Success in Missouri...Double beard

Rhino

By Rhino
in Turkey Hunting

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Rhino Monster Buck

Rhino

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Needless to say after my son bagged a nice gobbler with me this past Saturday I had high hopes for Missouri. That is until we woke up opening morning to overcast skys and high winds. Opening day was a bust with my buddy and I trying to set up & double team birds by seeing them & moving in. Way too windy to hear anything. Got sort of close once but not near close enough.

Next day we split up with him having 1st choice. He takes the west side of his new property & I take the east side. What a difference a day makes! I'm hearing about 8 or 9 different birds gobbling. I choose to go toward where it sounds like 4 are gobbling. Turned out to be 5. As I'm easing in, I hear a bird gobble at ground level not far away heading toward a long, fairly narrow field. I cross a creek and crawl up toward the field to find a hen feeding in it. She must flown down there right off the roost. After some slow tricky movements I'm set up just off the edge. Since the birds we'd hunted yesterday were so henned up and wouldn't answer hen calls I break out the gobble call and answer a bird on the ground about 300 yards NE of me. He answers! Within a few minutes here he comes from the far N end of the field. Unfortunately he passes by somewhere around the 75 yard line. Dang. I try soft hen talk...no response. Dang! He eases to the far south end of the field and out. Break out the gobble call again and gobble a few times. About 10 minutes later here comes a hen & a jake. They stop to pick bugs around the 100 yard line. No problem...I wasn't going to shoot him anyway but at least I have something to watch to pass the time. They ease back toward the north picking bugs.

About 30 minutes passes when 2 birds gobble to the NW on a ridge. I gobble back, they answer. In business! I wait a minute and gobble again. They gobble closer. Yep in business now! They gobble on their own just across the creek from the field. I gobble back...no answer. Moments later 3 gobblers are making their way toward the jake & hen. They move back to the 100 yard line again. The 3 gobblers approach & run the jake away. Now 2 birds start strutting near the 100 yard line. The 3rd bird never struts. OK, my focus is on trying to take one of the strutters. Yep getting greedy! The marathon hunt begins. They hung up within 10 yards of the same spot for ~2 1/2 hours. Here's a pic I took of them with my iPhone at that spot.

Turkey_hunt_4_17_12.jpg

This plan's beginning to look like it's going south. With birds that close can't risk gobbling. Hen talk didn't work either. I tried. They're too busy dancing for the hen in hand. About 1 1/2 hours into this a gobbler & 2 jakes come in to join them. Didn't take long for them to get the message they weren't welcome. The boss gobbler (the one strutting the most) charged the new upstart gobbler. He went S in a hurry. His jake buddies were given the message by all 3 of them. The 3rd bird in the group of gobblers makes the mistake of getting too close to the hen. The boss bird goes into fighting mode spurring him away from her. Pecking order adjustment. Now I really want that boss bird. Very cool show to watch. With the pecking order adjustment he trio has moved to about the 80 yard line. Actually the non-strutter was near the 40 but remember...I've gotten greedy. Did I say I wanted the boss bird! About 5 minutes passes & they move back to the 100 again. Dang...give me a break. A little less than an hour later I hear loud yelping across the creek. Moments later 6 jakes appear and they are headed on a string to the trio of gobblers with the hen. They pass by at ~35 yards N of me. OK buddies shake up the group! Boy did they! All 3 gobblers are busy chasing jakes around that just can't seem to get the message. The loose jakes actually push the hen closer to me before a gobbler is on their tail. Finally all the jakes get the message and gather up on the far side of the gobbler trio with the hen that's now pecking along toward me. Atta girl!!! She gets to about what I thought was the 40 yard line with the 2 strutters just on the other side of her then turns to feed the other way. Now or never...dang no clear shot without killing more than one. A few seconds pass and the boss bird is singled out head up. NOW it's now or never...load of Nitro's released slamming the boss bird to the ground. The others now act like they don't know what the heck just happened! They just stand there. I look at my watch...10:05. I stand up...take an WAY overdue relief break & the birds all scatter when I step into the field. When I reach my gobbler I realize he has a short 2nd beard...1 3/16" long. His thick main beard is 10 3/8". Spurs are 1 1/4" & 1 3/16". I step it off...52 steps are you kidding me! Well that's why I shoot Nitro loads...when I make yardage mistakes they cover me. I get my 1st education on how big and heavy these northern Missouri mature birds are! Good grief...I have to sling this sucker over my shoulder cross a creek and tote him up that ridge. Dang...didn't know I needed my deer drag rope. These birds are huge! Heck...I might think twice next time about beeing greedy for the boss bird. I'm headed back for the 3rd week. Bet I forget!

Turkey_kill_2_4_17_12_R.jpg

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