55 on the fly

Had a great time hunting with friends this week. The three of us all took birds, 4 total...... here are my two. Bird #1 - Bearded hen, some people might balk at taking a hen in the spring..... But, I consider a bearded hen a rare trophy. We hardly ever shoot hens on the property even in the fall. This is the second one I've taken in 40 years of turkey hunting.  Bird #2 - Gobbler  my buddy Jim (left) and I with my gobbler.... tools of the trade - Richard Hudson Hen Box (the turkey's love this call) and my own homemade Ebony Trumpet Call.... Jim's bow killed gobbler...

I made this call today..... Osage with stacked leather mid section and a Delrin mouth piece... thanks Doug.

I went for a scout today to check out a new piece of land to turkey hunt. I took along some toys to play with,  from top to bottom: Richard Hudson Hen Box Snakewood over Spalted Pecan and my own Osage Trumpet and crow call... What a great morning I had. Sunny and almost 65 degrees.... I was scouting a new area and slowly worked along the edges of it, lots of glassing the fields and looking for sign, but not seeing much.... I got to a likely looking corner of the field and woods and crow called into the woods.... nothing.... So, I sat down and had a snack and a cup of coffee, just enjoying the day. I had been sitting there about 30 minutes or so and decided to give my Hudson box a run and sent out a series of sweet old hen yelps.... A couple of clucks was my reward, from a hen not very far away..... I sent out a second series of yelps and got a reply yelp and then spotted the hen coming down the edge of the field coming right to me. I froze with no mask or gloves and a steam...