Rhino Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 (edited) We woke up to what I consider horrible weather conditions for an opening day turkey hunt in Missouri. After my buddy Ernie woke up and checked the weather he said "I don't know if I'm going out in this!". My response...I'm up now so I'm going. It's in the mid 20's, a 20 mph NW wind (gust up to 30), and overcast with snow flurries. Not my kind of spring weather. I told Ernie our best bet was to hunt a protected area. He made his choice of one close to the house. I decided to go to a long, narrow field in a bottom that has high ridges on both sides. As dawn begins to break, the 1st sound of turkeys is a couple of hens yelping roosted over a creek on the W side of the field, maybe 60 yards away. The 1st bird I hear gobble is N of me. With the high wind I guessed ~250 yards. Another bird gobbles to the NW up in the ridges ~200 yards away. A bird finally gobbles once on the ridge behind the hens. You can guess where the hens went. Another distant bird gobbled to the W too far to calculate distance up wind of me. I dish out my 1st call yelping like the hens that were roosted close to me...no answer. After a minute or so the bird to the N gobbles on the ground. I wait a bit and call again...no answer. Another couple of minutes and the N bird gobbles again in about the same spot. Shortly after that, I hear Ernie shoot...twice (he's way up wind of me). I'm thinking...that's not good. I wait a few more minutes and call a third time. Again no answer but after a couple of minutes the N bird gobbles a little closer. Same thing...waited several minutes and made my last call...no answer. He never gobbled again. About 10 minutes pass when I catch movement to my right through brush...here he comes in full strut. He eases in to whip up on my jake decoy. When he finally raised his head, I knocked him to the ground right there with a Nitro load at ~25 yards. To my surprise he's a 4 bearded 2 year old gobbler. My 1st 4 beard! He's got to be a record for the smallest NT 4 beard bird though. His beards are 8.5", 7/8", 1.5", and 3/8" and he didn't have any spurs at all! That's a 1st for me too. I didn't even notice the 4th beard until I was cleaning him. Ernie's gobbler has a 9 5/8" beard and 3/4" spurs. Please excuse the field pic, I was cold and ready to warm up. I didn't go prepared for that kind of weather. Edited April 20, 2018 by Rhino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 Poor weather and you guys did ok...better than sippin coffee back at the shack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted April 22, 2018 Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 (edited) Amazing you both got birds on that hold out day from last winter. Four beards is truly a trophy bird. Congratulations Al. Edited April 22, 2018 by fly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strut10 Posted April 22, 2018 Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 Way to play the hand you're dealt !!! CONGRATS on a fine pair, fellers !!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted April 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 Thanks...fingers crossed we have spring type weather when I return for my 2nd bird Thursday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3seasons Posted May 1, 2018 Report Share Posted May 1, 2018 Heck yeah good job Al. Congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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