Initially set up on a pasture where Dad had seen 4 long beards yesterday morning, and had no luck. I put out 2 hen decoys and Killer B. The wind picked up at daylight and heard nothing. We would yelp every now and then and still nothing. About an hour after daylight we had almost had enough. We were about to leave when 3 geese flew over and honked. He answered them from a hill top across the pasture. We both cut behind him and he double gobbled at us. We knew it would be a matter of time before he showed up in the pasture. We would check him about every 5 minutes to track his progress. Every time he would answer a little closer down the hill towards us. I then look up to see him coming out of the pines into the pasture. He gets one look at Killer B with the hens and blows up and double gobbles. At this point he is at 75 yards. He stays there strutting for probably 10 minutes. I then grab the string attached to Killer B and pull it softly. This causes Killer B to spin about 90 degrees. He sees this and his head turns bright red and he turns right for us. He then stops and hangs up again strutting. He stays there about another 10 minutes. I try the string pull again, but this time he doesn't like it. He turns and acts like he is leaving. I told Dad to shoot and he rolled him. I ranged the flopping bird at 59 yards!! His bird was 18.5 pounds with a 9.5 inch beard and 1 5/16 inch spurs.

We gather our stuff and head towards the other side of the property. We ease up to a clearcut and yelp. One immediately cuts me off!! I get down and belly crawl to a tree close to the edge of the clearcut. I can see him on a hill 120 yards out strutting. Well, we go back and forth with him for about 30 minutes, then he goes quiet. After about 15 minutes of nothing, he gobbles on his own and he is about 60 yards to our 2:00. I then catch a glimse of him coming up out of the bottom at 40 yards. My Dad s between me and him, but Dad's gun is in his lap!! The bird circles around us to the road we walked in on. When he goes behind a big blow down, I make a quick spin around the tree where I can shoot down the road. About 15 seconds later I see his fan. He then steps into the clear and I shoot. I jump up to see him staggering down the road, so I cranked another round into him at 40 yards. Come to find out, I severed a 1" sweet gum at 10 yards that deflected most of my shot. That's why I don't use a single shot!! He was a nice 2 year old that weighed 18.5 pounds with 3/4 inch spurs and a 10 inch beard. I'll take those all day long!!

Well, while working bird #2, we had two more that got fired up and came a LONG WAYS to within 250 yards of where #2 just died. Like after #1, we packed up and headed to them. We got to where we thought they might be and I cut at them. GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE...RIGHT ON CUE. They were in a bottom no more than 100 yards from us. We got down quick and went to work. We got them to gobble one more time then they went quiet. I told Dad, they're coming. About that time I hear PPPFFFFFTTT DDDDDOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!! They're Close. Then Dad says, "There he is, I have no shot". I lookup to see him at no more than 20 yards looking for us. Dad then said "He's coming to your side, Kill Him!" Then BOOM, I went. This dude was a hoss!! 21 Pounds 2 ounces, 10 1/4 Inch Beard and 1 1/2 Inch Spurs!!

Here's a pic of all 3 of them thrown across my grandfather's tractor disc.