New Yorks Season

[steelheadr]

Hunted 22 days. Lots of rain and drying clothes. passed on 12 jakes total. On 5/8 in the fog a long beard comes in.  I shoot and he's down.  I go over and my first impression is he's small but a full fan.  I turn him over and his beard is only 6 1/4".  No spurs. Not hen.  I weigh him and he's only 11#.  16 tail feathers instead of the usual 18. In the fog his beard looked bigger on a small bird.  Weird bird.  The last day I had a true longbeard zeroed in.  Twice I bumped him on the same strut zone.  With two strikes against me I didn't strike out.  I got him the third time there with only an hour to go in the season.  Nice bird with 1 1/4" spurs