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DonBo

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Very nice! Where's his beard, how long? Got to be pretty decent I would think 10" or better.

blush Wasn't going to bring that up. Worst case of "beard rot" I've ever seen. Less than 2", brownish yellow jake looking thing.

Don't know much about it, but I guess it's not that uncommon on older birds after a hard winter.

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Don. Hey. 57 scores a Young Tom or last years jake with a 7.25" beard and weighed 16.8 lbs but the bad news is it didnt have spurs.I knew my days were limited so I knew I wouldnt get many chance from looking at the forcast and only having two days to hunt. I took pics with my tag with my name, beard lenght with tape measure and me holding it with the weight on the scale. Was wondering am I missing anything?

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I hope to have an 1.5" set of hooks by the time I'm 88 - wow! Congrats to you & pops!

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1957, WTG! Congrats on the bird. No spurs? Wierd. Hen maybe? 16 lbs would be a huge hen. Anyway, way to go. Only thing missing is the photo with you holding your trophy with a big smile on your face. Then you need to fill out the form and take a photo of that. Add them all to the submission thread. Let me know if you need any help.

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Thanks guys, the old man was pretty excited. Here's the story.

I set the blind Sunday afternoon in the spot where we watched the strutters the last two mornings. We climbed in just before 5:30 this morning. Birds had just started sounding off as we got comfortable. Lots of hen talk along with some gobbling. I even saw a couple birds still in the trees. They started pitching down early, about 5:40. They all flew onto the neighboring property, about 150 yards away.

There was 18 or 20 total. One nice strutter, and a handful of jakes. Absolutely no more talk after they hit the ground. Just after 6 I heard a gobble. Dad lost his hearing aid and was basically deaf. I told him there was a gobble straight behind us. "Oh, okay" He was watching all the birds in his binos. Then another gobble. Much closer. "Dad, another one." Close. "Oh?" "Dad, put down the glasses and get your gun.....Get ready." Then another gobble right outside the blind. Less than 10 yards. We can hear his wings scraping the ground. Dad says "I heard him fly." I said "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! He's right here." shocked

Next thing I see him on Dads side only 10' away, full strut and running into the deeks. He was right on top of my Best Turkey Decoy jake. I wanted to tell him to wait till he cleared my deek and BOOM! The deep was done. My deek spun around a couple times. eek I'm sure I can find a few pellets in there if I looked hard enough.

Anyway, he dumped him at 15 yards. It was 6:15. Same place he shot his last year. Big bird, much bigger than anything I've ever shot. Jealous? Naw. Proud as can be of my old man. Hope I'm still hunting when I'm 89. smile

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That's a great story! I took my grandpa out yesterday - he's 76. He didn't bring his hearing aid out either... afraid he would lose it. Our conversations were loud and he had no idea that birds were gobbling 50 yds away. Had 3 jakes at 30 yds and he'd try to "whisper" something to me. Sounded like the PA system at the Twin's game! smile We had some close calls and had birds around us all morning, but no shots. Today's a new day though!

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Don.Thanks!!I need help to post this information and how to do it on here. It had absolutely no spurs. The guy I registered it at said to that it was definately a Tom. He said that he has registered 1 this year that did not have any spurs already and said he has seen that before in the area. Genetics maybe? Who know's. Good to shoot one though and get on the board. Let me know how and thanks 57

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57, you want to email me those photos? Otherwise go to the photography forum and there is directions there how to post pics. It's really pretty easy.

Set up a free account at "Photobucket", then upload your photos there. Then you just need to copy and paste the %7Boption%7D code for each photo onto the submission thread.

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Don. hey I will need help to post or I can e-mail all to you and you can. I cant figure that stuff out. Not on computer that much! E-mail address and I will send it top you. Thanks 57

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Don. hey I will need help to post or I can e-mail all to you and you can. I cant figure that stuff out. Not on computer that much! E-mail address and I will send it top you. Thanks 57

PM sent.

Was really excited after Dads big score Monday, but the snow yesterday sent them to parts unknown. Never heard a peep. Did see a strutter near my blind last night, but he showed just briefly this morning before heading bck into the woods, never to be seen again.

Gonna try to get out tonight. It ain't over by a long shot yet. smile

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With the weather straightening out I am confident you will get your bird.

You are in the right area.

They will come out to "play".

Good luck.

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Here's 1957's bird. Looks to me to be a bearded hen. At any rate, WE ARE ON THE BOARD!

full-20096-32472-photo389.jpg

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Yea, that definately looks like a bearded hen.

