3seasons

These birds have been and are whooping us. Between them and the volcano and the 8300-9000ft elevation we are worn out. They are hen’d up something bad so that adds to it too. But we’ve had a really good time. Got my second bird his morning before the sun peaked over the mountains. I have ruined a pair of keen hiking boots on this rock. It’s a gorgeous place to hunt but it’s tough. I’ll share my story after we get back home. Here are some pics One of the Good Lords ways of looking out for me, it was like a bridge

Congrats Al that’s a good way to start off the season.

You should make it happen.

Was blessed to take a beautiful bird on the Big Island of Hawaii at 8600’. Horrible weather followed us as usual (Nevada and Arizona should pay us to plan a trip out there) but we’re making the most of it. Visibility was maybe 25yds this morning on the volcano but I was able to pick out a nice bird and fill my first tag. 8.75” beard. .75” thick broken off spurs and 19lbs it was a hunt like I’ve never been on. Pretty cool. I’ll tell the story after I get back home.

Georgia finished her final leg of her Gand Slam this morning in Florida. I was a wild morning. We had 7 birds gobbling on the roost but they were deep in the woods on another property and went the other way when they hit the ground. We moved to another property and got on 2 more strutters and some Jakes but they didn't like the decoys at all. So we went to another 2000 acre track and got on a strutter and 20hens. We left him after a while of trying to compete with way to many hens and while waking down a lane on the edge of a one year old cutover we called and thought we heard a gobble way off. Shawn made a call just before waking around a bend in the road and then just dropped everything and told Georgia to get ready. There was two gobblers strutting coming to his call but they were silent and he caught a glimpse of ones fan through the briars. He told Georgia to get innclose and when he laid down kill him. Me and my Dad hit the bushes then Shawn and Georgia started crawling to the bend, he had a fan, and he just hits the dirt and the bird is literally 8ft away and bowed up coming at them. She rolls him and he wobbled around and she finished him off with another shot. Waaaayyyy to close lol. The Good Lord really blessed us with a great hunt. 9.5” beard 1.25” hooks 20lbs

Nice trip Al, good hunts for sure. Congrats

Awesome, best of luck to you. IF and that's a big if my work breaks free I may have to make a run up that way myself.

Will do that for sure, thanks.

