2013 Picture post and bragging thread
 

Post your kill pics here and tell us about the hunt...

First bird of the year. A nice Louisiana longbeard. This bird finally made it to my property after listening to him gobble half a mile away the past two weekends. This past Wednesday I filmed him on the pipeline strutting. I set up this morning where I saw him Wednesday. Daylight came with no gobbles. I yelped a few times in the next hour but still no gobbles. About 8:30 I decided to get up and move. When I came out to the pipeline there were about 7 or 8 hens on the line about 75 yards to my left. Unfortunately they saw me and busted out of there. I knew the longbeard had to be with them. Sure enough he pops out of some high grass on the line about 150 yards to my left. He crossed the line into a clearcut next to my property. The hens flew to my property and he was wanting them to come back. I waited a few minutes and gave a series of yelps. He immediately answered. He eventually made it back to the line and was coming fast to where I busted the hens. Only problem was I wasn't there. I would softly call and he would gobble. I started back in the woods towards him. I am now in the woods looking for a tree to sit by when he lets out a gobble right by me. I immediately dropped to my stomach. There was no time to set up by a tree. I was lying flat with my gun ready. He circled around to my right. I finally saw him coming. When he went behind a tree I moved towards him still lying on my stomach. It was real thick where he was, so I had to be very patient in getting a shot. He finally gave me a shot and it was over. The shot was about 25 yards. Busting those hens gave me the chance I needed to get this bird. The gobblers over here are henned up bad and are gobbling very little. He weighed 17.4 pounds, beard was 10", and both spurs were an inch.

Henned up already? Dang hope thats not a sign of things to come up north here! Congrats on a great bird!

Congrats superstrutter nice bird :)

Congrats again ss great story!

Congrats on a fine bird.

love hearin them stories!! Great hunt!

congrats!! make some popcorn turkey niblets deep fried....mmmm they are the best!!

Went to south Texas for three days. Rios aren't supposed to be this hard to hunt. I had to work my butt off to get these two birds. The birds were henned up bad and very little gobbling. Add high winds to the mix and needless to say those were tough conditions. I killed bird 1 the first afternoon. He was with several hens and would not leave them. I had to change stradegies and work the hens. After failing to get the toms attention, I started calling aggressively to aggitate the hens. It worked. I was talking to the hens and the tom started gobbling. After about a 10 minute session with the hens, they started coming my way. Eventually the big tom made his way to me and I took the shot at 25 yards. The problem with this hunt is I chased and cut these birds off for an hour before everything finally fell in place. Because of all the crawling I had to do for this bird, I had prickly pear needles stuck in my body from head to toe. A painful but fun and successful hunt. This bird weighed 22.4 pounds, had a 9" beard, and spurs 1 1/4" and 1 1/8". He scores 64. On day two I worked only one bird. He of course was with hens and I couldn't get him to a range I felt comfortable with. The hens eventually took him away. Day three I worked 10 jakes within spitting distance but no sign of a longbeard. I went to another spot around 2:00. On my first series of calling I got a response. This bird actually gobbled good, but would not budge. I called off and on for about 20 minutes and he responded but stillould not move. I figured he was with hens. I made the decision to cut the distance between us and go after him. I would sneak about 25 yards and call. He would answer. I did this three times before he finally got interested enough to come take a look. There was tall grass where I was, so I knew it was going to be a quick shot. He finally started coming to me,but he took his sweet time. He finally gave me a shot at 35 yards. Another great bird. 19 lbs., 9.5" beard, and 1 1/8" spurs. From the first time he gobbled, it took about 45 minutes to seal the deal. Later that afternoon I called up 16 jakes at another location. Talking about a good future crop. First pic is of bird #1. Bird #1 scores 64 and bird #2 scores 60.5

Nice pics and great story's ss congrats

First bird this year. Using my own call. 18lbs, 7/8 and 15/16 spurs, 9.5" beard. Cool hunt. He gobbled hard standing in the middle of some cut-over. My brother tried to crawl out in the edge of the clear cut after I had moved around to the backside of the bird. He spooked and just sort or ambled his way down to me. He had been easing my way to my decoy before my brother spooked him.

EFHs first bird of the year

There's really not a whole lot to say about this hunt. It's one of those hunts you dream about. Everything fell in place. It was almost too easy. I roosted this bird Friday evening, so I knew exactly where I was going to set up. I got out there and he started gobbling on roost. I brought my video camera with me. I was determined to film this hunt. I set my camera up on the tripod and got everything ready. By the time I got set up, it was almost flydown time. I gave a series of yelps and he gobbled. About 2 minutes later he gobbled and was close and coming. I hit record on my camera. He came in gobbling and strutting. I waited as long as I could. I got him on camera gobbling and strutting for a few minutes before I took the shot, which was 36 yards. He weighed 18.8 lbs., both spurs were under and inch, and he had two beards, 10" and 3".

