Ole "no fan" bites the dust (pics)...

[western NY bowhunter]

Here's a unique gobbler that I killed on a buddy of mine's farm Monday morning (5/14). He was a decent 2-yr. old...20 lbs. and a 9" beard. Anyways, I first noticed that this particular bird was missing his tail feathers a couple of weeks before when he was strutting out in a field with a group of jakes. Sunday evening I saw him picking out in a cornfield all by himself right before dark and decided to give him a try in the morning. I was actually working another gobbler when this guy came in to check out my decoy with 5 jakes. Its kinda funny...I've had two different birdless adult gobblers in this spring and ended up killing a tail-less one. Now, the next one I shoot will probably be spurless...lol. Makes ya wonder what could have happened to him?









I also tagged this 17lb. jake a couple days earlier (5/12). I gotta admit...I got a little trigger happy on this hunt. I'd been dealt a couple of tough breaks on longbeards during the first week of season and just wanted to break the ice on a bird (plus some breast meat for the grill) when these 5 jakes came in to investigate my calling. This is actually the first jake that I've killed in 7 yrs. I'm kinda regretting shooting him now a little bit...the hunting seems to be picking up now with a lot of lone hens been seen. Oh well, it was still a fun hunt.



My dad also tagged out this morning with this nice longbeard...21 lbs., 10: beard and 7/8" spurs.








All in all, it was a pretty good week of turkey hunting.

I can't wait for next spring!!!!

[bowhunter56]

Yes, you and your dad did well, both nice birds..Andy

[MichiganHunter]

Looks like somethin kicked the snot out of your bird...but those are all very nice

[huntinguide]

we killed one last year that had only 5-6 primary feathers and his head was all scabbed up and he was blind in one eye.

Just not a dominat bird just a beating post.

[Bachflock]

Congrats! Its the unique ones we remember the most...