Kansas

Our three NW Nebraska birds

Was looking forward to this hunt for a year after my daughter got her first bird last year in Oklahoma. She told me she wanted to do what I did and try to get birds in other states so I was more than happy to oblige. I told her as soon as she got out of school I would take her and my dad on a trip, were headed to Nebraska first. We stopped in south Nebraska to hunt some land Reid and myself had found last year. First morning we found ourselves skirting a big field and a deep creek. The sun was starting to brighten the surroundings and we needed to get set up so for the first time in a long long time I set out some decoys, one DSD jake and an Avain X hen. Well as we got back to the tree we wanted to set up against and as Georgia starts to sit down I look in the morning haze and tell her to grab her gun and just shoot him. It was a huge Nebraska gobbler with a rope running swinging from wing to wing closing the distance. At 14yds she rolled him as my dad any myself stood beside her. It was awesome. We high-fived and she slipped out to get her bird. We said a prayer and tried to get two other gobblers to play but they didn’t want any part of it. We headed to north western Nebraska to try for her Merriam. We found some birds right at dark and came up with a plan for the morning. Never would I our could I have dreamed of what the next morning was to hold for us. We got set up well before the sun thought about breaking the horizon in the area we had seen the birds the afternoon. Our set up was a huge cedar tree at the base of an oak tree. It was so thick that we couldn’t get against the base of the tree so I cut a hole out and wedged myself as far under it as I could get and Georgia sat with her back against my legs. My dad sat next to her. Neither of them had ever hunted for Merriam’s and I was hoping it would work out. As day broke we could hear birds in the distance but nothing close to us so we waited and after about 15 minutes a bird half gobbles and yelps right above us. Then it happened birds went nuts all on top of us we were literally sitting in their bedroom. No one said a thing but just sat still and quiet. I had my decoys out again at about 15yds. A gobbler and two hens pitch out and said about 75yds away and hit the ground looking back at the decoys then it sounded like a duck flush. There were birds pitching out all over us and two gobblers cupped up like a pair of mallards and almost landed on the decoys, it was unreal. Georgia ever so slowly raised her gun as the two gobblers strutted and pushed on the jake decoy. When she got her gun raised I told her to take her time and she rolled the bird on the right and my dad rolled the bird on the left just after she shot. We were all so happy and I started cutting hoping to get the other gobbler to come closer when another bird gobbled up the ridge we were on, so I laid into him with my calls. In less than 2 minutes he was looking at my dad’s dead bird when I hit him with the Lil 20ga. 3 generations of hunters and 3 birds down in the mountains of NW Nebraska. I wish I had videoed it but ill remember that hunt forever. We had a couple more days before she had to be home so I said let’s try Kansas. So we loaded up after taking some pics and headed South. We found some public land that had birds on it and scouted\hunted the first day. The second day we got on a lot of jakes that would run the gobblers off which worked to my favor. 5 jakes ran this bird into an alfalfa field and he just stood out there. We watched him and I told my dad and Georgia to make a stalk on him with the layout of the land. They got within 70yds of him and he saw something he didn’t like, he came my way and as I was making a move on him to cut him off he decided to make a change in directions back to where I had been sitting. I crawled and made a move but dint see him and I figured he had squatted down in the alfalfa. I pulled out a fan I had in vest and crawled up to the field edge. I looked and looked but couldn’t find him, finally I see a dot in the grass and I figure that’s him. I start cutting at him and he finally stood up and I rolled him. It wasn’t the hunt I had envisioned but it was fun none the less. That afternoon Georgia asked if she could pick a spot and scout some, heck yeah you can! She saw some birds and showed me on the map where she wanted to set up the next morning. My dad went to another sop and we set up where she wanted to. After seeing some birds she calls and they head our way. I told her to keep calling and to be ready. Then one bird breaks away and here he comes, it was the 5 jakes that ran by gobbler the morning before. She lets them get to 20yds and rolls one. It was her setup her calling and her bird 100% It was so awesome seeing her hunt and get it done by herself. She was so happy and shaking so bad. We met up at the truck and was getting ready to leave when she sees a bird waaaayyyy out in the cut corn field and tells my dad he should go try that one. He was right at 1/3mile away so my dad grabbed my lil 20ga and made a big loop on him and actually got to the edge of the field without him spooking. We watched through binoculars and waited for what seemed like forever then we see the bird start flopping then about 3-4seconds later we hear a faint boom. Now that was pretty dang cool. We don’t get to stalk or bushwhack birds much nor is our preferred method but in some cases it sure can be productive. Can’t ever thank the Good Lord enough for all he does and provides for us, but I’ll sure try. We packed up and headed home with a cooler full of meat and feathers. She asked me if she would ever get to try Florida, It’s her Christmas present this year. Were headed to Florida in March to hopefully finish her grand slam