Hang em High, Osceolas down
 

I doubled up with my brother, his first bird ever and called him in with a pot call I made. I finished getting him into range with a hooks executioner mouth call.

John

got me a rio today in kansas, it was like deer hunting its so cold, 23 degrees and the white stuff in the pic is hail not snow 9 and 3/4 inch beard, 1 inch spur and 1 and 1/16th inch spur, and 22 lbs

BOOM!
My "hunting buddy" slept in AGAIN, so I went without him. (he was to get the first shot, so I am kinda glad he did).
I made it to my lucky spot a little later than I would have liked too but I made it before sunrise. Almost as soon as I sat down on the FROZEN ground (26 degrees) nestled between the only two cedars for miles around, I heard an owl, then a gobble, and 2 more gobbles all a few hundred yards to my right but significantly behind me. I was worried that they were on the other side of a really large creek, and may fly down over there so I needed to get, and keep their attention.
As the sun was creeping up I beat my gloved hands together (flapping) and started my fly down cackle and was cut off by TOM! I knew they heard me, so I waited.....
5 minutes pass and I do a little yelping.... GOBBLE! wait...... 15 min...........
do some soft yelps, purrs and scratching..... nothing.
wait 15 min.............. yelp, purrrrrr, cluck..... nothing.
wait 15 min, and hear a tiny hen softly yelping behind me, they NEVER come in from behind me!!!
I am pretty exposed, but fully cammo'd so I VERY s l o w l y crane my head around and see her at 60 yards behind me in a field. Then I see another hen, and another. I see three hens marching North away from me, but I just KNOW there has to be a big ole tom with them! I turned back around to softly call to the hens since the unseen toms weren’t responding. The hen was talking to me like crazy!! I just kept mimicking her and she would respond and started turning my way. Once again I slowly turned my head, and that’s when I saw him! EASILY the most mature tom that I have ever seen in person! 100 yards to my rear, and headed NE and on a course to start walking AWAYfrom me at 80+ yards. PATIENCE forced me to be silent. My mouth got dry, my heart was racing and I was having that moment when we say to ourselves… “This one is mine to LOSE”! I needed him to come another 30-40 yards East before I would try and get his attn. and draw him south 50 yards to within range!
Just as he was perpendicular to me position I started purring on my slate call. He stopped in his tracks as his three girls kept heading East. He strutted for them, and they kept walkin. He turned and strutted for me and I purred a little, then shut up. He dropped his fan and started inching my way….60 yards away but FULLY behind my left cedar tree. He would need to come within 20 yards to clear the tree and for me to get a shot. I could tell that he had decided to come on in and he was in FULL strut! Then out of the blue, hard right turn into the tree line!! If he was going to walk the tree line he will literally bump into me! I lost a bird 2 years ago when that happened because I wasn’t patient and I rushed the shot! Right then and there I said he could stand in my lap and I would not blink!! Then … I LOST HIM! Couldn’t see him through the cedar tree…. Then SNAP…. DRUMMMMM….. SNAP………DRUMMMMMM! He was 6 FEET to my left and spittin and drummin like a BOSS! The most breathtaking natural sight I have ever witnessed!! BRILLIANT red, white, and blue head, and FULL strut! He then made a sharp turn to face my little hen decoy and strutted straight to her… then ATTACKED HER! LOL! I yelped once, head up, BANG, flop!

WHOOP & HOLLAR!!

My most exciting hunt ever, and I hope you all get to experience that rush!!!
I have never shot a REALLY mature bird in my life. Seems like every bird that I have ever harvested has been just a year or two and NEVER a “limb hanger”!
Eastern bird from KS
Each spur a solid 1.25”
Beard 10.75”
Weight 26.25 (fatso)

Great story, nice pics Brasco (well, everyone really).

I shot this Missouri bird on opening mornig at 7:45am. 20lbs 1in spurs and 9in beard.

Killed this one Saturday morning, 17 lbs, 9 and 4 inch beards and 1 inch spurs both sides. Great hunt bird came strutting in just like they're supposed to. My best friend was there to watch the whole show.

i think cylinder bore and federal flite control at 25yards is deadly....:)

First to worst !

Although not yet posted in the standings, this year I posted the #1 lowest scoring bird in the contest at 13.625. Last year I shot the #1 highest scoring bird......from the same field! :)

Shot a couple big ones this year the largest was 25lb 11 inch beard with 1.5 inch hooks from kentucky I will post a pic up in the next day or so. Was not in the contest however

BOOM!
Eastern
5 beards - (32") 10,8,6,5,3
.75 spurs
24 lbs

Wow 5! Nice!

I shot this birds twin brother.. also in Kansas...