This second turkey worked like a charm. He was roosted in some oaks that are surrounded by a grove of evergreen trees so I was able to get in real close. It helped that he gobbled super early giving me the cover of very low light to make my advance. My only problem was that I had a bunch of calves in the woods with me that decided I was very interesting. They ended up surrounding me, even nuzzling my boot as they checked me out. I thought for sure they were going to ruin the hunt as for 15 min I couldn’t have shot in any direction. I finally decided that my only hope was crawl on past them and get under a big evergreen that they couldn’t get under with me. Thankfully it worked and they wandered off in the other direction.

This bird gobbled his head off and finally pitched out of the tree and landed about 100yrds away out in the pasture. After some soft yelps and purring he came up to the edge of the woods to check me out at about 50 yrds. I decided I didn’t want to make another 50yrd shot this year so after a few more minutes of coaxing, he finally gave up and came on in, offering me a shot at 15yrds! He gobbled all the way in, and you fellow hunters know how awesome it is to have a bird gobbling in your face at 15-20 yrds! I was done and it was barely 6:30am. He was a beautiful bird – he weighed 22.5 lbs, had a very very thick 10inch beard, and sharp spurs that were a bit over 1 1/4 inches long.

Below I’m attaching pics of this bird along with my first bird of this spring.  I’ll say it again, you just can’t hardly beat spring turkey hunting!

#1 - 24 1/2 lbs - 10" Beard - 1 1/4" Spurs

#2 - 22 1/2 lbs - 10" Beard - 1 1/4" Spurs

My second success happened this Tuesday when I was able to harvest a trophy of my own. Long story short, I called in a Tom that happened to be by himself from roughly 300yrds away. I was able to get him into about 80yrds, but couldn’t get him to cross a dry creek to seal the deal. I ended up crawling, and crawling, and crawling….until I was finally able to take him at roughly 50yrds. The whole ordeal took about 2hrs so needless to say this bird was earned! He ended up weighing 24.5 lbs, had a 10 in beard, and 1 1/4″ spurs. I’ll have some pics to post shortly.

My third success happened today. I went out this morning with my cousin. I did the calling the and videoing while he did the shooting. It was an incredible morning. The birds talked great and we ended up getting a great video of his bird as it came in strutting and gobbling. Congrats Bryan on an awesome turkey! Below is the video from this morning’s hunt – Enjoy!

I’ve been wanting to write this for some time now, just hadn’t had the chance til now. Ever wondered why deer seemed to like a certain area? Ever wondered what was over on the neighboring property? Ever wonder where the natural funnels are on a newly acquired piece of ground? Well, your wondering is over! The answer to all those questions can be found while sitting in your living room playing with google earth!

I moved to southwest Missouri a few years ago, so I was starting from scratch on finding private hunting ground. You can drive around, but with gas prices and being unfamiliar with the area, that just didn’t seem extremely practical. So I decided to check out my area from a bird’s eye view. I simply got onto google earth and within no time I had picked 6-7 properties that looked like great deer/turkey habitat. I now have permission to hunt 4 of those properties! I’ll do a separate write up someday on how to be successfull in gaining & keeping permission to hunt.

This is not only a great tool for new properties, but it can greatly enhance your knowledge of a property you’ve hunted for years. There are just certain things you don’t see at ground level. I think the most helpful thing google earth does for you on an older property is give you a great look at the neighboring properties. It can greatly enhance your knowledge of the deer movement in your area.

Last but not least, is that google earth is FREE & FUN! It’s so cool to be able to scout while sitting on your couch! Of course, you’ll want to get your boots on the ground and verify what you’re seeing, but it will cut the wasted scouting time in half!

“It’s ok daddy, you’ll get one next time.”  That’s the “consolation” my two year old son has been giving me after returning from the last few hunts empty handed.  Much to the pleasure of my wife I might add!  They’ll all learn someday that bow hunting is not a sport of instant gratification, but when that gratification does come, it’s all the sweeter! 

This afternoon before I left my boy told me good luck and to kill a turkey.  I told him I would, that tonight I would get him a turkey.  God must have smiled, cause these turkeys came in perfect at 25yrds!

I feel so blessed to get another harvest on video.  I should get some kick-back from the gorilla-pod as much as I endorse them, you just can’t beat them for videoing while you’re solo.  These turkeys started yelping about 80yrds away up in the brush, so I just softly yelped back ever so often.  I knew I was in their roosting area, so I figured they’d be heading my way.  Sure enough – the video pretty much tells the rest of the story!

Beautiful evening – fun, fun, hunt in southwest Missouri! 

Thanks for reading!

This video pretty much says it all.  Great hunt today, wish I wasn’t by myself this morning as this could’ve been great footage with someone working the zoom a bit.  Persistance pays every time.  Haven’t been talking much at all down here but each morning is a new day.

