I'll fill in with a story later this evening! Off to take another hunter out and hopefully get one fired up for them!
I know one thing, birds love Titanium, and Osage all around
Calls used were Charlie Parrish's Osage/Bloodwood Hen Box, SS Spanish Cedar/Osage longbox, and Daryl's 3.5" Osage Titanium call!
It's been a very tough season and I have to thank Mr. No Nets (dcoleinpa) for keeping me motivated. He's heard a ton of complaining from me the last couple of days!
Well this has been a season of fun for me. Started out with Kansas and then rolled over to MO. To say the MO birds have been cooperating would be a huge lie! It has been anything but easy. Opening day, I heard nothing.. and this on a farm that is loaded with birds
Tuesday had me bouncing again as birds were sounding off everywhere. Made a stupid mistake and lost a chance at a bird. Wednesday we were back to hearing nothing... Thursday, birds were everywhere. Got on a bird and got setup in a bad spot
bird was called in to a mere 5 yards and I could not get a clear shot. It was raining and playing cat and mouse with the bird thundering, drumming and spitting was very exciting! I ended up getting soaked for the next 4 days straight. It turned cold and miserable here in Southwest MO... bad weather = no hearing of birds. I hunted till 1 every day and nothing to show for the hard work.
Fast forward to today. I woke up and just didn't have that bounce in my step. I've hunted straight for almost 3 weeks now. I should have taken a break yesterday, but being the devoted hunter I am.. I went out. I've never wanted a bird so bad. I should have already had one in Kansas, but the miss kept nagging at me.
I arrived at the farm around 4:45 this morning and walked in. This bird started sounding off about 5:10. I've been after this bird for about 4 days. He roosts in the same tree all the time. Today I went for the attitude of hammer him and see what happens. We always hear less is best, but sometimes more is best and that's what they were wanting today! I think that's what they were wanting the other days too. That's what worked for me last Thursday on the bird I didn't get a shot on too!
I did some aggressive tree yelping (not quite Daryl Slaton level
) with my SS longbox...not real sure why I picked a longbox to do the tree yelping for
and did the ole hat fly down trick and he gobbled and I knew he was looking my way. I was ready for him to fly into the field. I hear him pitch out of the tree and he went the other way
I grabbed my hen box and titanium call and rotated playing them. I'd cut real hard and yelped on the hen box, then purr, cluck and yelped on the titanium call. The complete silence told me something was going right
, so I put the calls down and watched the field. 5 minutes had gone by and I figured any minute he'd be walking under the fence and in gun range. As I'm patiently sitting there watching the field, a gobble erupts to my right that almost blows my ear drum out. I look to my right and see the steam from his gobble. It was a mere 36 degrees here this morning. I slowly start swinging to my right and he catches me. He makes a bad mistake of going behind a tree. I turned quickly and watched him walk away from the tree. Head in the crosshair and trigger was pulled! Down went the bird! The ole 870 JR 20 gauge scored again! Nothing like toting a small gun with an 18.5" barrel!
Although not a monster bird, he had a 7" beard with 1/2" spurs. Not the big boys I'm used to harvesting here, but given the season I've had... it was a great one! I called Al and blamed him for the jinx (photo below should explain it) and asked to send it back and have the wording changed... he recommended changing it to may they all be hens... I think I'll keep the jake part so I'll be legal in the Spring
Also, after shooting the bird, he had lost a lot of his feathers on his back... J R Hunt Camp and I talked and he thought maybe barb wired fence rubbing it... I know no shot hit that area and there were some markings...
