I had a great weekend, killed two birds, but there was very little talking involved. The river has been rapidly rising where I hunt, which has caused it to pour into most portions of the swamp. I went in with my uncle and cousin by boat to the lake camp to find a piece of land that hopefully had some turkeys. They dropped me off at the territory where I killed my first one this year (high ground), and then they went farther up into the swamp. I snuk through the pines to get into the hardwood bottom that I (and the gobblers) love some much, with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, when I got there it was gone; all water! So, I kind of hung around the pines, heard nothing, and eventually went back into the woods near where they dropped me off. I did one series of yelps and a couple of hens showed up. That was pretty much my morning, for about an hour and a half to two hours. They'd leave, I would yelp, cluck, cut, or purr one time, and then those or some other hens would be right back. I was slouching down and relaxing when I saw another hen sneaking in, but I noticed the face was a bit brighter. Then, he popped into strut and I about messed my pants up. The hens never yelped, and the wet tom died at about 9:00 without making a single gobble or drum. I believe I only got a chance to use my David Halloran ceramic that I got this season, but I did get to use the new Holly striker that I got from him for the first time.
Sunday morning I was out of the swamp and hunted the piney woods on high ground in a place where I usually take one each year. Right at first light I heard a gobble, but it sounded like it was towards the train tracks, in a direction in which I had never heard one in all my years of hunting there. So, I race out to where I hear the gobbling, and before I can even find a clear spot I have two on the ground. Literally, one series of yelps and they're racing to me, with the winner falling at about 6:30! That last picture is the requested "selfie" for the guy that pretty much runs our camp. He was giving me heck because the first two bird pictures I sent him were just of "a dead bird." One more to go!
