I WOULD say that you ARE nuttier than a squirrel turd... BUT you are in SW MO! For those that have never turkey hunted the Ozarks of MO they THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!
For 20 seasons from 1985-2006 I had the PLEASURE & GOD GIVEN PRIVILEGE of having a 10k+ acre section of family land to turkey and deer hunt on just south of Mountain View, MO (just east of West Plains). There simply IS NOT a FINER region to turkey hunt on the GLOBE!!! Over the years we had names like Memphis area call makers Roy "Golden Gobbler" Rhodes & Frank Cox, Chuck Jones of Knight & Hale who was originally from West Plains, Mr. Robert "The Last Call" Clifft of Bolivar TN and several other "industry experts" up to hunt on the ranch and ALL of them were simply AMAZED after a morning or two of "Missouri Music"! I was 16 when I killed my first bird up there in 1987 and I took MANY birds up there over the next 2 decades. The 2yr old birds weighed well over 20#s and toted 10"-11"+ beards. The 4+yr old birds ALL weighed OVER 25#s and usually had 11.5"-13"+ bears as well as 1.75" spurs (if they hadn't wore them down on those steep, rocky ridges)
DEAR GOD would those birds THUNDER!!!
Like I said it was a large ranch and with the rolling terrain we could hear and chase birds for MILES but usually that was never necessary. We'd just start the day on a few choice listening areas and typically very quickly were "in the action". Did I mention those birds were VOCAL???
Even when Chuck Jones came up he was AMAZED. He said, "You know where all I've been and I thought I'd seen it all but I've NEVER heard or seen ANY place like this ranch. Yall got a pretty special place here!" (Sadly in 2005 a death in the family, lawsuits and lawyers put an end to all that within a year or two!
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BUT I don't cry over the spilled milk, I just relish the 2 decades I enjoyed and learned there. I hope some day to get back up in the Ozarks with my now teen aged boys and let them likewise hear that "Missouri Music"...
A gobbler by anyother gobbler just AINT the same as they are in the Ozarks!!!