MS season was a bust for me, 2nd time I've ever gotten skunked granted I worked midnights the entire season and that didn't help. But still never got on a bird. Had a lone gobbler I chased all year, never would gobble or respond to a call, I would just get pics of him and he drove me nuts. Me and Reid headed out on our annual trip this past year to Ohio with hopes of hitting PA WV and maybe NY but that got changed thanks to horrible weather and less than friendly locals. We scouted for a day and found some birds in Ohio for the opener and when we drove up the next morning the road looked like a parking lot. There were people everywhere so we kept moving to other spots until we finally found a spot that no one was hunting. We could hear a bird in the distance and after walking through the medieval briar patch the bird ended up being across a big finger of the lake we were hunting close to. No luck day one and we had to stop hunting at Noon. We scouted a new block of land we had found and it looked promising. Day 2 looked like a parking lot too. It was very similar to back home in Mississippi on the public land there. But that’s just part of it and it makes it more rewarding when you do harvest a bird. We set up and didn’t hear a bird all morning. So we started walking and looking. When we were driving out at 12:02 a big gobbler just walks out in front of us and looks at us as if he knew what time it was. Later that afternoon after we got some lunch we kept scouting finding some more birds. We are glassing some birds going to roost, from the truck, about 300yds away and a guy pulls up right behind us and gets out and starts cranking on a box call. The two gobblers ran the 100yd dash in about 5seconds flat. He shrugs his shoulders and drives by us as we aren’t even there. Day 3 we’re in the area the two gobblers ran hoping they would gobble a little for us, they got to gobbling and it was our best gobbling morning so far. We could hear 8 birds in all different directions so we felt like the other trucks we saw that morning would have birds close to them to chase. We get set up about 100yds away and have the birds cutting off our tree calls. We heard them fly down and then the woods went silent. We waited, expecting to see two gobblers slipping in on us instead we see two guys slipping in from behind us. They had walked past 3 other gobbling birds to get to the more fired up ones. They finally saw us and backed out only to make a loop and get in between us and the birds. We sat for a little while listening to the calling and gobbling and waiting on a shot but they ended up bumping them somehow. It sounded like a sure thing as hot as the gobbler was. A little disgusted we split up to cover more ground and I never heard a bird the rest of the morning. Reid had one close to him and as I was getting close to the truck a shot rang out, I was pumped that he got a shot only to find out someone had shot one off the bend in the road in the area he was walking. A huge storm was blowing in that afternoon so we scouted as much as we could and yes at 12:05 we had another gobbler step out and laugh at us. They just don’t realize were from Mississippi and out past, but what I woulda done back then isn’t what I do now so they lived to gobble another day. We actually roosted that bird in the absolute last place anyone would ever think to hunt. It was at a main road intersection and another heavily traveled road in a corner lot of woods maybe 2 acres with a power line running through it. Mind you there are 1000’s of acres of land around. Day 4 we get up to some bad weather and say what the heck we know where he is lets try him. As were pulling up we see a truck we hadn’t seen and its parked somewhat close to where we wanted to park. There are pull off on both sides on the road with trails on each. We don’t know which way he went so we parked up the road and walked in close to where we saw the gobbler last. He starts gobbling at the thunder and we make a move. I set up where I could see the tree he was roosted in and Reid made a loop to get on the other side, that way we had a good chance at one of us getting a shot. As the bird kept gobbling I kept trying to see Reid