April 18th marked the opening day of spring turkey season here in Missouri. For me this is long anticipated so I was a bit perturbed when I woke up at 6am and realized that although I had set my alarm for 5am, I had failed to turn it on!! So now the rush is on. I threw on my clothes, grabbed all my gear and was pulling out of the drive at 6:07 (not bad huh;-). I live just a few minutes from my hunting ground so it was about 6:13 when I rolled by my first choice only to see two other trucks parked on the land. Not a great sign, but as I was driving past a mature Tom ran across the road not 15yrds in front of my jeep. I took that as a sign and quickly parked in the farmers driveway and set up opposite of the other hunters.
It wasn’t long before there were 3 gobbling answering my calling, but that only lasted for about 5min before one of the other hunters cut him off and shot him about 150 yrds from my position. Two gobbles was the only response from the shot, so I stayed put. It wasn’t long before they were closing in their heads bright red in the early morning light. It wasn’t until they reached about 30 yrds that I realized that their beards were a mere 5 inches long. They could gobble and strut just like the big boys, but these were definitely jakes. That’s when I caught movement to my right and there ended up being 10 more jakes come in to about 25 yrds to my right – they had me surrounded! After seeing them gobble I realized that these were the ones that had been talking so I waited til they moved on and I got back to the jeep and headed to another property.
I had just driven through a gate and had crested a hill going to park when I saw this bird in full strut about 300 yrds away across a brushy ditch with a hen. I slammed on the brakes, backed up, and the hunt was on! I just knew I’d have to sneak my way down to that ditch as I didn’t think he’d cross it with that hen over there with him. I got in the brush and quickly closed in the distance to 150 yrds and that’s when I decided to give a few yelps to locate him. His response about blew my socks off! He was across the ditch and it sounded as if he wasn’t more that 70 yrds away! I quickly scrambled through the brush up to the barbed wire fence that separated the brush from the pasture. I gave a few clucks with my mouth call to let him know that all that crashing really was a hen and not a desperate hunter trying to get into position! He gobbled and that’s when I saw him running towards me. The only problem was that my gun was still in my right hand butt to the ground and my camera tripod was still in my left. He blew up into a strut not 15 yrds away from me and began spitting and drumming – beautiful!! I very slowly released my tripod but my gun was still sticking straight up. He closed in to 10 yrds and I decided that I was going to have to resort to the fast draw and that’s what I did.
The gun leapt to my shoulder as twigs snapped from my commotion, he was in full strut so the commotion did startle him but only enough to bring him to half strut and take a few steps. My finger touched the trigger and it was over, there he lay, 12yrds in front of me! What a hunt! To be honest, it happened so fast that there was a touch of disappointment in my heart as I realized that it my month long anticipation had ended in a mere 10 minute hunt! That was soon dissipated as I put my hands on the bird and realized that I’d have friends to tag along with and there was always the next week when we could do this all over again.
It was an awesome morning and once again I’m thankful to God for the opportunity to interact with the amazing animals He created. Great times!
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Can’t believe it’s finally here! I tell you, there’s not much that gets me going more than spring turkey season! Here in Missouri the season starts April 18th and runs through May 8th. I’ve taken my kiddos out a couple of times and have had an awesome time videoing and spending quality time.
This season we’re going to do our best to get you some top notch video of some hunts both in north and south Missouri. Enjoy the above video of some great footage from the past and some footage from just this past week.
Stay Tuned!
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Saturday morning was beautiful up here in north MO and I can’t think of a better way to spend it than to be fishing a good ol strip pit. It was a bit chilly, but the fish didn’t mind a bit!
This time of year I really don’t expect to catch much quantity, but quality is usually the name of the game. I started off with a blue and black bass jig rigged with a plastic crawl in the pumpkin color with chartreous pinchers. I never switched – the bite was on!
My cousin Derek and I fished for about 2 hrs and I believe we caught 20 fish, all of them largemouth bass. We didn’t get into anything too big but getting back into the fishing groove felt great!
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Hello fellow outdoorsmen! I hate that I haven’t been able to get you more content lately, as for me that means that I’m not spending enough time out in the great outdoors! I thought I’d go ahead and show you my antler plaque I made for this last fall’s bowkill buck. This might interest a few of you anyway.
The wood plaque part was a cinch with my pattern and my router, but the skull covering was a different story! I tell you, the year before last it was really easy cutting the leather to cover the skull and it really turned out great. Evidently I was lucky, because this year it wasn’t so easy. For the life of me I couldn’t get the leather skull cover cut right to fit so I finally surrendered and tried something a bit creative. I used crayola air dry clay from hobby lobby and filled out the skull. I let that dry and then I hot glued rustic twine in a sort of wrap around the skull area. This went much easier and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the results!
Hopefully I’ll have some hunting/fishing stories and/or vid for you here real soon. If not before, you’ll definitely be seeing some footage from this spring as I’m going to try and ramp this site up a bit with the turkey season here in Missouri.
February and March can be a rough time for us avid hunters. We go from one extreme to the other. We’re able to hunt most everything from October through December and then we go to pretty much nothing! Of course, there’s the predator hunting which I for one really enjoy, although my success percentage is pretty dismal this year! If you’re like me, your drive to be outside is still there so what do you do?
Grab your kids, your dog, maybe even your wife 😉 and get out there and look for some sheds! So far this year I’m 0 for 2, but I’ve had a blast both times. It’s a bit of a relief to be able to tromp through the woods without worrying about your scent, or sound or pretty much anything!
Not only is this a stress free time to be able to enjoy the great outdoors, it’s also a great time to do some scouting. The vegetation is still pretty much dormant making the deer sign especially visible. Get into those sanctuaries and see where that big boy has been hiding all season!
