Missouri's season opened today. It was warm, humid, and windy prepping to blow in some stormy weather. I went into a walk-in area in the National Forest that I know always holds a few birds. Nothing gobbled off the roost or after fly down time. I was side hilling along the rim of a big flat bottom holler hoping to hear one fire up or strike one and get him going.
About 7:30 A.M. a gobbler responded to my Andy Kaiser glass call from about 200 yards. The woods are still pretty open and I didn't want to get spotted so I held up waiting to take his temperature and see if he was gonna get hot and which direction he was headed. Next thing I know he gobbled on his own and had cut the distance by half and was closing fast. I scrambled for a set-up and felt pretty good about it when the bird double gobbled at some soft clucks and then went on to gobble on his own again in 30 seconds. I gave him a couple more clucks and purrs and got ready when he boomed a double gobble at me from 60 yards. And that is where he hung up... There was a little draw between us and a big blown down tree and that bird strutted all over the bank on the other side of that cut gobbling his danged head off - but would not walk off that bank. He walks over hundreds of those draws all the time but this time he wanted to show off and have that gal come to him. He began to strut back and forth along the side hill gobbling at everything and anything I tossed to him, be it subtle and sexy or hot and nasty. He came back to that bank three times, but I could not convince him to slip on over the draw.
I waited until he had gone to the far end of the side hill and slipped across the draw and closed about 75 yards on him and went slightly higher for the second set-up. This time when I gave him a little soft talk he blew up triple gobbling. I gave him just a tiny bit more excitement immediately after and he gave me another double gobble! "In business now" I thought. But the next gobble was angled up hill... uh oh. Yep, the gobbler went to the ridge top and absolutely put on a gobbling demo for the world up there. Yeah... you guessed it... I'm now sneaking out and backtracking to get up high with him.
The third set was classic deep woods ridge top and he came right on a string, strutting right to me... and a sassy hen that cut in between us. Sassy the bronze hen cut sharply at my calls and I played the string I had – I sassed back sharp and hard. Mr. Gobbler loved the attention! I watched him full fan and pirouette back and forth from about 70 yards as Sassy and I exchanged insults. She beat me, I guess it is true... a hen in the hand is worth two in the bushes.
See ya in the morning buster...
