Impressive Rio Hoss Down!

[Mike Honcho]

Kansas Youth Season, took my 15 year old grandson Colby to our south central Kansas farm, about 4 hours from my house.  I scouted evening before and saw one tom and 6 hens on neighbors ground from a distance but they move back and forth.  Also saw one really big set of tracks in the driveway of one of our fields nearby, told Colby I think there's a big tom around. 
We planned hunt for Saturday evening due his schedule and arrived at farm about 5:30PM.  Immediately saw a big tom strutting with 6 hens in about a 15 acre canola field along a creek...trees on three sides of field.  I told Colby I thought they would head to roost in the opposite corner of the field where there's a big tree we can both set up under.  We parked at opposite end of our farm and went in light...no vests, just a boy and a gun and I grabbed an old 1970's model Lynch Longbeard No. 150 call I had given Colby earlier that day.  We made it to the tree unseen easily due to a depression in the field where the gobbler was strutting...now we are set about 250 yds from the birds but we can't see them.   The birds were silent and it was a long wait, I didn't want to call just hoping I'd hear a gobble or a hen yelp and we'd know where the birds were.  Finally I did a short couple of yelps and within a couple of minutes had two hens come in...they stayed around another couple of minutes then headed back towards the flock and then I hear hens start cutting and the tom gobbled.   I cut off the hens every time I heard them and told Colby to get ready...within a few minutes I see hens out of the corner of my eye coming in from my left about 20 yds out...they are nervous, I count the hens, one, two , three , finally 6 hens and I whispered to Colby the gobbler has got to be coming...then I see the big black mass appear out of the corner of my eye...he's only 10 yds to my left and stops for a minute, then moves forward about 10 yards where Colby has a 45 degree angle shot at him...I see the gun inching up, the tom is nervous , stretches his head up and putts ready to get out of Dodge and at that second Colby's H & K Benelli M90 thunders and the tom crumples under a load of 3" Win Longbeard 5's at 30 yards.
I was surprised how big he was when I picked him up, he weighed in at 24 lbs., 9 1/2" beard, one nice hook at 1 1/4" and one worn down to 1".  I think he's the biggest Rio I've encountered...his head was as big as my fist and his neck about the size of my forearm and I'm 6' 250 lbs. Needless to say Colby was really pumped about his biggest tom yet.  And Colby looked at that old Lynch box call and said grandpa that's the same box call you used when you called in my first tom when I was 9.

[zelmo1]

  That is a big boy, Congrats

[spur collector]

Congratulations  on a great  hunt and nice trophy

[alloutdoors]

Nice bird, congrats!

[strutnva]

congrats

[njdevilsb]

Congrats.  That's a great looking bird.

[owlhoot]

congrats , nice one!

[jblackburn]

Thats a huge Rio!  the biggest I've seen (from northern KS) was around 22.  Congrats!!

[Gooserbat]

Stud of a tom. 

[Snoodsniper]

Nice!

[Crawl79]

Awesome bird!

[dirtnap]

Nice.  There is some full grown birds in Kansas for sure. 

[mgm1955]

Awesome!! Congrats to you both!!

[beagler]

 

[Rio Fan]

Congrats on a monster Rio!