This spring gobbler season didn't exactly go as planned. We had hoped to not repeat our 2001 season, which ended with a long, full month of hunting and me passing on many jakes but not tagging a longbeard. Those 3:45 am wake ups sure get old!

I hunt each morning with a friend, Mike Marks, on several farms in the Washington-Allegheny County area near Pittsburgh PA. Mike shot a nice longbeard on the fourth day of the 2002 season, a day which unfortunately I had an early morning commitment and could not hunt. It was the start of a month long pursuit of another longbeard which was with the one that Mike killed.

It was a tough season in many ways. The weather was very cold and rainy, and after the first week, the gobblers were not gobbling all that much. We had little success drawing any gobbles to our prospecting calls. On the 11th day of the season we planned to get in tight on the roosting area of the longbeard. I must have turned off my alarm clock and fell back to sleep. I found out later that Mike had gone out to the setup and proceeded to call that bird in twice! Once right off the roost, then 20 minutes later with a group of a few hens and jakes. Mike didn't have a tag or gun, and simply let the birds walk. They never spooked so we thought we could repeat the setup another day.

We went back on the 15th day, and with Mike set up and calling for me the entire group came in 25 yards to our left, but only Mike saw them. I was 5 yards in front of where Mike was sitting, but some brush obscured my view and I saw only one hen.

On the 20th day of the season, and I am getting a bit tired of this middle of the night wake-ups, we go back to the setup and proceed to call that longbeard back in right off the roost and I somehow miss him at 27 yards. I think I kind of rushed my shot and jerked the trigger. Not a single feather was found and I was pretty depressed.

Mike thought we still could kill that bird, as we had his roost site, strutting zone, and morning travel pattern perfectly figured out. We went back after him on the 24th and second to the last day of the season. Mike's brother Tom was in town and joined us. Mike and Tom set up on the left edge of the roosting area just off a wide path that the birds like to travel. I went in a bit deeper and over to the right side. For safety, we agreed that I wouldn't shoot to the left, and Tom wouldn't shoot to the right.

Just as I was finding a tree to sit at, a loud gobble rang out directly in front of me about 60 yards away. It was only 5:20am and still quite dark. I smiled and started picturing a dead gobbler. As it started to get a bit lighter, there was gobbling from 4 birds directly below our set up. We were in perfect position and hadn't been detected coming in. I saw a bird pitch down from the left and land in front of me. Shortly afterwards there was the longbeard strutting with several hens right in front of me. I watched him for at least 5 minutes waiting for a good shot opportunity. I didn't want to repeat the miss I had earlier in the season. Finally he stepped clear and I pasted him at about 20 yards. Finally got him on the 5th time he had been called in this season.

Great hunt that I was able to share with Mike and his brother, and a good way to end our season. We were all happy that we could sleep in Saturday morning, the last day of the season!