Pat and I doubled up this morning

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Guess I'll add on. I haven't shot a bird on the opener since 2019. It's always second day or the hellscape of the last weekend with the ticks and other biting fauna. Sat up on the far east end of the property as I have been seeing a lot on camera there. It was windy as can be and cold for the first couple of hours. I finally heard a gobble on the far west part of the property. I called, but I knew with the west wind I could not be heard.

So I left everything but my gun and mouth call and made the trek. I figured he'd head down the gravel road that leads into a nice, calm spot. I called sparingly, waited, and repeated a couple times. Nada. Finally got to where I thought he'd be headed, sat down and called. Nothing. As any good turkey hunter does, I stayed put, even though I was wondering if I'd bumped him. About 10 min later I hear "pffffttt" about 75 yds away. Then I saw the fan. 

He was strutting down the gravel road I figured he'd take, just being silent about it. I let him get to 35 yds. 11.5" beard, 24 lbs, and 1.25" spurs. Really a cool bird. Almost white spurs and a really light color to his fan in spots. Done by 8:35 am. Made a good lunch, napped, and listened to the whip-poor-wils at dark. Went this morning to listen and heard 6 different birds sounding off, and all appeared to have hens. I will be back the first weekend in May to try and tag out. 

[Johnsfolly]

@Ryan Miloshewski Congrats on a nice gobbler!

[BilletHead]

41 minutes ago, Ryan Miloshewski said:

Guess I'll add on. I haven't shot a bird on the opener since 2019. It's always second day or the hellscape of the last weekend with the ticks and other biting fauna. Sat up on the far east end of the property as I have been seeing a lot on camera there. It was windy as can be and cold for the first couple of hours. I finally heard a gobble on the far west part of the property. I called, but I knew with the west wind I could not be heard.

So I left everything but my gun and mouth call and made the trek. I figured he'd head down the gravel road that leads into a nice, calm spot. I called sparingly, waited, and repeated a couple times. Nada. Finally got to where I thought he'd be headed, sat down and called. Nothing. As any good turkey hunter does, I stayed put, even though I was wondering if I'd bumped him. About 10 min later I hear "pffffttt" about 75 yds away. Then I saw the fan. 

He was strutting down the gravel road I figured he'd take, just being silent about it. I let him get to 35 yds. 11.5" beard, 24 lbs, and 1.25" spurs. Really a cool bird. Almost white spurs and a really light color to his fan in spots. Done by 8:35 am. Made a good lunch, napped, and listened to the whip-poor-wils at dark. Went this morning to listen and heard 6 different birds sounding off, and all appeared to have hens. I will be back the first weekend in May to try and tag out. 

                     YEA Ryan!    Well done and thanks for sharing your hunt with us.  It will be a week from this Friday before we can try again because of one of our volunteer programs. As warm as it is today here (81) it might be like summer when we get back at it. 

[Quillback]

Nice bird Ryan!  

[Seth]

@BilletHead I think my bird was a in the upper 25 lbs range. That hoss you got beats that by quite a bit!

It was a good opening day all around it sounds like. The wind made it hard to hear the birds, but I knew there were a few in the area so I just stayed put and called in between the wind gusts. I'd hear a gobble once in a while so I knew it was just a matter of time before something showed up. @Ryan Miloshewski texted me sometime around 8:30 I believe with a pic of his beard and it wasn't long after that I peaked up and saw a fan and then a couple big white noggins headed towards me. A few moments later I had a bird flopping myself. It actually ended up being a triple bearded bird which was a first for me, and weighed 21.8lbs and had 1" spurs. My dad and father in law both tagged birds on opener day as well. Only one other time can I recall dad and I both harvesting birds together on opening day.

 

[BilletHead]

Good job Seth,

  OAF members getting it done!

[Ryan Miloshewski]

It was within 5 min of me sending the pic that you shot yours, another buddy sent me a pic of his, and another 10 min later with his. It was like 8:30 hit and it was on. 

@Seth and I finally got to have our dinner date, too. We went to Rich's in Owensville. First time and it was darn good. Great job by all. Missouri sure is bouncing back nicely with it's turkeys. I would have no problem taking 3-4 birds total on the place I hunt this year. And even 2-3 years ago I'd say one was max.