Opening Day in TN - 04/14/24
Well it was not the best opening day I have ever had but I still managed to find a volunteer. It started out with lots of gobbling on the property next to us, followed by someone shooting between us and the roosted birds.
About an hour later, I was able to get a gobbler to come out of the woods across and down down the field from us. Once in the field, he just turned and walked away. Next out came a single hen followed by 3 jakes. Finally got two gobblers to come almost into range but no cigar. At that point we decided lunch sounded good so we went and ate, and came back around 1 to try again. I had a gobbler come in about 20 minutes later and as soon as he hit the field, he just laid down it the shade (never seen one do that before) He laid there for about 10 minutes, got up and walked about 10 feet and laid back down. About 30 minutes later, I had a hen walk out of the woods on the other side of the field, walk within 20 yards of the gobbler and proceed across the field and within 8 feet of me as she went into the woods on my side of the field. At this point, the gobbler got up and started making his way across the field to follow her. At about 15 yards, he dropped his head close to the ground and I decided to see if I could pin his head to the ground with my shot.
Not the best bird I have ever killed but he will eat good. 19.5 lbs, 9" beard, and 1 1/8" spurs.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/Si3yQwO.jpg)
About an hour later, I was able to get a gobbler to come out of the woods across and down down the field from us. Once in the field, he just turned and walked away. Next out came a single hen followed by 3 jakes. Finally got two gobblers to come almost into range but no cigar. At that point we decided lunch sounded good so we went and ate, and came back around 1 to try again. I had a gobbler come in about 20 minutes later and as soon as he hit the field, he just laid down it the shade (never seen one do that before) He laid there for about 10 minutes, got up and walked about 10 feet and laid back down. About 30 minutes later, I had a hen walk out of the woods on the other side of the field, walk within 20 yards of the gobbler and proceed across the field and within 8 feet of me as she went into the woods on my side of the field. At this point, the gobbler got up and started making his way across the field to follow her. At about 15 yards, he dropped his head close to the ground and I decided to see if I could pin his head to the ground with my shot.
Not the best bird I have ever killed but he will eat good. 19.5 lbs, 9" beard, and 1 1/8" spurs.