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A trip I'll never forget!! The season came fast and we spent the last few months preparing for her first spring gobbler hunt. We were shooting weekly and doing everything we could to get her dialed in. I started loading shot shells a few years ago and this past year I dove into the world of loading Tungsten(TSS) Shot. My daughter grew fond of measuring exact grains of powder and ounces of shot. She's a chip off the old block when it comes to attention to detail. Her favorite part was sealing the roll crimped shells with glitter nail polish. We tweaked things till we were satisfied with 50 yard patterns that would stone a turkey. From the very beginning I Involved her in every aspect of the hunt. Thursday mid day we were loaded up and headed for camp. Someone was excited to miss some school. We got camp setup with an hour or so left of light. I put out a target at 40 yards to make sure her shotgun was still on. She hit it dead nuts. We spent the rest of the evening trying to roost a bird for opener We were unsuccessful. So I was pretty stressed about opening morning. Friday morning came with a 3:45am alarm. We were out of camp an hour later. Our first stop to listen and shock call produced a gobble about a mile off. We looped around. By gray light we were in the strut zone. It was a morning we had been dreaming about. Multiple flocks going off. Hens cutting and yelping like I've never heard. Tom's gobbling over each other. We setup in the middle of the action. I began cutting on the box. Mimicking the hens around us. I called in a tom but he hung up above us at 80 yards. Boy, Did he put on a strut show!! At the same time a hen came running into our setup. She was pissed. She stuck around for about 15 minutes. We were pinned. All we could do was watch the tom strut over the ridge to flocks going off past him. We backed out and tried to cut them off. Ran into another youth hunter already getting setup. We backed out and tried a few more setups not too far away to see if we could call in a satellite tom. No dice. The rest of the day was some well earned naps and burritos. No bird roosted that evening. Saturday morning my alarm did not go off. I woke up to gray light. We scrambled and got to the same general area as opening day. Immediately Multiple gobbles. We were behind them. We pushed up. We had a satellite tom at 100 yards. I began the spring song. Again my daughter spots him strutting. Working his way towards us. Money in the bag! We got caught in a bad spot. We were lit up. He circled left and as my daughter moved to reposition the shotgun her jacket rubbed the tree loud enough to make the bird get nervous and stop. He started to putt. I purred to calm him down. He came in another 30 yards. But was behind a some small jack pines. The flock started sounding off again and he followed. Decending down into a canyon I wasn't wanting to carry my kid out of. We backed out to get infront of them. We found were they came through the canyon bottom. Fresh scratch and scat. We setup and called. We called in snow and sleet. The rest of the day we spent being tourist and taking pictures at one of my favorite Lookout points in the unit. Screaming and yelling in the canyon to hear our voices echo a dozen times from all directions. She sure did love that. She's a quiet kid so it was amazing to see her let loose and belt out across the giant limestone walls. That evening we spent time in the same area we hunted previously. No birds sounding off back to the roost. My buddy from work was up with us and spent the day at camp while we were shouting at the sky. On the drive back to camp I got a text that 3 gobblers were going off across the road from camp. We ended the night with some coues Backstrap, zucchini and smores on some oak coals. Sunday morning, our last stand. The 3 camp gobblers started shaking the skies around 5am. They sounded a little further than we thought they were the night before. We drove around to get in a good position once they flew down. We were setup above 2 of the toms. I yelped softly to get a location on them. They were in our lap but just out of sight. No time to put the decoys out. We hunkered down at the base of some pines. Here they come. Again, my eagle eye kid spot their colored up heads and fans doing the spring shuffle. They are gobbling their heads off!! They are about 120 yard when she spots them. They come in another 30 and start looking. We both were thinking they were gonna hang up since they didn't have a visual on a hen. I started to cluck & purr and softly yelping like I was a hen moving off and Oh man.... they came right on in. Putting on one heck of a show strutting and gobbling. They stayed pretty tight and we needed to wait for a good shot. Once they broke apart I gave one last yelp to stop them and my daughter let him have it!! 48 yards with a .410 tungsten shell we handloaded. He didn't even flop! He dropped like bag of concrete. She was so stoked! I was so relieved! She was so darn proud of herself! We made it happen. We worked our tails off. We prepared and it paid off. I can only hope that she carries all the lessons learned with her forever. Man, I balled like a baby on the drive home just thinking about the whole experience. I'll NEVER forget it!!! (posting from my phone. Couldn't figure out how to get the images right side up)

