I shot this guy at around 7500'-8000'.  There are bighorn sheep that live where he was!  It was a really tough hunt.  I am going back up to take more pic's of the area today and then I will post a story.  
 

congrats , nice bird :0)

   

ConGrats... Nice looking Tom you got...

Dandy bird!

way to go Im going to try to get the tail end of the season a few more weeks till my 6 months are up

Congrats on a fine bird and job well done,

Robert

Congratulations My Brother!!!!!

He sure is a handsome bird!!!!!

Congrats. Lookin forward to the story.

Very nice, congrats.

Congrats!
    What an accomplishment! I believe you have just successfully taken  one of the toughest animals to kill with traditional equipment. I know how tough it is to take one of these mountain Toms, Awesome stuff! Cannot wait until you post your story. God Bless, T

makes me short of breath just thinking about chasing birds at that elevation. Good job, pretty bird, looking forward to the tale

Dang!  Everybody's gettin birds and I can't even get out till this coming Saturday.

Nice job!

Lee  

Ho, yeah !!

Congrats on such a fine specimen.  :cool:

Well The season started April 8th here. I had drawn a limited entry unit tag and was pretty hopefull about the season.  Two weeks into the season I was getting a little down in the mouth.  All the birds I had found were holed up tight on private ground and NO ONE would allow me to hunt their land.  The only access to the closest public ground to the turkey was a steep rugged climb over a low ridge and into the valley beyond.  It is the "little" peak in the middle of the pic.
I had to climb from the houses in the lower left over the top down the other side and back out again......and never got closer than a quarter mile from a turkey. It was exhausting.

I knew of another spot, but the BLM had the gate closed on the road and it was more of a walk than I could talk myself into.  I went in and pestered the BLM about the gate and they said they were planning to open it the following week. I again had some hope of getting into some birds!
I checked the gate every day on the way home from work for the next three days, and every time found the gate still locked tight.  Thursday evening found me driving up the road already set to see a locked gate again. When I rounded the corner and saw the gate open I was STOKED!  I drove the upper parking lot changed into my huntin' clothes and started to where I thought I might find a Tom.  I cover a fair amount of ground in the steep terrain and was getting a little frustrated at the lack of sign.  I decided to find a high spot and do some glassing.  I had only been looking through the bino for about 30 seconds before I saw him!  He was right smack in the middle of the old Quarry road about a half mile away, just struttin' up a storm.

I watched his royal majesty for a little bit trying to see if he had any company.  He looked to be alone.  So I moved into some cover and called. He boomed back at me.  About this time a hiker came walking up the upper road above him and spooked him!  He ran down into the brush below.
I figured me best chance of calling him in now was to quietly move down onto the road and move to a flatter more accessible spot. After I set up again, I gave a few soft calls. He answered right away, but had moved past me and was headed to where I had originally called to him from.  I figured I could turn him around and kept calling.  Well the stubborn son-of-a-gun just kept movin' away.
So I quietly moved back around the mountain and set-up again.  I called softly....nothin'.  A few minutes later I called sofly....nothin.  Well I called a little more and the same thing NOTHIN'!
I knew the area was steeper than normal so I guessed he was takin' his time and stayed for about 20 more minutes with no responses of any kind.  It was getting dark and I figured I had spooked him so I decided to sneak up the road a little further just to see if I could get him talk to me.  I cut real hard on the call and about choked on the diapram when he gobble about 30 yards down the hill!  I dropped to the ground and scooted into the bank, thinking this was not the prime set-up we all know we need for calling in turkeys.  I could hear him dragging his feather up the mountain to my right. I stayed as still as possible wondering how I could make this work. The only chance was if he circled up the hill to my right, then I would be hidden somewhat by the bank.
amazingly that is what he did! As I started to draw he saw me and turn to go straight away.  It was to late though as the arrow entered just right of center of the fan and went right up into the vitals. I shot him where the sun meets the shadows just below the stump in the middle of the photo.

I was PUMPED! For about 5 seconds....He rolled a few times and then to my horror found his feet and flew straight out into the canyon...I was sure never to be seen again!  I ran to a better vantage point and searched franticly for any sign of him.  Some movement caught my eye as I search the canyon and I was dumbfounded at the sight of the bird rolling down the canyon wall into the brush.
   
At least I knew where he was now, but getting to him was going to be a chore, not to mention getting him out from there. I decided to make my way carefully down to the Tom and then instead of trying to climb back to the truck in the dark, through the cliffs    
I would head for the highway below and walk back to my Grandparents house. I could go into details of the frightening walk out but this has been drug out enough. I only had one hard fall and made it out to hunt another day! Sorry for the wordy post, but I didn't know how else to tell it!  Thanks for listening.

Congrats...that's a great bird and story!! Well deserved