So get out there in the woods and rediscover that child within you that still enjoys tromping through the woods – carefree, exploring what’s over the next little rise. Who knows, you might even get lucky enough to find a shed.
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For some of you this is old news, but hopefully the rest of you will enjoy seeing this mountain lion. I’m not 100% on all the details, but I do know that this cat was shot up in north MO, just west of LaPlata. He was shot by an Amish fellow, but I’m not sure what the conditions were or the details of the actual killing of the cat. The cat measured 6ft 8inches head to tail and I’ve heard 130 lbs on weight, but I’m not certain of that although that sounds about right.
This cat was shot back in January. The conservation dept’s website acknowledges that there are occasionally cats that wander into the state, but still do not (at least publicly) believe that there is an actual breeding population in the state. There have been an increased number of reported sightings in more recent times and this cat makes the second one killed in north MO just this year! The other one was in northwest MO.
Interesting story to say the least and just thought I’d share it with you all. I’m on to coyote calling/hunting now, so hopefully I’ll have some pics/video to share soon. Don’t hold your breath – so far my luck has been less than stellar!
We just finished Canada Goose season here in MO. I have to tell you, I’ve pretty much been taking a break from waterfowling the last few years, but the end of this season has sucked me right back in! I’m already having to use extraordinary self-discipline to keep myself from spending money (something waterfowling is very good at making one do).
Chris and I got all set up a bit earlier Monday as we had overcast/misty conditions with a strong front moving in. We were ready to go by 3pm and we didn’t have to wait long. I was talking on my cell on a business call, when I thought I heard the awaited “honk”. I about gave myself a whiplash turning, and was surprised to see about 30 geese heading straight for us just about 400yrds out.
We had to have looked like a couple of terrorists diving for cover after someone yelled apache, but thankfully the geese didn’t have infrared technology! I flew into my blind only to find myself sitting/laying on shells, a camera, my goose call, goose flag, etc, etc. Fortunately I was able to wrestle free my gun just in time to watch the group swing out to get the wind right and sail right into our faces, right into the middle of our strategically designed “C”.
Chris and I layed into them fast and hard – when the smoke cleared we had 5 geese down in front of us! As any waterfowler will tell you, that’s not half bad. We stuck around till sunset hoping to get that last goose, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. It’s a good thing we shot like we did, because that was the only chance we got for the evening.
I was a great hunt, any time the geese fall into the decoy spread just as you’ve planned and are no more than 10 ft off the ground when you begin shooting – it’s a good day!! A great memorable hunt. Once again I’m reminded to be thankful for so many wonderful creatures God has created for us to be good stewards of and to enjoy with family and friends. Give thanks!
I had an excellent hunt today (1/25). I didn’t get out into the field until about 3:30pm and was all set by 4pm. I don’t think I was set up more that 15 minutes when I heard a lonesome honk out in front of me. When you’re hunting by yourself, that’s a great sound. Singles are great ways to fill a limit without educating an entire group. The goose circled a couple times before it fell right on in feet dangling down – I came out of the blind when the goose was about 10 ft off the ground and I don’t think it made it to 15ft – the goose worked into my decoy spread perfectly!
Second group came in about 15 min later and did a few passes, one goose actually landed about 10yrds from me, but I wanted to wait for the group to commit to hopefully double. They committed big time, right into my “c”. I raised up, put the bead on a goose and click! I quickly worked the safety back on then off again, found another goose & click! Panic! They were getting away now so I quickly pumped the gun once and ended up making good on that shot.
With one goose left to kill, I looked ahead to see about 15 geese with wings locked just about 200yrds out. They never thought twice, they sailed straight into my face with landing gear down. I picked a goose, squeezed the trigger, and that concluded what was an excellent late season hunt here in southwest MO.
Best of luck to you as well – just a few more days of season left here in MO so I’m trying to make the best of it!
Here are a few pics of my cousin’s waterfowl trailer. I designed the layout and cut the vinyl graphics and they did the installation of the graphics themselves. The trailer turned out really great and it definitely turns some heads as it makes the waterfowl statement loud and clear!
They also added some shelving, added brackets to the sides to hold up their layout blinds, and installed lights inside this trailer to make it even more waterfowl friendly. I’ll have to get you a few pics of the inside as well here real soon. I’ve hunted out of this trailer a few times now and I can tell you that it will spoil you rotten! If you’re a serious waterfowler and have some extra cash, this is money well spent.
You all that follow me know that I rarely push myself or my design work on you all, but if you do have some design work you’d like to have done or know of someone else,, please feel free to shoot me an email @ hunterbydesign@gmail.com . I have my own plotter where I can produce vinyl graphics to install – if you’re close enough to me I can install them for you, otherwise I can send you the graphics and you can do it yourself with just a bit of instruction.
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Did some field hunting today with some great results! I ended up scouting a field with another group of hunters last night – a field that we both had permission to hunt, so we decided to hunt it together today. They were a great group of guys and hopefully we’ll join forces again in the future.
I’ve been pretty much out of waterfowling for the past few years, but I must say, that this has to be one of the best hunts I’ve ever been on. I’ve never shot nor seen so many ducks field hunting in my life. I couldn’t put a number on them, but there were multiple times whtn it looked like a tornado above us as the ducks circled down into our decoys!
All seven of us shot our limit of mallards (4 each) and we ended up with 9 geese. It’s hard to beat a day where you kill your limit of greenheads plus mix in some fat canadas as well! I could go on and on but suffice it to say that there’s something special about seeing that many ducks with wings cupped – chattering all the way down into range – what a magnificent sight!!
Great day guys, I enjoyed the company and the hunt!
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