Went to a favorite haunt in North Central Mississippi yesterday for an afternoon outing. After setting up in several familiar places with no success I decided to take a look at a nearby field recently tilled up for planting. Spotted him in full strut with no hens about and eased to within 150 yards to give him a try. A couple soft yelps got him to gobble back and he looked interested. Just when I thought he had made a few steps my way I spied three hen like forms across the field heading toward him so I thought the jig was up. However, a quick look through the binocs revealed they were Jakes so I had renewed hopes, they were heading my way. But the old gobbler had different ideas. He gobbled again and began closing the gap, a quick glance told me the Jakes had stopped in their tracks. Now the gobbler was on a mission walking briskly toward me and didn't stop until I sent a load of 3" #5's to quickly end the suspence at 14 steps. Rushing out to make sure he was down was not necessary but it did reveal the presence of 3 hens scurring off from the original area where I had first spotted him. So, he was with hens afterall and I was lucky enough to call him away. The vital statistics were 23#, 10" beard and 1-1/8" super sharp spurs. A three year old Tom. All this took place in a matter of 15 minutes at 6:15 PM. I won't be complaining about daylight saving time in the future.
It might be interesting to note that here in Mississippi we have a minimum 6" beard regulation enacted 4-5 years ago. Besides having the 7th or 8th largest flock in the country, this reg has really increased the number of quality gobblers for hunters.
