Well went out this weekend with my dad and a few others. I got up to camp on friday night and was itching to get out on Saturday. Got out saturday morning on a long hike to my dad's honey hole only to hear nothing! My dad had taken his bird the previous day down in the same canyon. He shot a nice big mature tom. That afternoon at about 12:30 i went to this field i had hunted before and made my set. I had been sitting there until about 4:45 pm and i decided i would doze off a little bit. Just about the time i started to get comfy i heard a bird...and it was scratching up the ground less than 2 feet from me! i looked out and there was a hen straight out in front of me that i never saw walk out. Well i was watching her when two shots sounded off in the same field i was in. Before the hen got out of my shooting lane i decided to check and make sure she didnt have a beard..turns out she did. So i had to hurry the shot, but i got her. My bird was down. I have killed a lot of turkeys, but never shot a bearded hen, so i was completely thrilled. She sported a nice 7 inch beard. That was the second bearded hen we took out of our camp this year. We ended up with 2 toms and 2 bearded hens out of 6 people. Not bad for a 5 day hunt. I have been hunting with my dad since i could walk, and it never ever gets old. Every minute i spend ion the woods with him i learn something new, and we have a good time no matter what. Here's my dad and i with our birds.
*and my birds head is only red because of the blood. note the size difference between the hen and tom!! click the top picture and it will zoom so you can see the beard on my hen. Its on the right side of her if your looking at the pic
