2nd chance longbeard

  I wanna start this blog by thanking all the landowners who let us hunt their farms. The farms are awesome!! Ok, let me start off by saying that I will never make fun of anybody for missing a turkey because it happened to me this year!! It's almost as bad as making a bad shot on a deer with a bow. I was sick and very upset with myself  ( just ask Glenn, he will tell ya). 2nd morning of the season found Glenn and myself in the blind on the edge of a field. We had a little cut to our left that I'd seen birds in numerous times coming home from work. I called 10-12 times throughout the morning with no answers. Finally at 8:00 I turned and looked in the cut and saw a longbeard standing at the edge of the field. He gobbled 2 times and headed to the woods behind us. I opened the back window and here he came, perfect shot!!!WRONG! Didn't see a tree about as big as a shovel handle, blew it all over the woods. That's all i got to say about that hunt. April 29 found Glenn and myself back to where he hunted opening day. Remember the 2 birds he talked about, gobble and strut and going the other way with not a hen in sight. (never understood what there thinking) Ok, Glenn suggested we put the blind up out of the field and in the woods along the fence in the same spot where had seen these birds feeding many times in the past. I was all for it, they really wasn't responding to any calls on opening day. We got in the blind with plenty time until daylight. Had 2 toms gobbling very little on the roost so i decided not to call but just a couple times and he answered  l time so i just shut up for awhile. In the meantime we had 4 hens working their way towards us so we thought he would be right behind them. This bird had other plans. I'm with Glenn, I think he was still on the roost. He gobbled maybe 3 more times on his own but was headed right towards us!!! Finally we saw him at the same time at 15 yards. A few soft yelps to get his head up and it was a done deal. 25 lbs, 11 inch beard, 29mm spurs. Congrats to all the BAREBONES crew on their birds. It's been a great season so far. God bless to all.