Rhino Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 Opening day in MO was mostly cloudy and ~55 or so. 2 buddies of mine are hunting together since one (our client and friend) has never turkey hunted. We're all a little late heading out. As I'm easing in to set up on the edge of a field, the gobblers commence their roost action. I hot foot it now the remaining 200 yards to where I'm setting up. Since it's a big MO field, out goes the DSD decoys...a jake, submissive hen, feeding hen, & alert hen. As I'm finishing the spread a bird is gobbling hard pretty close with another 5 or 6 around me but further away. I ease into position. A short time later the close bird touches down. I call he answers on the wrong side of a creek. A 2nd bird answers behind me. I cut & then follow it with a gobble of my own. Both birds respond. Bird across the creek moving away...bummer...bird behind me...closing in...cool. About 10 minutes goes by with him gobbling, me gobbling back at him and throwing in a little hen talk. Suddenly, a bearded hen with ~8" beard and 2 more hens ease in from behind me to my right. Then the strutting gobbler appears. He sees the jake and trots straight to him still in full strut...cool. I decide to let a Nitro load loose...but NO! Operator error! I failed to slam my breech closed on my Benelli SBE II so all I get back from the trigger pull is a click. Birds are too close to do anything...their move now. The gobbler proceeds to attack my jake decoy...viciously!!! He jumps up on top of it sending it over on it's side. The gobbler has to go through some wing slapping for balance. My break...I jack out the shell slam home another. The hens start easing off but the gobbler is intent on whipping my jake decoy. He's now pecking the you know what out of it and appears to be beating it up with his wings too. Great show but I really only have a body shot. After finishing that open can of whip tail on my decoy he raises his head. Now a Nitro load knocks him off my decoy. 3/4" spurs & 10 1/8" beard. Now it's almost 7:00...yep...still early. I call my buddies and they are hearing gobblers but only a couple of hens in view on the field they're set on. 20 minutes later I'm notified they have 3 gobblers coming in. I stop my EV and listen. Maybe a minute later they take 2 down. We talk again. My buddy and our client each bag one. The unbelievable thing is...both of their birds have multiple beards. One carries 4 beards, all lengthy and nice with 3/4" or better spurs. The other carries 6 beards but 3 are fairly thin & unfortunately didn't show up in the pic. His spurs were a little over an inch. The field they were hunting just earned a new name...10 Beards. By 7:30 we're all done for the 1st week of the MO season. Can't shoot our 2nd birds until after the 1st week's over. I'll be back...soon! Here we are with our birds...me, our buddy John, and my best friend Ernie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetailfreak55 Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 Nice job Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 CONGRATS guys ,, those are some awesome birds ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 1st Round in MO...UNBELIEVABLE!!! Wow yeah those are some stellar birds!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 Great story and congrats to all 3 for you. Nice birds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 Good pic and story Al. Very cool on those multiple bearded birds. Congratulations to all of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenjackson Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 cheers guys, exciting day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 1st Round in MO...UNBELIEVABLE!!! BTW that 6 bearded bird might just be a state record of even better Al. I'd really get that looked at and scored. I know it's minimum book worthy..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHISKEYSWAMP Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 very nice birds!!! congrats to all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointing_dogs_rule Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 Great hunt.. congrats!!! good luck to all the dog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 You just got a nickname..Rhino 10 Beards Wow, only thing that could top that is a White Phase bird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted April 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 BTW that 6 bearded bird might just be a state record of even better Al. I'd really get that looked at and scored. I know it's minimum book worthy..... I've never been big on considering scoring turkeys but it is something to consider for that bird. He's in the freezer frozen whole to go to the taxidermist. I haven't measured the length on that bird's 6 beards yet. I did on the other 2. We may have to think about it. I already cleaned the other 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 seriously, get that bird measured and entered! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan Givan Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 Congrats to all on those great birds. Multiple beards on a bird is rare, but killing two in the same morning is just crazy. It sounds like a great show watching your bird smack around that jake decoy. I love using my pretty boy decoy, and watching toms fight it. Makes for a very exciting hunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 yup sounds like a good spot... a multi bearded double is crazy. congrats and good luck next trip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohiobucks Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 Awesome All, good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archerjg Posted April 19, 2013 Report Share Posted April 19, 2013 Congratulations to all of you on great birds. Archerjg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3seasons Posted April 20, 2013 Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Doesn't get much better than that Al, huge congrats to you and your friends on some fine MO birds. Sounds like you got to watch a heck of a show while reloading that dang Benelli, LOL. I've heard of that happening to many times with them. I can promise you this, if someone has never had it happen to them, its the loudest click you'll ever hear. And you go from the highest high to the lowest low and stresed out in a millisecond. Its a hard thing to do in the turkey woods but drop that bolt at least an inch if shooting an auto loader. It's awesome that you were able to get another round loaded. Goes to show the DSD was working like a charm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted April 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2013 Thanks everyone! Yep Scott it was a heck of a show. BTW...accused a young hunter I took hunting of jinxing my shotgun. He was using my shotgun while I was the guide & it did the same thing to him for the same reason. In his case though he couldn't resist the urge to ease the breech back to double check it was loaded then ease it back shut. That was the 1st time it's ever done it to me & I thought I'd slammed it shut when I started walking in. Oh well...all well that ends well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper Posted April 21, 2013 Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 Congrats...some dandy birds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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