I got my first bird of the season yesterday morning (4/18/11) on opening day here in Missouri. My brother and I went out to roost some birds Sunday evening to see where I should set up the next morning. We saw where three strutters flew up in the corner of a big ag field in a bottom next to a small river. I decided to set up with my back facing the river about 200 yards up the river from the corner where I saw them fly up. In the morning I got in fairly early and put out a jake and hen decoy. It was about 50 degrees and cloudy with a 12-15 mph wind. I had a few birds answering to some soft calling before they flew down. When they flew down they shut up so I figured they flew down to a different field. I called every once in a while but no answers. About 15 minutes later I had heard some hens yelping and cutting and the gobblers answered them some. They sounded pretty far away so I got up and peeked around to the corner and there were 3 strutters and a few hens tucked deep in the corner. I decided to make a move towards the corner and walk along the river where there was some cover. I got within 80 yards or so and set up again and started with my own yelping and cutting. Three gobblers answered and made their way towards me. At this point I could only see these 3. Then a group of hens came back out and they all hung up at about 60-70 yards. I tried some fighting purrs to see if I could call the hens to me but it didn't work so I stopped calling and waited for a little bit. I heard some scratching in the leaves making its way towards me right along the river. I heard some spiiting and drumming then a strutting gobbler entered the corner of my eye back behind me to my right 8-10 yards away. I couldn't swing my gun around so I just waited. He ended up figuring out something was up and started putting and he went back into the field. I did some soft yepling to calm the the group of birds down. They relaxed for a minute or two and then they all figured out something wasnt right and started making their way away from me. The 3 strutters that were in the field were the last to leave. I got my gun up and put the bead on the back one and got him to left his head and got a shot off. I rolled him at about 50 yards. He was 18 lbs. 4 oz., had a 10 1/4 in. beard, and 3/4 in. spurs. This was the second bird I've killed. It was a special hunt because it was the first gobbler I have called in and killed myself. Not a big bird, but I was blessed to get a shot off after they got spooked and am very pleased. Have to wait another week to kill one myself but am spending the rest of the week helping my brother get one with his bow. Hopefully I can get us a big one next week! Good luck to everyone else out in the woods the rest of the week!