I have seen those the last couple of years.

Must not be too rare.

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Like I said to Don. Its funny because it Gobbled in the tree and once it flew down and as soon as it hit the ground it was in half strut!! Wierd huh??? Thought so but dint know for sure. Big bird at 16.8 pounds and hen huh??? Maybe at 13 or14 pounds a hen but that is a good sized jake size! WOW, juat dont get it. My son Matt shot a bearded hen less than a half mile from there though.. Just dont get it with the gobbling and all.. (57) Board time for us though!!!!!!

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Close last evening, close again this morning. Getting frustrating. Too much work to spend enough time at it. Twins game tonight, but I'll hit 'er again tomorrow for a last hoorah here in MN.

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Beautiful morning today and going to be gorgeous tomorrow - you'll get 'er done! Good luck!

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Good Job 57! Way to get us on the board! Well the weather and schedule are finally cooperating and I'm going to get out after them tonight. As soon as I get done with school today I'm going to head to some public ground and give it a go. Gonna hike into an area we saw some strutters a couple of weeks ago. With this nice weather for the weekend it might be to tempting to get the boat out rather than chase after a longbeard smile So, hopefully this evening brings a good hunt! A couple of my buddies went out to the Black Hills this past weekend and scored on 2 toms & a jake, so hopefully I can get after one. Good Luck to all the other members of team #1! If you guys like to see hunting & fishing pics and videos and you have FB you should check out my buddies and I page. It's all american outdoors!

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Tough, tough hunting. On a flock in a new spot yesterday morning, they got to about 80 yards before the hens dragged them all away. Had to go to the Twins game last night, so no hunting then. Had them all talking big time this morning, but they headed off in some other direction. A few more hours tonight and my MN hunt will be history.

Start in WS next week, hoping for better results.

Matt, step away from the boat and hit the woods! grin

Hunter, good luck. Hope ya shoot a monster!

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Don, thats the way they were with me to. Lots of talking but no TAKERS!! Any how I have my grandson Dalton that wants to bust a Tom John!! so I am thinking maybe next weekend the 3rd or 4th of MAY we can make the 4 hour trip to Wabanona ( some where in the middle of Wabasha and Winona)LOL to try again.. He is in a boys choir out of Sioux Falls SD. and couldnt make the trip last weekend (12years old) . Should be in HEART OF THE Breeding season come then.. MOREL TIME ah!! Who knows but can hope!! 57

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Don, thats pretty cool. I know now I wasnt loosing my mind. People told me that they dont strut and gobble. Sounds exactly like mine did when it was in the tree gobbling. As soon as it hit the ground it did it again and went in to half strut.. Pretty cool though and thanks.. 57

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Sorry guys, having an issue getting the photos from my camera. This was taken from a different one.

P4260305_zps8946bc45.jpg

Realy busy right now, more later. Just wanted to leave this as a tease. grin

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DSC03251_zps9fd78b45.jpg

Was a long tough week for me. Dad's bird early turned out to be a fluke, as there was not another single tom I was able to call too all week.

Got close to big flocks a couple times, but never close enough. Mostly they stayed out in the middle of bigger fields.

Thursday morning I tried a new area and was able to call a hen in pretty close, followed by a nice tome, a few jakes and several other hens, but eventually the hens apparently didn't want the competion and headed back into the woods.

Thursday night we were at the Twins game (they lost frown ) so no hunting then. Friday morning I set up in the woods where they came from the day before. Never did see one but they were gobbling from the came spot as always.

Friday evening (last day of season B) I took a page from my fall hunting tactics and set up right under their roost trees and waited.

Right at sunset I saw and heard birds starting to fly up. Unfortunetly they were flying from an open ridgetop about 75 yards away. There were way more than I thought. From past experience I knew the tom was likely going to be the last to go, so I waited till till there were just a few birds still on the ground before I let out a series of very sexy yelps, purrs and cuts. Another bird flew up, then another, then I saw one go into strut!

He and the other remaining bird still on the ground walked up the hill where all the others flew from. One more flew up. frown Then the last one came back down the hill and headed straight down a deer trail that led right to me. smile

At 30 yards he stopped and raised his head and my season finally came to a close. I looked at my watch, there was about 3 minutes left of legal time.

Not a huge bird by any stretch, basic 2 yr old. Just under 18 lbs. Spurs were 1" & 7/8". 10 1/2" beard.

A last minute success story.

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Congrats Don,I knew you would get one just didn't know if it was going to be a Mn or WI bird

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