Flew back to Kansas for a few days to do some work on the farm, set some stands, minerals, cameras, and the highlight of our spring............. Turkey hunting! Incredible as usual and Max bagged his biggest bird to date with an 11" beard. Sorry about the photo fails....ggrr.

Getting first shot this Thursday and will be ready for new loving home around the 6th. $600 pm or can txt 928-301-9169

My uncle and I drew tags on the Navajo Nation. I made a video and posted it on youtube. Don't judge because its my first video ever!

Congrats. My daughter And I are on our way home from Kansas now. we doubled up yesterday. Little creek calls slate call was too much for them to handle

Saturday night in the salt. 2 white lights and 1 green. 28 foot. Slip bobber 14 to 18 foot down. We went through about 15 dozen minnows.

Friday night in the salt.

Im blessed to be able to roam gods country on my mule following my hounds. I run into these kills probably more than the average hunter. Here are a few from 2020-2021 for you Coues nuts.

I purchased a Colt Trooper/Python Pinto on here a couple of months ago. It needed to be rescued. I found the correct barrel on ebay, and took it to my gunsmith. Ordered new grips. The new grips i ordered are target grips but I'm probably going to get combat ones.

Congratulations and awesome write-up. Thanks for sharing.

Might have someone interested. I gave them your info

True story, I knew Roy and he loved to show the chunk of missing butt

Out of 96 different lots, there is a total of 3 bids...... A-hole prices. I wish I could bid $100....

They all seem to have issues of some sort but I own a Genesis toyhauler. I know others that own them and they seem to hold up very well. I have owned Forest River, Fleetwood and Coleman trailers. This Genesis I have now seems to be better quality.

You can also call EuroOptic and confirm the twist rate. One company had a Tikka listed on Gunbroker, it was a 6.5x55 with a 1-11 twist. It was actually a 1-8.

We are northeast of Manhattan about an hour so pure eastern.

Sold pending funds

Closed for some remodeling during the winter. It should reopen soon

There is a chlorine pool chemical shortage, better stock up and hoard. Prices are skyrocketing and are hard to find. I guess this is the next ammo and toilet paper craze.

Thank you for explaining that. I totally forgot you can do that. I would keep them but I feel in love with the Maven product line.

I've had both. used them for work and hunting/camping. Depends on what your use is. Fifth Wheels might be better if your planning on living in it part time. The Gooseneck offest adapters help with how they hook up, but most compromise stability. I had an 9"offset gooseneck adapter for fifth wheel. BUT, I prefer bumper pull overall. I've got a 32' BP Toy Hauler now and its about right. Has plenty of sleeping space bedroom up front, two drop down queens, generator, fuel tank and can fit my ranger crew! no need for a monster fifth wheel. Fifth Wheel Pros: Can pull faster and more stable down interstate. Usually more room once set up. Usually some more storage. Cons: Loose room in bed, pain in butt to level and unhook, higher ain't always better. Taller hits trees. Bumper Pull Pros: Way easier to hook up (I even have sway bars to hook up). no loss of truck space, no risk of denting bed rails, easier to maneuver at gas station. Cons: Can't go 80 down I-10 as easy. (Still does 70 well w/sway bars). NO Other Cons for a BP IMHO.

Actually a sliding hitch and and anderson are good for 5th wheel in short beds. No problems with windows and clearance. I run an anderson on my short bed. My brother has an auto slider in his short bed.

Thank you! If you head over there you can get it for free because we actually left it on the fence! 😂

Rodinaz. Right on ..

Ctafoya is probably already on the list, but here is another reccomendation for him.