Couple weeks and MO opens up.
I have a couple blinds up and my waldrop pack seat is ready if I need to be mobile.
Will be shooting my 59' Kodiak
Splurged on a new Jake decoy too.....man decoys have improved huh
Tim B
Really looking good. What kind of turkey decoys are they again? I will have out 3 hens, (2 feeder, one upright), and one jake or strutter,,,,(pending on what I hear and see. I use all Flextone Thunder decoys. I put out 3 blinds last weekend. I will be shooting my Martin Mamba, 55#@28", 500 Goldtip Traditionals, 50 grain brass inserts, 100 grain steel broadhead adapter and a 4 blade Zwickey Delta up front. I like using a custom made Copper pots call, a Woodhaven slate pot call, and 2 Lynch box calls. Im not to keen with the diaphragm calls.
Are those type of decoys hard to pack? I like to run and gun ,so to speak
Ky opens next weekend. This is my first year hunting with my longbow, I'm pretty pumped up. Been shooting some Beman Bowhunter 500s in anticipation of 3d shooting, so I figured I'd use those. 100 grain Thunder heads are what I had that flew best with them.
Usually run and gun, but with the bow I think I'm going to try to stay put. I built a couple brush blinds in likely spots, and have a ghillie suit I'll wear. I'm worried about drawing on these suckers, anybody have any tips? I've been scheming on mounting a fan to my bow.
My decoys have been working hard all winter, on babysitting duty.
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Season opens next Wednesday the 15 here and I've got my stuff pretty much in order. I'll go out Tuesday and set up one blind where I've shot birds before so I can get in early Wed morning. The birds will be roosted anywhere from 50 to 100 yards away so I can't be making any noise getting in there. It's an area that birds flock up at for winter and in 2 weeks they'll be scattered but the first week is always good. Plan on using bullheads again this year with a snuffer on a string as backup. Good luck to everybody going out this year!
I was looking at the Bullheads, I like the idea of a kill or miss, not a big chance of wounding. What size do you use. Any issues getting them to fly good?
I've got a one week season in Michigan starting on April 18. My brother tells me there's twogobblers and three hens on our family fruit farm so that will get my attention instead of public land. Will be using a Gilly suit and my Waldrop pack seat. Also my arrow of choice is tipped with Kustom King Trailmakers 3 blade heads. They have worked well on my previous two birds. I've got an Avian X quarter strut Jake and breeding hen decoy. Will do a little reconnaissance scouting this weekend to determine roosting habit and direction of travel In morning. Love turkey hunting!!
Mine is an Avian X Jake decoy and the hen is a old one that I thought looked good enough
Tim B
I'll be using my longbow mostly. Home made ghillie suit. Zwicky 125 glue on's with string tracker attached. Still using old feather flex dekes. Season starts 4/27ish.
Quote from: TIM B on April 09, 2020, 12:19:49 PM
Mine is an Avian X Jake decoy and the hen is a old one that I thought looked good enough
Tim B
I just use some Testors acrylic model paint on the decoys when they get old. A little touch up and some enhancement of some things makes a difference.
My season here opens Apr. 18th and runs to the end of May so I have a long window of opportunity due to some changes the dnr made to seasons this year. The last three years I have been fortunate to tag a nice longbeard on opening morning with my bow. I like to get my bird out of the way so I can take friends out but with the social distancing thing this year I'm not sure how we'll work that out.
Here is last year's bird.
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View from the blind two year's ago. You can see the string tracker line going out the window but thanks to the Simmons Treeshark it wasn't needed as he died right in front of my Avian X Jake deke.
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2018 bird, short bloodtrail
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2017 bird
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PFUM, I use the 125gr bullheads on a full length GT400 3 fletch (5") arrow shooting about 52-54# recurve. I practice on a hanging bag target that swings when hit. Only one time have I had problems with bullheads, turns out one the blades wasn't in the ferrule perfectly straight from the factory otherwise they've performed well for me. I check everyone of them now before I shoot them. Looking back, it was kinda funny watching that arrow go up and up and up like a rocket ship after going over that Gobblers head.
Way too frustrated to deal with it. I have a tag, but for whatever reason my area has almost zero birds. I have seen 1 all spring so far, and haven't heard any talking anywhere around. Our winter wasn't too bad, but last years was awful, -38 degrees. Not sure if that is part of it, plus last year was a very very late wet spring.
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Marie and I are ready for opening day in Michigan.
I've been practicing with bullheads and they like a heavier arrow. They sell them as a set along with an arrow. They fly like darts, both the 100's and the 125's. For a target I use an old pillow with a turkey head and neck drawn on it and it works great, but it gets shredded pretty fast.
I also use the cardboard tube from paper towel rolls with a soft backstop like an old rug behind it. I haven't shot them past 15 or so yards, but I won't take a shot on a bird past that anyway.
Our annual Ohio turkey camp is a wash this spring, so I'll try a find a spot near here.
