Great Weekend of hunting.....

[Bill Cartwright]

Depsite the cold temps, high winds and rain this weekend wasn't as bad as what I thought it was going to be. Including myself, I had 5 hunters take 5 birds over the weekend. I took a bird off the roost Saturday morning 30 minutes into the hunt. During mid-day I called in a jake for another hunter. That evening I roosted several birds. Sunday morning with temps hoovering around 30 degrees and 15 mph winds, I got a bird to gobble and within the hour had a hunter from Indiana packing a nice 2 year old out of the woods. After the temps warmed up I took my sons out for an afternoon hunt and had action all afternoon. I called up 2 long beards and a jake. After it was said and done, my 11 year old took his first bird, a nice 20lb, 10 1/8" paint brushed, 1" spur gobbler. This was done with my 9 year old and 3 year old in the blind with us. It was a great afternoon.

Later that evening I hooked up with another guy on his property and called in a jake that he put on the ground 30 minutes into the hunt.

I will post harvest pics after I get them scanned in, but here are a few action photos.

[jirvin]

Congrats to all,Bill,especially your son.That had to be a good feeling for dad and son.That is what I call dedicated to go out in those winds and conditions.

[Bill Cartwright]

Thanks Jeff. I have to say after 2 years of failing to get him a bird on the ground for various reasons, it did feel really good. Probably more than anything, it was special watching my 3 year old chase after his older brother yelling good bird Tyler, good bird. I felt for my middle son, but another day or two and he should have his shot.

I've had some pretty good hunts in the wind, cold usually shuts them down some, but they are still out there.

[wgatlin]

Thats some great pictures! I got a hunt in Friday morning and took a bird right off the roost. His feet only hit solid ground for a few seconds. Thats the only way to do it when you can see lightning and hear thunder coming in. The birds really didn't do a lot of gobbling at all this weekend. The bird I killed friday did. He was roosted with probably 10 to 15 other toms, it was pretty crazy, he was the first one down to try to beat the others, and as soon as I shot there was birds flying all over the place. Went back the next afternoon and had a couple of gobbles, but it was just way to windy, and cold. Congrats to your son, thats a nice bird, especially for a first bird.

[TBryan987]

Great pics!!