slipping through the woods then BOOOM flop flop limbs breaking and thud I see the bird hit the ground. I didn’t know how to react after seeing him get shot off the limb but when Reid stood up and walked the 3 steps to get his bird I Noticed it wasn’t Reid. Turns out (we stopped and talked to him at his truck after we got out of the woods) this was his first hunt and he just happened to have set up under this bird, he’s 40yds off the blacktop in the smallest cove of woods on the entire area. We asked him if he knew he was there and he said he had no idea just blind luck. We shook his hand and congratulated him and laughed at our luck. SOOOO now we go check out another area and find a bird strutting at a distance and decide to give him a try in the morning. Day 5 We are walking into the area we saw the bird strutting the afternoon before. Just as were getting close we hear someone call. Still haven’t figured out how they got there. They had to climb a mountain to get there or come in from the way we came in and we didn’t see any track in the dew covered grass. So we made the long walk back to the truck to go find another bird. We found some more gobbling birds just up the road. We crawled through the thickest nastiest hedge grown field I’ve ever tried to hunt only to find out they were as expected 6 super jakes blowing it out. They sounded so good we couldn’t help but mess with them. Then we hear someone else start calling after we had been there for about an hour. He had walked or crawled over a mile and half to get to where the birds were gobbling and he spooked the heck out of them shutting them up and running them right by us at about 15yds. I actually felt unsafe at that moment hoping we didn’t get shot by mistake because of the dense brush and hard gobbling birds. We were whipped so we headed to PA to give it a try for a few days to get a break. We had some worse luck there and I don’t really know how to put it other than the land we were set up and shown to hunt(Private land a guy I had been talking to for months had set us up (literally)) was very private and the land we thought we had permission to hunt we didn’t. He said he hunts it every year, I didn’t drive to PA to poach a turkey. SOOO we went out on our own and found some public land with birds but he weather got worse and we had a guy turkey hunting with an orange jacket and an orange seat cushion spook the birds we had seen so we just loaded up and headed back to Ohio. Day 6 Ohio Not knowing what to do we decided to go back to the last bird we had hunted where the guy climbed the mountain to get to him. He gobbled as we walked into the area. He finally started gobbling good as it broke light. It was overcast and he was gobbling good so we got as close as we could. I sat down maybe 80yds from him with a slight hill between us and Reid set up to call a little to my right. After about 5min of him hammering Reid gets up and slips out headed back to the truck, with a horrible headache, whispering good luck as he comes by me. (it had to be bad for him to leave a bird) With the way my season has gone I was in a bit of a conundrum, with the way my season had gone so far I doubted my every decision. I thought about it and said a prayer and then told myself that I’ve killed birds and to just do what I do. SO I laid into him and let him help me in deciding how I would play it. I called really aggressive and he ate it up. After a few minutes he hit the ground and was closing the distance. He got quiet and knew he had to be close. I catch movement in the corner of my eye and there he is at 12steps. I put my red dot on his head and my Ohio tag was filled. I said my prayer and headed back to the truck but Reid wasn’t there. I could hear a bird way off in the distance and I hoped he had heard him and was going that way. Turns out he tromped through a thicket over 1.5 miles only to get less than 100yds from the bird and a dang helicopter flies over him at tree top level shutting the bird down. Dang the luck. Day 7 We hunted for a while with no luck and more bad weather coming in so we packed up and headed South. It was tough but fun, and we will for sure be back to hunt in a little better weather.