Dave.
[attachment=1]This is about 20 yards from my setup last year. Using a gillie suit and natural cover. Hope it works out this year!!
Quote from: BAK on April 09, 2020, 03:51:07 PM
Way too frustrated to deal with it. I have a tag, but for whatever reason my area has almost zero birds. I have seen 1 all spring so far, and haven't heard any talking anywhere around. Our winter wasn't too bad, but last years was awful, -38 degrees. Not sure if that is part of it, plus last year was a very very late wet spring.
Plenty of birds here in south central Iowa. They just started gobbling about two weeks ago, seen two gobblers fighting behind the house here 2 weekends ago. But this full moon even has a few gobbling in the middle of the night, something I never heard until this year.
Nice pics boys....glad to see y'all are fired up like me!
I'll be sticking with my Simmons tree sharks and going for the bigger vitals rather than the head.
Tim B
When I did some scouting during that full moon birds were gobbling EARLY. I mean very early. I was in the woods at 5am listening and they were going nuts! Typically I don't hear a whole lot of gobbling til about 545am. 3 birds were absolutely hammering at 5am. Im excited.
I'd normally be real fired up. We start in a week. The state closed state/county parks n forests.
I live surrounded by that. My job is trying to say we're working infrastructure. Supposed to close tonight by executive order. They're trying to force us to work. We're doing retail space remodeling.
Very aggravating n I always wanna work. Just don't like this whole scene this spring
I was going to return to Nebraska for turkeys. I have hunted a certain farm which has been very productive for me, but they are not selling any non-resident licenses this year. Bummer.
Looking forward to getting out and taking grandson, it will be his first year. The birds have been fanning and strutting since January, our season starts next month. Probably more hunters than usual, be careful and good luck.
Guys birds strut n gobble all year. It's a dominance thing.
Hope you n the grandson do great. Nothing better in my mind than introducing a kid to hunting w turkeys. I've got a phone full of pics, head full of memories.
Even have a bird wing feather under my visor. A lady one time walked into the archery shop I was teaching at. She asked if someone would take her young daughter. Her dad wasn't involved and no one would help her. She'd pay she said.
I told mom I'd take her, no money involved but she had to come w us as I wasn't taking some strange young girl in the woods alone in the dark.
Long story short we got her a longbeard. She insisted I take a "piece" and put the feather under my visor.
I've had 2 trucks since. It's moved both times and still stays under my visor.
I helped her w her first deer, ducks and pheasant too. She's a good kid. A marine now. God bless her.
As I get older I get more n more pleasure out of taking someone new. Things are easy if it's just me. With a kid it's another challenge and extra fulfilling.
Good luck to ya all
How could someone not wanna take her. Look at her smile
With my voice, I can do barred owl hoots, crow calls, hen sounds, and gobbles (I'm not joking). My weakness though is that I go hoarse from the hen sounds. So my overall plan is to get him gobbling with crow sounds and then get in as CLOSE as I can before I begin making the hen sounds, because once I start with the hen sounds I'm only good for about 35 minutes before I'm done.
I also just went out and bought a hen and jake decoy. My hope is he'll kick that jake around in the dirt long enough to give me the oppurtunity to move and draw my bow.
Hoping to arrow number 36 this season...The turkey trumpets are ready to sound off and the TimberGhost is primed to unleash the Tree Sharks to enjoy a feeding frenzy.
Action here in Kentucky starts the 18th.
My season starts in 2 weeks. My nephew will be out in the morning for youth season. I will watch from the porch
Most mornings I have 2-4 gobs in the yard at 6:30 I hope oliver gets a shot and I can watch [attachment=1]
Friend when you say turkey trumpets are you referring to trumpets? If so who's do you use??
Bowguy67...I have a stable of Turkey Trumpet calls...I hunt primarily with a Hornstra.
Very nice. Kinda they way trumpets are. Guys love em have a ton it seems. I can't use them too real well any more. I've got some cane calls, wing bones etc too I have a prob w now. When I'd gotten sick it made completely closing one side of my mouth difficult. I still try but I don't hunt w em. I actually don't use much for air blown calls now. Even diaphragms, I used dm over 30 years as an only call but they too offer some challenges. I have over come most of them.
Anything suction, like trumpets I can't seal well enough. Cool calls though.
Our good friend Monty Browning had a good start and a good season
Here is his GA bird he got with his longbow
Thinking about putting a fan on my bow. Anybody tried it?
Quote from: Pflum on April 11, 2020, 12:03:57 PM
Thinking about putting a fan on my bow. Anybody tried it?
No one real smart in my opinion
Just looking for any experience on effectiveness, am aware of the potential safety issues. Definitely not a technique for public land. Or New Jersey.
Marie and I set up a couple blinds for the opener next weekend. These are DB 270's. I put them on risers as they were a little short for comfortable longbow shooting.
