Strut Stopper StoryThread

[bornagain64]

Congrats to you both. Great story and like you said memories.
Someday he will be taking you hunting. Lol.

[dzsmith]

I am having trouble finding when the contest ends. We are currently in 5th place. The top three teams are already above 300 points. That makes me think most of them are possibly done scoring birds. If we have enough people who have yet to score a bird, I think we may have a shot at winning this thing.

When does the contest end?
I should have bumped my first bird with the florida bird, but once he was bagged up he went straight to the taxidermist. I didn't think about the OG until it was too late. But like you said theres enough people who haven't scored yet to change the tide. good luck to everyone. I still got Missouri tags to fill in a couple weeks so hopefully I will be able to bump a bird

[birdman67]

Congrats!!!

[Jroddc]

 Congrats!

[turkey harvester]

Way to go!!! Well Monday was and wasn't a bust for me. It was freakin stormin, lightning, thunder, the whole nine yards. But it was opening morning, lol. So me and the wife head to a spot I acquired Sunday afternoon. My other spot didn't  work out. Went in blind and had 1 gobble right at daylight. That's bout the time the rain started. We got within 80 yards of him while he was still on limb. put out my full strutter and a hen decoy. Rain got harder and the birds shut up but I knew they weren't far. Seen a white head on the edge of a field we cant hunt and he slowly disappeared. Kept scanning the field edge and looked back to decoy spread and we have an extra fan in the mix. We had 1 come in silent and was fixin to whoop my strutter. My wife cant see his head, I can see the whole show. He finally turns and makes a couple steps to our right and now she sees him, but hes still in strut. I see another fan behind the decoy so we have 2 out there. She says what do I do? I said kill the first one you want. She couldn't stand it no more and rolled him at 25 yards with her 20. I love it when a plan comes together. We hunted the rest of the morning, but no more birds wanted to play. I was good with that cause I was thrilled she got one.  20lbs, 9 1/2" beard and 1' spur, other broke off. 

[birdman67]

Congrats to her! Sounds like y'all earned that bird!

[bornagain64]

Nice job. Congrats to both.
You guys toughed it out, and got it done. I know sometimes we do not care what the weather is, especially opening weekend, but props to your wife.
My wife would have stayed in bed or at least in the truck. Lol

[deerbasshunter3]

Well, I finally did it! I finally called in and shot my first public land bird. I heard him gobble down by a creek, which was about 200 yards, parallel, off the road that I was on. I setup on a tree, about 40 yards into the thin pines on my side of the road. I let out a few soft yelps on my pot call, and he gobbled again. Now, between the road and the creek, the land had been cleared, and the trees were stacked, like a wall, with an opening about every 100 yards. I decided to move over to a tree closer to a thicker set of small trees so I would have a shot as soon as I saw him, when/if he came to me.

So, the next thing that I see is a bird walking in the open area between the "tree wall" and the creek. I let out a few more yelps, and he came running! Next thing I know, he cuts off to my right, at about 100 yards. I was afraid that I was going to have to make a move on him but, next thing I knew, he had crossed the road and popped into the small thick pines. He came in to my right, I got adjusted, and shot him as soon as he stepped into the first clear spot. He was down by 6:35 a.m.

Since I first started turkey hunting, calling in and shooting a public land bird, on my own, has been the biggest turkey hunting goal, and biggest turkey hunting trophy of mine. I cannot express how exciting, and relieving, it was to step on that bird's neck!

This bird was not an upgrade to my previous score.

I was alone, so these are the best pictures that I could get:

[turkey harvester]

Way to go!!! Don't ya love it when things come together. Congrats!!  Great story.

[bornagain64]

Great job on all the birds. Deerbasshunter congrats on the public land bird, always tougher birds.
Keep at it guys.

[turkey harvester]

These stinkin Mo birds are kickin by butt this year!! It rained all day Saturday so I  just got wet, no gobbles. Yesterday I go to a private farm I hunted Wednrsday. There is one bird that will gobble 100+ times on the limb and shut up on the ground. Well I got in his face yesterday. Same thing, gobbled his fool head off. Set up on a field edge, cause he was roosted so close to it. Hens started the fly down cackles and he soon followed. He only had 2 hens with him to be gobbling that much and another gobbler who didn't say a word. They hit he ground and he hens immediately started yelping, so I did too louder. Lead hen got angry at the new comer so started to come investigate the noise. Mr. strutter was just tagging along, gobbling once in a while. Things were finally going my way until every turkey takes off running to opposite side of field. I look over and a dang coyote is slipping in. I was gonna blast him but he seen me and bolted. I hung around, changed locations, trying to strike up another gobble and find them. Not a peep the rest of the morning. Our birds are henned up soooo bad right now.

[bornagain64]

Coyotes are a real problem. They all need to die. Lol
Hopefully it will work out for you next time.

[birdman67]

Congrats on the bird deerbasshunter3! Stay after them guys! Those hens will break off soon. I have one more weekend left. Gonna try to locate a couple before work to give me a heads up for the weekend.

[bornagain64]

Nice job Jroddc. Lets hear the story.

[Jroddc]

I got set up real early. Was a very foggy morning was misting the whole time I was in and waiting. I didn't get a chance to try to roost them but was pretty confident that they were they had been regularly. Just as it was getting light I gave a few soft yelps just to let them know I was there, they started gobbling sounded like they were about 100-150 yards from me down a hill and after a short while they sounded a little farther off ( must have been that they had flown down). I gave a few more yelps a touch louder and got a response cutting me off so just stopped calling and got the gun up and ready. Well when they crested the hill and I could finally see them coming out of the fog screaming looking for me it was truly an amazing sight. They were 2 lonbeards and came right in to 20 yards and saw my dekes stopped behind a bush. Had the gun up waiting for the lead bird ( which was the larger of the 2 ) to take 2 more steps, well he took 3 I stopped him with a cluck and he put his head up and lights out.