The always awsome sunrise ...
It was a fast paced morning ... One of the group that hunt the farm next to the one we are on , has an early start that scares the brids off the roost ... I watch two birds fly from the roost to the river flats .
I give a series of soft hen yelps as the sun climbs higher , soon I see a group of birds coming along the river flats to my left ...
As I'm messing with the camera , trying to get the right ISO setting for low light pictures , I hear a swoosh ... get the gun up just in time to see a boss tom soar in and land to my right approx 30 yards ... he goes immediately into a strut looking around for the hen he just heard ... I send a volley of 3 inch mag # 4 shot Remington heavy's at him , and he crumples !
The empty shell ejected to my right ...
Exactly 29 paces from my seat ... a group of gnarly thorn trees show part of the pattern that a moment earlier had surrounded the beauty tom ..
I walk to the bird , spread his feathers out for a nice " BBD " picture !
When I get him home I measure him up = 23 lbs ... 9 1/2 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs .
Randy gets a picture of me with my bird , back at the truck ... what a beauty 2009 opener !
The rest of the guys see birds , deer , you name it ... but I was the only one that morning that was lucky enough to have a legal tom close enough to drop the hammer on ...
Still have lots of time this week ... Good Luck to all that are chasing " those bearded birds "
