Scored on my first of the year.

[benhuntin]

Just when I was beginning to think mother nature had the upper hand this year, I snuck one in.
Shot a 18.5 lber on Tuesday. 9 inch beard and 1 1/4 in.
spurs. I was on the St. Marks Refuge Quota hunt Tuesday thru Saturday.
I had roosted this one the evening before and waited until complete dark to build me a makeshift palmetto blind within 75 yards of the bird. I slipped in about an
hour before daylight and waited. As it started getting light I did a soft tree yelp and got an immediate gobble.
Now i just waited until flydown. And waited, and waited,
and waited, and .......finally at 8:15 he decided to come down. I saw him land about 60 yards from me. I did 3 soft yelps and some soft clucks. He never answered.
But I saw him coming. He swung to my left in some taller grass and I could barely see the top of his head.
He worked his way to within 30 yards but I couldnt see him. Next thing I know is hes headed back the way he came. I clucked a couple of times and purred and he turned around and came back. This time he swung in front of me at about 45 yards where I could see him.
he started strutting back and forth for about 20 seconds. I was hoping to get him a little closer but I knew it was now or never. I dropped him.
I'll post some pics as soon as they get developed. ( Yea, I know, I need to get me one of those digital cameras.)

[deerslayer11]

Congrats.
BTW, my first digi was like 50 bucks from best buy...also works as a web cam.

[hunt4fun1]

Good bird ben.....

Get us a pic if you can.

[flhuntress]

very cool...congrats bigtime.
can't wait to see pics.

[NitroHunter]

Congrats. we'll be waiting on the pics.

[chris]

congrats on the bird

[flhuntress]

if i scored it right it came to 60.5...very nice!!

[Bucktales]

Congrats, sounds like a nice bird. Cant wait to see the pics.