Back in CT I was working on a gobbler. I got out late in the afternoon to locate him at fly up time and heard the preflight gobble. So having a good idea where he was I was out the next morning in the cold spring rain. It was a decent rain too and I had a scoped shotgun.
I was walking into a clearing slowly and happened to notice a dark shape sitting not too far off the ground in a tree not too far from where I was. So I got down on my hands and knees and slithered back to the woods line to have some cover and stayed laying down in the rain. I waited and waited getting drenched even through my rain gear. Finally I gave a couple of chirps on the call and heard the gobble back so he was awake. He was in a small group of trees - an island in the clearing basically. I was hoping he'd fly straight down into the clearing so I could close the deal. Finally he decided it was time and flew to the opposite side of the "island" from me gobbling away every time I chirped away but the gobbles were going away - this bird was real wary and I wasn't bringing him home. He crossed the dirt road to the other side of the WMA and was gone.
I went home wet and depressed. However I went back out couple of days later and heard him fly up - next morning got right up on him and this time it was just cold out - I chirped and he flew right down looking for love - bang. Dead bird. Pretty sure it was the same bird - same size and not too far from where he was before just up the hill more.
I was walking into a clearing slowly and happened to notice a dark shape sitting not too far off the ground in a tree not too far from where I was. So I got down on my hands and knees and slithered back to the woods line to have some cover and stayed laying down in the rain. I waited and waited getting drenched even through my rain gear. Finally I gave a couple of chirps on the call and heard the gobble back so he was awake. He was in a small group of trees - an island in the clearing basically. I was hoping he'd fly straight down into the clearing so I could close the deal. Finally he decided it was time and flew to the opposite side of the "island" from me gobbling away every time I chirped away but the gobbles were going away - this bird was real wary and I wasn't bringing him home. He crossed the dirt road to the other side of the WMA and was gone.
I went home wet and depressed. However I went back out couple of days later and heard him fly up - next morning got right up on him and this time it was just cold out - I chirped and he flew right down looking for love - bang. Dead bird. Pretty sure it was the same bird - same size and not too far from where he was before just up the hill more.
