The birds have been very quiet the past few days. I have spoken to many people hunting the lower eastern shore of Maryland and everyone had been struggling. I set up near a roost site on Saturday morning only to be met with silence. Not even a crow. I decided to stick it out and call sporadically but that didn't pay off either. Mid-morning I decided to check some areas and to my surprise I find a group of birds several hundred yards away. The only bird that would respond was a hen that was feeding away from the group. She would yelp back and forth until about 15 minutes she would finally walk in. It was great to see her walking in with multiple other hens, jakes and this lonely strutter being the last bird in tow. 35 yards out and a few minutes later he was mine. The best part was as I walked up to him, I noticed he was banded. Awesome trophy!
I checked the band in this morning and learned he was banded in February of 2024 making him 2 years old. He was banded a mile and a quarter from where he was killed. Trophy of a lifetime!