Those are some awesome photos and some real good hunts. Huge congrats on some nice birds.

My work messed me up last year and its gonna really get me this year. Didn't get a chance to post my hunts from the past season because of work but I'll post them one of these days. This year I'm taking my daughter to Florida to hopefully finish her Grand Slam. We got 3/4 last year so she's pumped. Me and Reid are working on an Hawaii trip and imagine this, the wives are some how very interested in going with us on this trip go figure. haha with all they put up with, its a trip well deserved. Then home(MS) and any others I can hit before my work completely shuts me down.

Congrats Al nice bird. Can't wait to get out in the woods myself

It's right around the house right now Al. Good luck next week.

I got to go with my daughter,Georgia, and dad this morning and what a great morning it was. The Good Lord blessed us with clear sky's (thunder in the background had this bird gobbling) and a perfect hunt. Such a special morning getting to watch her grow up loving the outdoors as I do and to hunt with my dad who has had his hand in making a fine little hunter out of her.

Gotta brag a little. My 11year old daughter and my dad got it done this morning at 7:15 25yd shot with her Remington 20ga I built for her last year. 9 1/4" beard and 1 1/4" spurs.

This is the creek and hollow I called the birds across if you look close you can see Reid down in the bottom of the first pic. It was about 80yds across.

2016 NebraskaAfter the long week in Iowa we had to get back home for work the following week so we decided to make a quick hunt is Nebraska before we headed south.We woke up and drove over into Nebraska and stopped at an old sporting goods shop where we picked up a Nebraska atlas and talked for a while with the owner of the store. He pointed us to a couple spots. We checked his spots but ran into more people that we wanted to, some from Louisiana, so we headed in search of a less crowded piece of land. We drove for a while and found a spot that looked promising and as we got suited up I heard a bird gobble in the distance (2pm) We head out and find him on the adjoining property which was private. We set up about 50yds back on the public land and made a few calls and the bird would gobble but got farther away. He had a hen with him and she took him away. After he walked way off onto the private land we made a loop looking the public land over. Calling every now and then but never got a response. We crossed a small creek and kept walking and looking. We came up on a huge field and we glassed the field but didn’t see anything so we kept looking. We saw a small opening down in a block of woods below us so we walked down and checked it out. When we got to the small field we looked at each other and said we can kill a bird here. We make a few calls with no response so we continue walking working our way back towards the private land bird. After we fight our way across a small creek an owl hoots and a bird gobbles in the distance then he hoots again and the bird is closer. We take back across the creek slipping and sliding the whole way and when we make to the other side we have 50yds to make up to the field edge. The bird gobbles closer to the edge of the small field so we just ease down in the waist high grass 30yds from the field edge. I make a soft call and the bird answered me and steps out into the field edge and starts strutting at 97yds. Me and Reid start soft calling back and forth and the bird just struts and gobbles then he gets a tree in between me and him and he gets quiet. After a few min he pops out at 40yds walking the closer field edge from my right to left. I pick out an opening and decide when he walks into it I am going to stop him and take the shot, well I’m looking and waiting and nothing. Then I hear a stick pop and I cut my eyes 90deg to my left and there he is walking straight to me and he’s 15yds away. I think to myself this is not good, just stay calm and be smooth. In one motion I slowly swung around and when my red dot hit feathers I pulled the trigger. Reid laughed and said he didn’t see the bird until I made my move and that it was fast. I laughed and said I think I probably shot his beard smooth off. I did, there was a pile of beard under the bird but I didn’t care it was one awesome hunt.Nebraska Hybrid 22lbs 1”beard(9.5”-10”prior) 1” needle sharp daggers for spurs. We heard our private land bird gobble but never could get him to do anything before dark. Reid was trying to roost a bird on one side of the place and I jumped in the truck and ran to the other side where I met a local rancher and after we talked for a while he gave me permission to hunt his place. The next morning we found ourselves between 5 different gobblers but they only gobble a couple times each. As we made our move to get into position a bird gobbles close one time. We slip through a black locust infested fence row and when we get to the edge of it we can see the field that the birds are using. We decided to make a move and we didn’t get to the edge of the locust trees when Reid says shoot him if you can. I whisper I can’t see anything and I see him slowly shoulder his shotgun and then he shoots. I peak around him to see a bird flopping at 30yds. He was strutting and walking towards us I guess he could hear us in the grass and he was coming to check us out, it was a crazy quick hunt but we’ll take it and it was another fine birdNebraska Eastern 22lbs 9 1\2” beard with 1 1\8” spurs done before 6am The good Lord really blessed us on this trip, we loaded up and headed south.Till next years road trip. Sure was fun.

