside the northeast corner of a long, narrow field with 2 huge new dusting spots inside the corner of the field. That time of day I opted to relax, dish out some clucking and purring for a while to listen for a gobble. About 30 minutes had passed when I began to hear what I thought was a bird drumming. My 1st thought was the wind was playing tricks on me when the wind suddenly calmed down. Then the sound of pft...dooooooommm...pft...doooooooommm really got louder and louder. I cut my eyes both ways and couldn't see him. Obvioulsy I couldn't move. The drumming continued to get louder to the point this bird had to be inside the 20 yard line and had to be right behind me. It seemed like an eternity before his drumming became faint again...the whole time the hair's standing up on the back of my neck. I finally had the chance to call again with some clucking and purring with Don's custom call. A minute or so later he gobbles about 100 yards north of me. I answer with 2 series of yelps with the 2nd being a higher pitch closer to the edge of my slate trying to sound like 2 hens. That did the trick. A minute or so later I see bits and pieces of him coming in from my right. He disappears behind trees right as he's entering the field so I delivered a couple of soft clucks. He steps into view in full strut facing me and slowly moves my way going in and out of a strut 3 times. At 34 steps he stops and stretches out his neck to look around. A nitro load is sent his way ending the show.

This is the same bird I thought was the double beard that I got trail cam pics of during the 1st week of March. I posted them here on the forum. I was surprised to find the 3rd beard on him. Beards were 9 3/4", 7", and 3 1/2"...spurs were 15/16" and 7/8". Two down one to go.

My_2nd_2010_Gobbler_RT.JPG

My_2nd_2010_Gobbler_with_me_RT.JPG

My_2nd_2010_Gobbler_Beard_RT.JPG

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Rhino Monster Buck

Rhino

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Thanks everyone...needless to say it's been a blast during the past 10 days or so.

Going to visit my son at college this afternoon and enjoy a round of golf with him. I hope I can talk him into joining me turkey hunting this weekend.

The next 2 weekends after that I have some rookies to introduce to turkey hunting. Should be fun. I'll try to get my licks in on my last bird around those times.

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