24 1/2 lbs - 11" beard - 1 1/8" spurs

The only thing that’s for certain is that if you quit going you’re not going to succeed in harvesting that fat Tom.  Stick with it, trust your guts and you just never know, that Tom might just surprise you in the morning!

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/turkey-hunting/RA_0307_03/

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/turkey-hunting/RA_0407_08/index.html

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/turkey-hunting/gf_aa046403a/index.html

Everyone here in Missouri knows how predictable our weather is.  This spring’s been a good example – 75 degrees one  day, 40 degrees the next.  Well that’s exactly how turkey hunting can be and this Saturday really drove that point home.  I had hunted every morning this past week.  Monday & Tuesday I hunted back up in north MO with family and I heard some gobbling and took part in the successful hunt with dad.  From Wednesday on, I hunted down here in southwest MO and had heard no more that 4 gobbles all 3 days combined and all of those were a long way off.  Those woods seemed as vacant as an auditorium waiting on our current congress to speak on fiscal responsibility. 

To be completely honest I almost didn’t go out Saturday.  I woke up at the usual 5am and I felt like I had been run over and then drug for awhile.  But like most of us that have the fever this time of year, I decided I’d go ahead and give it a try. 

I was in the woods 15 minutes later just waiting for them to come alive.  I started hooting and nothing…  I did this a few times and quit for a bit.  At about 5:45 I hooted once more and one gobbled about 200 yrds away.  From that moment on that Tom gobbled his head off.  I began clucking and giving a few tree yelps and cuts – all of which were answered with a booming gobble.  I was able to sneak another fifty yards in his direction as I knew that on the back side of him was a pasture that could be hard to pull him out of.  At about 6:10 the bird flew down back out into the pasture behind him.  I hurredly snuck his direction as there was now a ridge between us with him on the ground.  As soon as I set up I gave a few yelps and purrs.  Ol Tom was glad I had come closer his direction and he was hot.  A few more cuts and he had split the difference, heading back up into the woods where I waited.  I dropped my call and readied my gun.  I saw him at about 35 yrds and as he went behind a big oak, I got all braced up.  At about 25yrds he let out another thundering gobble and the game was over just like that – it was 6:20 am. 

It was a great hunt that couldn’t have worked more perfectly.  It’s amazing how much this bird gobbled after 3 days of basic silence in the woods.  So if you wake up in the morning and feel like something’s been chewing on your head all night, just shake it off, grow a pair and get out into them woods.  You just never know what’s going to happen when that sun starts splitting the sky! 

21 lbs – 10″ beard – 1″ Spurs

 Had a great hunt this morning with dad.  This bird started gobbling really early this morning.  As soon as he flew down he pretty much shut up but we did manage to get a few more gobbles out of him – just enough to pinpoint him.  He was pretty deep in some brush and so the sneak began.  We were slipping up on where we believed him to be when we happened to look up and there was a hen still roosted at 7:15am!  She was about 70yrds away and so we were pretty much pinned down.  I began to purr and cluck on my slate and this tom about blew us off the side of the ridge.  He was about 60yrds to our right on the next ridge over.  We could hear him struttin & drummin and he became very vocal – it was awesome!  After about 30 min of this the hen finally flew down behind us.  She ended up circling us and started heading towards the tom who was still gobbling every time my striker hit the call and drummin like crazy.  I heard the tom quit drummin so I figured it was showtime.  I wasn’t dissappointed, he came down the ridge and met the hen about 35 yrds away.  Dad let him have it, hit him hard but for some reason he had to finish him with a second shot as he tried to slip away.  I was a absolutely great hunt.  There’s nothing quite like being next to a tom spittin & drummin!

I only wished it was Monday!!  It was a great morning to be out!  I got lucky and ended standing within 70yrds of this bird waiting for something to Gobble.  I hooted and couldn’t believe one was so close! 

A good lesson from this morning was this.  Many times we’ll put a gobbler to roost for the next morning’s hunt.  This is not a bad tactic to give you an edge, but you must remember that it’s almost as important to know where the hens are.  This Tom repeatedly looked over his shoulder back behind him.  I didn’t pay much attention until he flew out across the road into the neighboring field.  (he was roosted not 50yrds of a old blacktop)  As you see in the video he gobbled quite a bit there until the hens came flying down to him.  If I was a betting man I would’ve bet 10 to 1 that he would’ve flew down the opposite direction, but of course I didn’t know he had hens waiting for him on the other side of the road.  Another interesting thing is that those hens never said a word, he just knew where they were roosted.  You can bet that come Monday I’m going to try to be somewhere between him and his beloved hens!

Enjoy the video let me know how you all do!

Here is a small compilation of video clips.  Enjoy!