A favor returned

Y'all might remember a lil' huntin' trip I made to Wyoming a few years back. Uncle Bill and I had the good fortune to get to hunt with one of the best guides Bear Track Outfitters has to offer. TJ put us on some fantastic trophies and was just a pleasure to hunt with all 'round.

Well, durin' that trip, Ron and I finally managed to talk the owners into comin' out and joinin' us for a Pennsylvania spring turkey hunt. Owners Pete and Carey and guides TJ and Scrawny made the trip last year. While a great time was had by all, we didn't put a shellackin' on them dirty birds. Regardless, they had a damn good time, and decided that they needed to do it again this year.

When the crew arrived at camp last Thursday evenin', Joe and Tater had a few jakes from that afternoon waitin' for 'em. The weekend was already off to a good start.

 
After the excitement died down a bit, we figgered out a game plan, then got ready to hit the woods bright n' early the next mornin'. I had the pleasure of guidin' TJ, and was hopin' to be able to return the favor for him gettin' me and Bill on our Western trophies.

Boy, did I ever.

After listenin' to the birds gobblin' after they hit the ground, I quickly decided to ditch our initial set up and sneak into a strut zone in the middle of the woods. After gettin' busted in there last year, Matt and I constructed a little stick blind over the winter, so that's where TJ and I wound up. Sure enough, within a half hour, TJ was tyin' a tag on one helluva longbeard. In all the years we've been pilin' up turkeys at the Full Strut, TJ did somethin' in his third turkey hunt that we'd never done; whack a bird with multiple beards.

18lbs, 2oz. in front of me and Matt's stick blind.

Five beards totallin' 28-1/8".

7/8" and 1" spurs.

The bird wasn't exceptionally old or heavy, but the five beards totaled up 28-1/8". With a total score of around 93ish, the bird should easily score in PA's top 25 atypical gobblers.

Not to be outdone, Matt put the hammer on one first thing the next mornin'. Poor ol' bird hadn't even stretched his legs out after flyin' down before he got a heavy dose of brain damage.

18.5lbs, 8-5/8" beard, 1" spurs

They sure are purty.

 All things considered, it was one helluva weekend. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get the rest of the Bear Track crew on more birds, but the huntin' was good and so were the stories. We all ate way too much damn good food and drank way too much of Matt's Apple Pie shine. Ron was, as always, a fantastic host, and Pete, Carey, TJ and Ben were great guests. The birds were dyin' and the bullshit was flyin'. Ain't no better way to spend a weekend.