Iowa 2016Well after my last minute bird in Missouri we headed north to Iowa. Ive got a friend that has some farms leased and he had invited us up to hunt with him starting Monday afternoon. We put in for tags but were unsuccessful at drawing a tag so we bought a left over Muzzleloader tag. This was both of our first times trying turkey with a smoke pole and we had a couple friends loan us guns I used a TC Treehawk side hammer and Reid used a TC Encore. I love hunting with the old style muzzleloaders and the shotgun muzzleloader is no exception. The loading sequence is a little different but it sure shoots good.Sunday afternoon we stopped at a piece of public land that Reid found on the map while we drove across the state. We decided to check it out since we had the afternoon to hunt and the next morning. We heard a bird gobble off in the distance a couple times but thats all we would do on Sunday. Monday morning greeted us with horrible winds and rain so got a little extra sleep and then loaded up and headed east to my friends place. The forecast for the entire week was horrible but we are here and we are ready to hunt. We spent the first afternoon riding and looking at different farms , we saw a few birds scattered here and there so we had a game plan for the next morning.Tuesday morning was ok until daybreak and thats when the rain started. We never got out of the truck. We rode around looking at the farms and saw a loan gobbler in the back of one of the fields so we figured what the heck lets see what we can do. Well after trudging through the freshly planted field for 1000yds our feet weight about 20lbs each with all the mud, we eased down into a creek. The water was too deep for my boots but Reid could keep going so I told him to go ahead and id set up there in case the bird swapped directions. Well after about 20 min I hear his TC roar. I run around the corner to see a low lying haze of smoke left from the blackpowder and I see Reid walking back with a grim look on his face. I shot over him he says and just shook his head. We laughed it off and made our way back across the gumbo field to the truck.The weather finally broke for a little while and we went to look at a larger farm, one we could do some walking on. When we pulled up we could see a gobblers head just over the rise about 400yds away with our binoculars. We decided to make a loop and try to get a little closer to him. About half way to him Reid spots some birds just over the hill from us. We set up and call but nothing. We ease up to a tree top and watch the two gobblers with bears like horse tails walk away from 4 hens and head to roost down in a bottom. They could have cared less about a call or the hens, not good.We got in there early Wednesday morning expecting the two long beards to pitch out in the field that they had roosted on, no luck they pitched out behind their roost and walked and adjacent field edge off into the distance not worrying about a thing. As we gathered our decoys I spotted the lone gobbler from the day before walking in another field about 400yds away. We made a dash and got close to where we thought the bird would be and I made a soft call and he gobbles 100yds away. We sink to the ground and we can hear him drumming. He gobbles once more and then all quiet. After about 45min we move to see if we can see him and we do now hes 250yds away going the other way, we call and he looks and just takes off. Whats going on with these birds.We hunted all day Wednesday and I found myself where we saw the loan bird and Reid set up on a point of trees where we saw the birds in the field the day before. Well I see the loan bird walking towards the field where Reid is set up so I make a soft call and he looks but keeps walking I let him get out of sight and I get to the other side of the field that Reid is on. We are 250yds apart. I see the two big gobblers in the field just like clockwork and I see the loaner bird walk up then turn an walk off. As the two big gobblers go to roost they keep a hill between them and Reid and more trees between me and them.Well thats two days in a row so if we dont kill them Thursday morning we know what and where to be that afternoon.Thursday morning we set up where the birds had gone the day before. Well we hear a few birds gobble a couple times of coarse on is right by the truck. But nothing close, where did our two birds go? Finally about 45min after daybreak a gobbler gobbles to our left and hes getting closer. He flies the big creek and land 