Poke 'Em
Well-known member
Yesterday morning I spotted three birds strutted up and on a hen out in the open. I was able to sneak down along the creek bottom and get within about 150 yards. I set up a couple of decoys and started calling, and two birds started heading my way.
They hung up at about 25 yards, and I could clearly see that one of them was a jake, but couldn't see the beard on the 2nd bird due to the topography. Finally, I decided they weren't going to get any closer, but the 2nd bird looked a little bigger body-wise than the jake, so I took a chance that he would be a decent tom.
8" beard, 1" spurs.
They hung up at about 25 yards, and I could clearly see that one of them was a jake, but couldn't see the beard on the 2nd bird due to the topography. Finally, I decided they weren't going to get any closer, but the 2nd bird looked a little bigger body-wise than the jake, so I took a chance that he would be a decent tom.

8" beard, 1" spurs.