Another one bites the dust! This one on film!

Adam · #1 05-09-2008, 09:45 AM

Well, I've been going out with my buddy George for the past week trying to get him a bird on film. Tomorrow is the halfway point and we decided yesterday that we were going to split up and try to put another 1 or 2 down. We each had 2 tags, plus we have friends and family asking us for help. I shot a bird on the opener with no camera running and we were hellbent on getting some footage. I've got a bunch of footage up to this point, but no kill. Until today!

We went back in to where we were last Friday, knowing of at least 3 different gobblers, 2 of which are monsters, and set up in the exact same positions. Right away the birds were talking and since we could hear lots of hen talk, George was giving it to them hot and heavy while they were still on the limb. The toms (3 from what I could tell) were eating it up!

I was running the camera off and on, filming the decoys (2 hens and a jake), George calling, and some "scenery shots" off towards where the birds were roosted, but trying to conserve battery power (as someone (me) forgot to recharge it

), and I also had just over half a tape left. So, I was trying to conserve my resources a little in case it turned into a long hunt.

Finally, I could tell that the 2 birds to the left had flown down and were pretty close. I turned on the camera and concentrated on where I thought they'd show up. Out of the corner of my eye I see a big, black bird glide down, just out of frame and I knew it was the bird that had been responding to the right!

It was just a second and I could see him coming right at us and I zoomed in as he went into full strut at the sight of the decoys! A flicker of movement behind him revealed his girlfriend was in tow and together they headed for the field.

I was shooting through a small patch of saplings with 1 4-5" maple in the bunch and of course, that was where the bird wanted to stand most often! He'd strut back and forth but wouldn't come into the wide open (for me) on either side! For George, there was nothing between him and the tom but 18 yards of air!

We were too far apart to communicate so I just had to take what was given to me, and as the gobbler strutted back behind that 4" maple, I saw him come out of strut.

BOOM!

I couldn't believe it! Just as he disappeared from sight, George wallops him with a load of #5s! haha Oh well, it was awesome anyways!

We have 2 more tags to fill between us, plus plenty of friends to hunt with. So, hopefully we'll get some full hunt / kill sequences on film before the season is over.

I'll try to get the video up on Youtube at some point but, for now, here's a still from my cell phone.

He was a good 2 year old, with 3/4" spurs, an 8.5" beard and weighed right at 18 lbs even.