Didn't get away: before and after

Fall turkey at a different wildlife area from where I usually hunt, based on a tip from a patient. Turned out ok in the turkey department, but somewhere along the way I got into some unseen poison ivy leading to a miserable week of scratching.

Found them hitting the recently planted winter wheat. His crop was full of sprouted wheat see and smelled like the earth just after a spring rain has passed by.
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He fell into a deer scrape


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Double beard starting on this young of the year bird.

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Patterning this flock, kansasson and I lay in wait in ambush one afternoon as I had observed this flock of birds loafing and dusting in the late afternoon hours for several day’s. I think that they felt safe as the only way to approach them from the nearest public land parking lot was across a 200 acre field. Because we walked in from the “backside” we had tree cover and the hedgerow to allow our ninja sneak on them.

This was the first time for both of us to hear a true “drumming” sound just before kansasson took down the strutting tom with a snap reaction almost from the hip.

2weeks later I crawled into a small cedar tree in the same place as before, and put out no decoys and made just the slightest scratching and feeding gurgles calls I could muster to finally entice the funky fanned tom over just enough to be in lethal range.

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If that ain't a king of the mountain picture I don't know what is. Nice work he's incredible. Can't believe he didn't go off that ridge.
Thanks-

He actually came down to the left of the "king of the mountain picture" and into the band of cliffs that runs across the face at the the same level just above the snow just over my left shoulder. He took a tumble but we placed him on the grassy spot for the pics and skinning. It was the "flattest" spot around.

Sandbrew
 
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