Michelle's first longbeard

[guess]

We roosted birds Friday night and were anxious to get in there before first light to try and get Michelle on one of them.We got set up and the gobblers were talking,but when they flew down that went in four different directions ,none of which was our direction! We worked one bird off and on all morning ,but he was henned up bad.We moved to another place and called in five jakes and called it a day! It seems our whole season has been that way, due to the drought and a very early heat wave the birds have been off all season,we've killed more by ambush than we've been able to call in. Toughest season I've ever had!
Later that evening we went back to the same area to try and get one to gobble on the way back to roost.We called for a good bit and heard one way off,I finally spotted him about 800 yards down a long narrow coastal field with ,you guessed it, five hens! I told Michelle we needed to get back in the timber and close the distance before they headed on to the roost! We stopped about half way to him and got him to gobble a couple more times ,but it seemed they were headed the other way,so we got back into the timber in a small draw a closed the gap quickly .I thought we should be getting close so we stopped and called ,but he didn't answer. I noticed something moving in the way out in the field and it was a coyote, talk about having to restrain myself,after all I always carry a riffle! Then I noticed something closer and it was the hens right on the edge of the tree line,behind them was Tom.I told Michelle she needed to try and make it to the other side of the draw without getting busted by a hen and see if she could get a shot! Michelle killed two jakes earlier this year and missed some awesome long beards last year ,so she has really worked hard this year to get on a good bird. She crossed the draw without a hitch ,hens all around and waited for the gobbler to strut behind a huge pecan tree , before she stood so she could clear the brush! As soon as he was clear she clobbered him at 30 yards with a load of Hevi 13. I assured her that to stalk that close through all those hens and still get a shot was more of an accomplishment than calling one right to you!
he had 3/4 inch spurs and a 9 3/4 inch beard ! as I cleaned him and pulled off the beard I noticed something was left behind he had a strange little second bear ,it had a clump of hairs about 1 1/2 long and then two strands 5 1/4 inches that blended so well neither of us had noticed! I told her technically she could say she killed a bird with 15 inches of beard! She simply Grinned!
By the way our anniversary falls on mothers day,I asked her what she wanted for both and she said a good gobbler! She got it a day early!

[pointing_dogs_rule]

congrats!!!!

the dog

[Gus]

Congrats

[borch]

Way to go Michelle!!!

[Tom2008]

Congrats to Michelle that is an awsome long beard!

[huntn4bucks]

Congrats to Michelle on her first longbeard.

[redbeard]

Awesome, great photo too!

[BowtechTurkeyHunter]

Congratz on her first longbeard....

Steve

[snapper]

Good bird, congrats! Great pictures as well!

[mo_hunter]

congrats. cool pics.

[bfletch7441]

Fantastic bird, and what a great mother's day she must've had. Congrat's.

Ben

[wtnhunt]

Nice bird. Congratulations to Michelle.