40yds from us and takes a look at the decoys turns and puts some distance between us. What in the world is going on with these birds they are acting like they are completely done. And the weather isnt helping at all. We hunt all day Thursday with no luck so that afternoon we built a blind where the two birds roosted the two days prior and we sat and waited. Well at 6:20 we see the loan gobbler crossing the field from left to right and he goes out of sight at around 200yds a few min later he comes back into sight and hes walking straight to us. Then we see the other two gobblers and they of coarse do something different today they walk off into the distance to the left. Well the loan bird comes to our left just 10yds outside of our max yardage corn stalk markers. And he taunts us for over an hour walking back and forth chasing bugs. Finally he makes it within our markers and Reid is able to take a shot and when the smoke clears we see a big Iowa gobbler flying off over the trees miss number 2 and he just hung his head in disbelief. We finally laughed it off and walked out. Iowa is stomping a mud hole in us.Well my buddy had to head back to MS Friday morning so we decided to get up around 3 and head back to that public land we had found earlier that week. We pull up just as the light is peeking over the horizon. We start into the wma and we hear a bird gobble in the distance. We look at our maps and take off in his direction. The woods are thick real thick. And we get in close to them but they are on another ridge. We sit down and let things settle down and after a few minutes I make a soft tree yelp on my madhatter pot call, two birds answer then a third. Finally after a week of hard hunting we are sitting down on some gobbling birds. I call with my pot call and mouth call and Reid answers with his mouth call. The two birds answering almost every time as they hit the ground and pace back and forth on the other ridge maybe 100-125yds away. This goes on for a while and I decide to get aggressive with them and after a few calls we hear wings flapping and on gobbler lands 20yds in front of Reid just like a duck in timber. I hear another set of wings and then see the bird from Reids side now walking in front on me, just as he was about to get out of sight I see another head pop up in front of me, the second gobbler, and I hear Reid say kill him so after I get my sights to line up I pull the trigger and when the smoke cleared I could see my Iowa gobbler flopping on the hill side. Reid never saw the other bird but couldnt get a shot at this one as he said he was a little apprehensive about shooting since his luck wasnt real good on the first two attempts and he didnt want me to pass up the shot waiting on the other bird.My First black powder gobbler in Iowa21.5lbs 9 3\4 beard with 1 1\8 spurs A big storm blew in after we made a huge loop on that wma so we sat it out in the hotel room after the storm passed it was 30mph winds and the temp was dropping fast. We decided to make a run and look at another wma in the area to see about hunting the next morning if the weather didnt get any better. As we looked I spotted a bird in a field and then Reid saw a bird strutting there too. This was perfect and as Reid suited up I told him to Get him. I couldnt see the field from where I was but after about 45min I was getting a little worried and then I hear a faint Boom in the distance. I wanted to run over the hill to look but I didnt want to mess him up if it wasnt him. Well after another 30min I see Reid emerge on the field edge and hes got a gobbler over his shoulder. I laughed so hard as he started telling me the story.The birds are working around the edge of the field and he's able to finally get in front on them on a point of trees with some tall grass. We he looks up the strutter is 20yds from him. As he steadies his shotgun the bird won't break strut so he settles in on the waddles and squeezes the trigger. When the smokes clears the bird is running straight away from him then lays down. He franticly starts to reload his muzzleloader and then the birds takes off for the woods. The chase is on, round and round they go until the birds wound overcomes him and he is done just as Reid catches up to him on the woods edge. Oh how I hate I missed seeing that from the hill side.Reid's black powder Iowa gobbler22lbs 10 beard with 1 1\4 spurs. Heck of a bird. Two birds on public land in one day with black powder. Good stuff. The good Lord really blessed us with two awesome birds.

