Well, after 6 years my best friend, Chris, from Missouri finally scored on a whopper Rio this morning.
Yesterday morning was opening morning it was a rough and disappointing hunt. The birds flew off the roost behind us and never came in range. Then for the rest of the day the wind and hot weather weren't helping matters.
This morning the bird came walking towards us. They came within range but we could not get a shot. There were 3 hens and 2 big toms. They crossed fence to the west side of the property. I tried calling the but the toms wouldn't leave the hens. After that we played a game of cat and mouse. Finally they made a mistake and I knew where we could get ahead of them and ambush them. I told Chris and we hightailed across the creek and everything started to come together as planned. We got ahead of them and the hens stepped out first with the toms following right behind them. When they stepped in range we let loose and he dropped his and mine flew off with a few missing tail feathers.
The old Tom had a 10" beard and 1" spurs. Not bad for his very first Rio. I'm giving it a break for a couple of days. Because we have storms moving in this weekend and to let everything settle down.
