ALMOST

This Morning Was the Closest...
So far! I had my new shotgun and got all set up in my blind by 430 AM! My two arch nemesis were both gobbling their heads off down by the brook and one bird gobbled to my left towards the brook but clearly on my side! That bird only gobbled once- meaning he wanted no part of the two mature birds gobbling down by the brook! Then I hear what I though was a hen clucking off to my right! I thought, "ok, if I get her coming out to my decoys, the two birds that I REALLY want to kill might finally come!" So I strike up a nice conversation with 'her' and we talk back and fourth for a couple of minutes and sounds like she is getting closer with every cluck and purr! I am watching for her to come out of the woods across the pipeline but something flying in catches my eye and I realize a turkey is flying in and landing about 30 yards from me! Right behind it is another bird! They are both jakes I realize instantly by their red heads and dark colors! I call to them to see if they want to chat but they want nothing to do with me or my decoys! I study both birds intensely looking for a beard that will make one of them legal and let my new gun shatter the quietness of the morning! NOTHING! Not a beard that I can see on either bird! They have snuck across the pipeline and are going in the woods where what I thought was hen was calling! I kick myself for not lighting one of them up! Chances are VERY good that they both had beards and that they were just too small to see! So, ten minutes goes by and I see one of them coming back out on the pipeline where they went in! One jake comes out, then another jake then a THIRD jake comes out! The bird I was chatting with was a jake- not a hen! They are still at that magic thirty yards but I STILL can't see a beard on any of them! I call to them and one looks back and follows the other two down the pipeline! Three toms at 30 yards and I don't fire a shot! Guess I am a little spooky from the jake with no beard Dad and I saw a while back and wanted to make sure before I shoot! These are not the bird I am looking for but ending this 330 AM craziness would feel really good right now! I jumped a deer off my lawn on the way out this morning which makes me feel better since I haven't seen any deer down there lately since turkey season started! I will be back after them in the morning and we will see what happens! I don't have much time in the morning- I have to be at work at 630 AM to do yard check but all my action this morning was between 5 and 530 so it is more than possible! I think I will shoot one of those jakes if I can get a chance and see one of their beards! Well, off to find something to eat and work out! Night