My 2nd WI bird is lucky #13

[Cooter]

Went out this morning with my dad for my second WI season. Had 3 birds gobbling up on a ridge across from us...one was pretty quiet but the other two were plain out fired up, gobbling every 15-20 seconds. They had hens with them and gobbled well until about 45 min after light. Had 2 jakes come up and sniff the decoys at 10 yards - you know you're close when you can see em blink!

We made a loop and ended up finding a willing bird about 7:30, beautiful setup just below a little rise....like usual he popped over for a look and was within striking distance of the 870. Nice bird, 22.5lbs and 10.5" beard. No spur on one leg and the other was broke off, I would guess it would have been a .75" spur....2 yr old bird.

The cool part he was the 13th mature tom I've harvested in WI! Also great was my dad bought breakfast in Eleva and the good looking blonde owner insisted we take a picture of me and her with the bird! So if you swing through redneck Eleva Wi stop in for a peek at my bird.

[Hotspotter]

....or a peek at the owner....

Nice work!

Joel

[Cooter]

What's interesting is the last 4 birds I've shot have been on the first day - several years ago I shot 3 birds on the last day of the season, after hunting at least 3 previous days. Of those 3, one was at 11:30, one at 12:15, and one at 1:30 - pushing it way too close. Neither is good IMO - you get one right away you're done. But getting up 4 or 5 days in a row at 4am and hunting all day is a bit much. Would be nice to get one each year late in the morning on the second or third day.

[Hotspotter]

This is great. Mr. turkey slayer is complaining about getting them too late, or worse, too soon. I think it's high-time you faced a bad-bird that will make you happy to see a track, chunk of bird [PoorWordUsage], or wing-feather in the woods!

I know what you mean though, I'm the same way....you want a good hunt (and not to have to go back to work right away), but when bark is growing your backside, it's about time to get a gobbler already.

Joel

[Cooter]

No, mostly I'm complaining about getting up in the middle of the night! When I run into one of those bad news birds I go find a dumber one!

[harvey lee]

Congrats Cooter. I knew Wisc was full of turkies.