MO added

Horrible weather and birds that were done for the season. 10 days 3100 miles traveled 52+ miles walked (6days of rain and mud) 7 birds and 3 states. We had a blast but we worked hard for them. I'd do it again starting now if my job would allow it. Missouri Decided to try out luck in Missouri and Iowa this year and go from there. We arrived in MO late May 4 in time to do some scouting and looking before dark. We found some good spots for the next morning but we didn’t hear or see any birds. We talked with a friend who also directed us to an out of the way, never woulda thought of spot to look at and it looked good also. We started off in the spot we had been directed to and we didn’t hear a bird that Thursday morning so we made a quick run to a large block of land and did some walking again not hearing anything after walking a few miles. We made a last ditch effort and ran to another spot a friend told me about only to find a lot of weekend kayakers and dogs running where we wanted to hunt. First day was a total bust so we loaded up and drove north hoping to find some more active birds. We found ourselves on a friend of a friends place that Thursday afternoon and we were able to roost a bird so Friday was looking better. We found ourselves wading through a swamp and some of the thickest woods I’ve ever attempted to hunt. It was crazy thick but we could hear birds in the distance. We tried setting up in the bottom but when we sat down Reid’s head was 6” below the grass so and where I was I could see about 2 feet so we made a quick move to a nearby ridge. We had one bird hung up about 200yds away gobbling like crazy but there was a huge creek and 200yds of thick woods to cross. We had two more behind us with the same obstacles to overcome and we had two way up the ridge we were on coming our way. We poured the calls to them and finally one bird broke off and we could tell he was getting close. We could hear him drumming and I could see Reid aiming and aiming and then nothing no more drumming. Reid looks over at me and said two minutes in either direction and I coulda shot but the right then at that exact moment the sun broke the horizon and totally had him blinded as he was looking for the bird that was standing at 25yds. He said he couldn’t even make the bird out it was so bright and as soon as the bird walked off the sun was high enough that he could now see again. I had a huge tree blocking me so I couldn’t see either. Just wasn’t that birds day. We let things settle down and make a loop, did I say the woods were thick, through the thick woods. As we broke off into an opening I made a call and heard nothing then Reid calls right behind me as two hens would do and a bird gobbles just out of eye sight so we both just melt to the ground. Reid can see the bird strutting to our left and then the bird breaks and runs down the hollow and up the next ridge and went back to strutting about 120yds away. It took about 40min before he finally got quiet and we gave him 20min more before we attempted to make a move. I eased up and while doing so I pulled out my strutting silhouette and as soon as I got to where we could see I see a huge red head looking back at me 120yds away. He was still there and he see me. He looks and looks then goes into a half strut and here he comes back to the other ridge he was on originally. When he hit an opening Reid sees a shot and takes it. Reid’s first MO bird down at 11:20 on the second day. 24lbs Double beard 10 3\4” and 7 1\4” with 1 5\16 spurs. Heck of a bird. We decided to give a friend of ours a call that we had met at work back during an outage in February, he had invited us up to hunt with him and we decided it would be fun to meet back up with him. We made a run from NE MO to NW MO that afternoon and got ready for the next morning’s hunt. Just before dark we saw a gobbler and a couple hens going to roost so there was some excitement for the next morning. Saturday morning was real nice but the birds just didn’t gobble much. We were able to finally find the gobbler we had seen go to roost in a planted corn field strutting with some hens. I set up to try my luck with him and Reid and our friend went to make a loop to see if they could find another bird somewhere else. After the bird I was on got ran off by two other gobblers and then those two birds got led off by the hens I decided to headed back to the truck. As I get back to the truck I hear a gunshot in the distance, I just smiled and said that dang Reid just got another one then another shot and I laughed and said oh no maybe not. We he had connected with a bird and had to finish it off with the second shot. I was pumped he had found a hot gobbler, he said they had tried to text me to come their way but we had no service at all so it never came through. I was happy he got a second bird but things were looking rough for me and I really didn’t want to eat a MO tag. 22lbs 10 1\4” beard with 1 1\16” spurs We had a decision to make for Sunday morning the last day of the MO season. Our buddy could only hunt till 9:30 so we had to decide either chance a short hunt or make a run back east to hunt where we hunted Friday. I made the decision to stay and give it a try. Fingers crossed. Sunday morning we set up where we thought the birds would be and they were there just 300yds behind us up the hill. Strutting with his hens. He works out of sight then the other two birds come and join him and then lock up in one corner of the field. After an hour with time passing fast we made a move and tried to circle them but the ditch was way too deep to cross so no luck there. We started back to the original spot and saw one of the gobblers walking that way so we rushed to the ditch row we had set up on. It was now 9 and I had 30min to make something happen. I slipped through the ditch and ease up the thick ditch row calling softly. I never heard or saw anything and I had gotten to the end, it was like the gobbler had vanished. I realized that my MO season was now over and I had a blast hunting but wasn’t able to connect and I was ok with that. Just before I started the walk back to the truck I decided to look at the grass berm that ran through the field that in hindsight we could have used to move on the birds. As I approached the berm the gobbler steps out at 25yds and I couldn’t believe my eyes. In one quick motion I swung my gun up and took the shot. Needless to say it was a true blessing from the good Lord for me to take that bird within the last minutes of my MO season. Not the way I had wanted to take him but I’ll sure take it. 22lbs 10” beard with 1 1\8” spurs. Iowa to come

Agree with AL on this one.