catman529
Well-Known Member
From the time I first saw a strutter till the time they flew up was right at 4 hours. I saw a tom in a distant field and made my way down the hill and through a creek to put the sneak on. First saw a group of hens dusting and then farther across the field was the strutter and his 3 or 4 hens. Now the field is pretty big and has a rise in the middle so you cant see one end from the other end. I made my way all the way around and had a gobbler and a couple hens close but not real close. They changed course and I kept moving and setting up and moving and setting up. Finally I was set up on a flock of hens with another strutter and then my strutter with his hens. Well the gobblers fought and split up and the hens joined together. I had them close for a while - like 50 or so yards sometimes. Finally they all made their way slowly towards the back of the field where I started. I had 30 minutes till sunset. One gobbler was strutting and one hanging behind. I stayed low and went up the creek and finally they were just standing in the field about 60 yards out and they started to fly up. The strutter kept on strutting till all the hens were up, then he flew up into a tree about 30 yards to my left. I looked at the time and it was exactly sunset, end of legal shooting light. I stalked these birds for 4 hours and had them close several times but never quite close enough to make a clean shot. They seemed to stay toward the middle of the field. Now the worst part is that I can't set up on that gobbler in the morning, because it's the end of the last scheduled hunt on this WMA until next year. I will be taking home some video, even got video of the gobbler flying up to roost.
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