I know its a strange or perhaps a different title but stick with me here. A lot of my turkey hunting buddies know that when we hear of someone talking about a big bird they are many times referring to the weight or beard length.
Although, for most of us the true tell tell sign of a monarch bird is the length of the spur.
So whenever we hear of that 11" beard or that 25lb bird we say, "Yah but what kind of jewelry was he wearing?". I bring this up because my girlfriend, who has killed 3 nice gobblers in the last 3 years, knows what our turkey hunting brethren is referring to when we talk jewelry.
Well this year I had a very limited amount of time to hunt until late in the season due to work schedule. I filled my 2nd season tag and then Jena was up to bat 3rd season just like usual. This year I had plans to throw her a curve ball though as I wanted to propose to her in a unique way when she killed her bird.
It started months in advance talking and texting with my good friend Steve Lumma, asking him if he would build a custom engagement ring. Most everyone here knows of the talent Steve has been gifted with being a craftsman in the field of Jewelry design and call making as well.
It seemed like a lot of pressure was on me for this to all work out the way I planned but it did. Steve delivered the ring to me the week before the hunt.
I captured the two big Toms that I called in for Jena on video through the iPhone and although jerky it was still cool.
Moving along when Jena shot her bird I told her to stay put and I would retrieve it. Once I got to her bird and rolled him over I couldn't believe my eyes as I had already seen the double beard as she was getting ready to pull the trigger but the JEWELRY/Spurs on this bird were awesome! 1-1/2" & 1-9/16" daggers for spurs!
I hurried up and slipped the ring out of my pocket and tied it over the spur with a rubber coated tie. I said "Hey Jena you have to come out here and look at the jewelry on this sucker!"
The bird sported a 11" & 8-3/4" beards
25lbs 8ozs
1-1/2" & 1-9/16" Dagger Spurs
The season could have ended with this hunt and I would have still been the happiest hunter out there as I have a lot of things to get done around the house before we move forward. With this being said my future wife still encouraged me to go ahead and take the last week of season for TN and go.
Things like this is the reason I asked this gal to Marry me :-)
Sorry if I bored anyone with details but it's definitely a season I will never forget.
Here are some pictures from the season, no specific order but birds I killed or called in for friends as well along with a few random shots of nature also.
I really like running different calls throughout my hunts and this year the nod went to the following call makers.
Trumpets - Herb Hornstra, Frank Cox, Matt McClain
Box - Richard Hudson, Frank Kruer III
Pot calls - Paul Platz Glass & Aluminum
Strikers - Paul Platz, Neal Herman
Mouth Calls - Randy Panek - Strike Zone & Steve Kinder
Never even seen this birds beard as he was working over the rise towards me. I seen the full fan and that is all I needed to tell me to pull the trigger when his head popped up. Looks like beard rot to me but the spurs (jewelry) lets him easily hang on a limb.
