Sorry I have guys I have been checking on the team thread for the last two weeks I was either hunting or trying to recover from this dang cold that I got on my trip. My day in Oklahoma I saw seventeen Jake's that's no lie. The guys I was with called me Jake from state farm for the amount we saw in total the number was 23 in the time I was there. During my first day I had an opportunity at a long beard we set up and started to call, and all of sudden he shut up and a little while later a coyote Bebop his way to me, no I didn't shoot him. I wanted to but didn't want to mess up the area at taking him out. The next morning we tried a different farm and I have to say this is nice I heard 3 gobblers on the limb and I thought it was money. Two of them flew down and went off, but the third wanted to play. How we were set up wasn't ideal, if he decided to come up above it would be very awkward and it would be a super close shot. The longbeard decided that is how he wanted to come in, instead of coming in he decided to stop right behind me and spit and drum. If I moved it was over . This lone hen walked down the trail and busted me five steps away, and that was all for that Tom. A little bit later we heard distant gobbling and decided to reposition in case that happened again. After a while, they came into our setup, yeap it was a gang of jakes that marked in the two days 23 Jake's. We eventually got over there and tried a new location where we spotted a lone long beard. We decided to put a move and cut him off and was able to get him 25 yds and seal up my Oklahoma trip. He had 1 in spurs 9.5 in beard and weighed 20.5 lbs. I didn't get good pictures of my measurements and weight. I left right after that and headed to TX where I had intel on a good day lease. I got there late but was able to locate and they were already gobbling on the limb. I sat down and tried to work them but they just wanted to head to the neighbors. I figured the next morning my buddy from Texas and I would be able to cut them off the next morning we were able to locate a couple good spots to cross to cut them off in the morning. We left and got in early nothing was gobbling on the limb and what we did hear would only gobble a couple times and shut down. At one point where they were on the ground we would try a cold call to get a response and shock gobble with a crow or peacock call. They would respond once or twice and that was it. We decided to head north of this property where I had a run in with a long beard while I lost sight of him while I was making a move on him. We sat and cold called for a good 45 minutes to an hour without any success. We tried a few more stops while we headed back to the truck to regroup get something to drink and formulate a game plan. We tried one last push because the weather that morning got to us. Lol I'm from Minnesota I'm not used to 95 percent humidity with 80 degree temps. Around 11 am we both decided to throw in the towel because you can only do so much on 371 acres. I had a six and half hour drive to Kansas, so I was ok checking out early, but willing to stick it out for my buddy. Now this place in Kansas is the place I was excited to hunt. My second cousin found this place for me from a coworker who also hunts turkeys. We got in there nothing was gobbling on the limb that morning and the action was slow. I heard a hen cluck but I could see her, so I decided to key key to her since it was so slow. She made her way out to the field and there was a second hen that made her way out onto to the field. The lead hen start to cut me off when I would yell occasionally, so I decided get more aggressive with my calling with her because so quite nothing was gobbling. I was hoping with her and I going back and forth would get something to go ble and check out the action.her and I did this for a little bit and stop as she and the second hen were making up and behind us. Then a lone gobble far off. I decided to yelp and he just stopped. And then nothing we sat there and my cousin coworker did a little calling after he had heard him gobble as the hens left the area. This bird was so touch in the beginning it wasn't funny. When we called he would not answered and would just go ble on his own. We would tag team on calling he would yelp a little bit and then I would join in with my own yelp,cluck and purs. It wasn't until he was about 80yds he started to get fired up. We did very little calling and at 80yds he wasn't moving just to sit there and
gobble.at one point I let him gobble five separate times before I would even answer help with soft yelps. He couldn't stand it and finally broke from his 80 yd stand off. This bird never went into full start just half from the other Hunter was telling because of his angle. He made his way onto the field. He gobbled one last time and a few moments later that was it and my Kansas tag was punched. He weighed 20 lbs 10 in beard.and 1 in spurs. To be honest I totally forgot to get the photos on my Kansas bird. I got so fired up on this hunt, get him cleaned up, and hurry up to visit my family. I'm heading to WI and do better on taking quality pictures for our team. I just got so fired up because these are my first Rio and got excited.
Sorry guys
