Daybreak found me hunting with one of my brothers like most openers. We were in a big clearcut with four or five gobblers within 200 yards. Two of them had our interest peaked because their gobble was the long drawn out kind that keeps you going. These two flew dow and closed inside 100 yards and were responding well to my brother's Hook's Executioner 2 and my Hot Hen. These birds stayed just out of sight over a slight ridge but close enough we could hear their chest rattle when they gobbled and tons of drumming. After about an hour of this game I pulled out Lucy the Road Hen. The first few clucks were honored with double gobbles from the birds in front of us as well as two more to our left about 150 yards. We were so focused on the ones in front of us we hadn't seen these two strutting in the open just accross a small ravine. Over the next half hour the two to our left circled around behind us and were losing interest and the ones in front were drifting away. I did some excited Yelping and cutting sustained for 45 seconds to a minute and all of the birds gobbled like mad. Less than five minutes later we could hear drumming behind us. I wanted my brother to kill one as he has never killed a long beard. In the last couple years I have passed up several shots hoping he would get the shot only to have the bird to get away. I told him I could see him and he had brush in the way. He told me to kill him and not let him get away. I shot him at about 35 steps. The birds in front of us did not spook and continued to respond but slowly worked away. Hopefully, he will get a shot in the morning. 18 lbs, 10" beard, one 5/8" spur and one broke off flush.
