nontypical tom

[catskillkid]

    I thought you guys would like to see a bird that we shot a couple of years ago in Orange County, NY.

    My buddy had been wanting a mature tom to get mounted for his den. After many hunts over 4 years with him we shot a few good birds but nothing outstanding that he wanted to add to his trophy room. One eventful morning I was calling for him, we set up in an overgrown/brushy pasture where we had many great hunts in the past.

    After a quiet sunrise we heard a few gobbles coming to the Old Boss Hen mouth call. A couple of cackles sealed the deal and the toms were on their way to us!

    Three long bearded toms appeared from behind a brush pile about 20 yards away. Unfortunatly the birds came from my left hand side and my friend was sitting next to me on my right. I had to lay on my back for him to get the shot. At the shot, it looked like the bird was hit but the tom flew up and sailed about 20 feet above us and was gone. As it flew I could see that it had 2 beards dangling from it's chest and I yelled at him that he just lost the trophy that we were looking for over all these years.

    Hoping that we might find the bird, we started looking for him, following his flight path. Another friend that was with us happened upon him. I yelled over to him "does it have 2 beards"? He yelled back "no 3 beards"! There was alot of hooping / hollering and back slapping.

beard #1 was 8.5"

beard #2 was 8"

beard #3 was 4.5"

spurs were .5"

weight 21 lbs.

[jusputtn]

Nice. 

[Robinson446]

thats awesome!  ;D

[Forest Hunter]

Man I don't know why but I think non typical game is the best. If I had a chance at a irregular antlered deer, a albino game animal or a Tom like that id take it as soon as I could.

[nyantler]

What a great bird!!