D Loop Media

This guy was taken at 6:20 a.m. this morning in SE Minnesota. I found a nice forest clearing that I thought would be ideal if the birds showed up. I set up a lone hen decoy and waited. At around 5:15, I heard a tom and went to work on the Woodhaven Crystal. He was responsive, but seemed to keep distance. After about 15 minutes of no replies, he scared the $@#! out of me, yelling at my sexy hen about 50 yards to my right. I still could not see him, and waited, tossing the friction in the vest and replacing it with a new Zink diaphragm. He worked slow, perhaps due to the fact the season in Minnesota has been open since mid April. After the ear piercing gobble, there was no sign of him for 25 minutes until I heard footsteps. He walked right past me on the right, not 10 yards away...I was afraid I'd been spotted, however, he continued toward his prize. I thought I had time to shoulder my shotgun, but in doing so, he finally did spot me. He took off flying and I shot him from behind in mid-flight. He flew away, but I saw him land, and after 30 minutes of karmic convergence, he was located. Stats: You can tell I shot it from behind, as the fan is a bit damaged. Weight: 21.5 pounds Spurs: 1 inch Beard: 10 inches

I wish I would have seen this come up! Nice write up. How are those zink calls?

Thanks Cody!

I only ran the friction calls at Cabelas, but the mouth calls are killer....literally!

Good looking bird!

Good work Charlie!