Missouri turkey hunters...

GC

GC

Well-known member
Good luck in the morning! I have the week off and am dancing a little jig over the opportunity. My wife is going with me tomorrow, then dad is going the rest of the week. I am going to try out a new section of ground that has shown a lot of promise. But it is new to me and we'll see how it goes. Can't wait! Ya'll keep us up to date on how your Missouri gobbler chasin' is going! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Well I was on top of the ridge this morning at 4:45. Didn't hear anything until 5:46. When I got set up on these birds, I only called a few times, they were hammering back at me, but no go. I didn't want to call to much. Later in the morning I keep following this ridge. I think that I have left the Forts property and in National Forest. I follow a road that ends up having a cable across it that says private property, I'm thinking that it is bogus, but to be safe, I hop back in the woods and sit to take a break.

About that time I hear him. I decide instead of calling justa little bit, I'm going to let it loose. I am talking dirty to this guy, cutting yelping, I'm not stopping. He cuts the distance in half in about a minute. So I stop, knowing that he is coming in. But then I hear it, a dang truck! The tuck stops at the cable, gets out, and hits a call. Guess what, the bird gobbles. Well the guy grabs his stuff, runs down past the cable, get set up, and calls. The birds are gobbling back, but moving away, don't think he was talking dirty enough!.

I sat there the whole time, 50 yards below his truck, he never knew it. I didn't want to move for fear of him thinking I was a turkey.

What I did learn is, that you gotta give the birds what he wants, if he wants to cuddle, well cuddle him. If he wants it dirty you got to give it to him.

I'll be back after him tommorow!

GC, is there anyplace online to get National Forest maps, instead of having to order them and wait for them in the mail?
 
I arrived to my hunting spot at about a quarter till 6 and hit the owl call only to hear one gobble to my south about 200 yards on the neighbor. This is unusual do to the fact that i have never been down there and not heard atleast 5 birds sound off but i wasnt going to let it get my hopes down. After about an hour of calling i just happen to look to my east and see a black dot in the field about 300 yards away. I hit the call and immediatly the tom starts strutting but has a hen with him and wont gobble for anything. Once they get just under 100 yards i finally get him to gobble as the hen dissapears into a water way out in front of me. Sure enough the tom follows closely behind her and when they are both in the water way i get adjusted so i can take the shot when he comes out of the water way and wouldnt you know it the hen had already came out about 20 yards to the left where she went in and i hadnt relized it and as soon as i moved she must of spotted me cause she took off running back up the hill. 15 seconds later the tom pops out at the other end on her tail. Bummer. he strutted his way up the entire hill everytime i would call but never would answer me. I had two hens come into the field a little later on in the morning but decided to take a lunch break and headed back to the truck. I returned to my parents house at about 10:45 and was sat back down by 11:00 and had a hen clucking away behind me and when i looked i could of hit her with my gun if i wanted to. I began calling when she walked off and immediatly had a bird answer to my south just under 100 yards away and not long after two birds walk out with one of them strutting. I hit the mouth call to cut down on movement form using my slate call and it makes a hell of a screetching noise and the birds begin to leave. I cut one loose and the bird drops right there and begins to flop around in a little creek a gets completely wet which makes for crappy pictures but what can you do. The gun i used was my Remington 870 Express Super Mag shooting 3.5 Remington Nitro Turkey loads in a 5 shot. Not a very big bird but cant be to picky on opening day, never know if youll get another shot. 19 pounds and about a 4 inch beard. Now i cant wait until Monday so i can go back after another one.



 
Congrat's on your bird and good job working him. That pretty little girl looks mighty comfortable sitting there next to that wet, smelly, old bird. The turkey I mean, LOL... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Yeah i cant wait until she is old enough to go with me. Shes almost 3 now and ill probably wait until shes atleast 4 before i even begin to think about her going with me. She dont exactly know how to be quite. I know she is ready to go, fishing and hunting is all she talks about when we are at home. She absolutely loves to fish whenever she can. My kinda girl, would rather play with a fishing pole than a worthless barbie. LOL
 
Well, I have a hunting story. I finally got on a bird that was willing to work. Dad and I were hunting together in the Mark Twain National Forest. We got on this gobbler about a mile down one of these typical Ozark timbered razor back ridges. I put dad up ahead of me about 25 yards and off the side of the center of the ridge a little. I did the calling and worked on this old bird for about 40 minutes to get him in range. I finally got him within about 30 yards of dad. Just when the old gobbler broke strut and looked down the ridge at me I knew dad was going to bust him... ceptn' pop forgot to chamber a round in his shotgun that morning! Dad dropped the hammer on his Mossberg pump with a "snap" that had the ring of a hammer on an anvil. "Putt" "putt" and the old bird stretched his legs on back the way he'd come. Pop felt a little sheepish about his mistake, but you know what... I didn't. It was a great morning on a remote Ozark ridgetop that I'll remember for a long time! We'll try again... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Went out opening morning about 15 minutes before legal shooting time, shortly after there was 3 gobblers starting to gobble on the roost 85 yards away.. I thought this was gonna be easy... About 6 o'clock I had 4 hens fly down 40 yards in front of me and shortly after the gobblers flew down and worked there way to the hens and slightly away from me.. I kept at them until I heard 2 gobblers coming up the trail following about 5 hens 80 yards to my right and they were gobbling like crazy. When they got to about 65 yards someone unloaded on one and turkeys went everywhere.. Some fool had snuck into my little honey hole and sat up within 50 yards of me... I got to watch him pack a big ol gobbler out of my little honey hole..

I thought my day was finished so I got up and did a little mushroom hunting and scouting when I head another gobbler across the road and across a cornfield.. To make a long story short I called him across the field, across the road and when he saw Pretty Boy from about 35 yards in the brush he bugged out...

This ground is semi-public, you have to go thru the county to get permission to hunt it.. I guess I can't complain to much..

Went out yesterday morning and didn't hear a single gobble till almost 6:30am and only heard a couple more all morning.. I guess the storm that moved in about 7:45 had them all lockjawed..
 
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