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Very fine harvest Monty....Congrats!!!
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Saw these three gobblers in my backup public land spot. Tomorrow I go to the family farm for a scouting mission. Season opener is a week from today. Need to camo up a couple of feathers.
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Quote from: Pflum on April 11, 2020, 01:41:17 PM
Just looking for any experience on effectiveness, am aware of the potential safety issues. Definitely not a technique for public land. Or New Jersey.
Brother it's not a great idea no matter where you are. I have a friend who almost died. Pellets in his brain. He survived but lots of issues. Not in NY or NJ.
Another buddy was filming a wounded warier hunt. Guy was in a trap chair. Now they had the hunter in chair, video guy and 2 "callers".
Big piece of private land, again not in Nj. All of a sudden their decoy gets shot. Anyone sneaking up shoulda seen something.
Do what you like but Darwin's rules apply
Not sure as well but besides the safety some states don't allow it. Not sure if yours does.
Sorry I should add both on big pieces private property.
Wow, that's insane, really sorry to hear that happened to your buddy. Guess it's easy to assume everyone out hunting has at least a little common sense rolling around between the ears. Glad he lived through it, and hope there were some consequences for the shooter.
I remember a lot of guys last year were using the string trackers. I never have used one but admit I have thought about it. So far turkeys have only went a short distance before they died.
MO opens a week from tomorrow and I have the day off....
Tim B
Good luck guys. Congrats Monty.
Denny the blinds look great. Thank you for the riser idea.
My 12 year old nephew did good yesterday morning for the youth hunt. Proud of him. Hes not proficient enough with the bow yet so he used another tool. But he just moved up to a 38 lb kodiak and loves shooting so maybe soon?
Here's his turkey, I was watching it out the window when the pic was taken. I was hoping my brother took him to the natural blind behind our cabin. Turns out he did. [attachment=1]
I went out yesterday didn't see any Turkeys or sign so did some stump shooting.[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3][attachment=4]
Congratulations to your nephew Charlie
So I have been shooting lighter arrows to try to improve my 3D scores this year but this dang virus put a stop to that. Shooting Beeman ICS pro hunters 500 spine at 31 inches and 100 grain points for months. Afraid my 150 grain Woodsman might be too heavy I pulled out some old 100 grain Thunderheads and they shot really well at 20 yards. So I sharpen up the blades on 2 thunderheads to turkey hunt with. I also shot a Zwicky Delta that I believe is 135 gr and it shot well. Guess that will be my backup. Now I am trying to fashion a decoy. Wonder if I paint the wife's concrete goose black...
Have a couple jake decoys and several hens pretty realistic looking but only have Government land available to hunt and its all closed.
:campfire:
Anyone shooting spring birds without "popup" blinds? I use natural blinds...branches,logs,pine boughs,leaves. Just can't close the deal on a spring bird. Several nerve racking "almost" but no bird
Quote from: gordydog on April 13, 2020, 09:55:14 PM
Anyone shooting spring birds without "popup" blinds? I use natural blinds...branches,logs,pine boughs,leaves. Just can't close the deal on a spring bird. Several nerve racking "almost" but no bird
I'm using a pop-up to start but will have the waldrop pack seat to move if needed. Just hope it's not needed for the reasons you stated ha
Tim B
One more wake-up call left before the Kentucky opener.
I'm ready, got the gear piled up by the door. Shot the Bullheads a lot today. Rain and wind all day today, hopefully gets the birds moving in the morning.
Good luck boys! I'll be waitin on turkey pics! Gotta get this weekend over with then it's on Monday.
Tim B
Could not find a single striker for my glass call. So went to the workshop and made myself one :goldtooth: Now I'm ready to talk turkey :biglaugh:
Actually, I made two. I like the 340 arrow better than the 400.
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Birds a gobbin far off....did have a bearded hen at 25 yards....maybe better luck Monday...
Quote from: Bvas on April 18, 2020, 02:31:39 PM
Could not find a single striker for my glass call. So went to the workshop and made myself one :goldtooth: Now I'm ready to talk turkey :biglaugh:
Actually, I made two. I like the 340 arrow better than the 400.
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That shine :clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
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My hunting buddy of 43 years bagged this 11" beard, 22lb Michigan gobbler on the 2nd day of our season. He had two gobblers come off a hillside and into field about 80 yards away on first day and got no closer than 35 yards. He moved the blind to the entry point for day two and had a 12 yard shot and 10yard recovery with only one set of yelps on box call when they hit the ground and then he shut up. Location location location I believe is key. Super Shrew Classic Hunter II in 52" 45# did the trick. He said it's the nicest shooting Super Shrew he owns (picked up at this year's Kalamazoo winter expo) and he has a half dozen of them.
Quote from: trad_bowhunter1965 on April 12, 2020, 04:41:30 PM
I went out yesterday didn't see any Turkeys or sign so did some stump shooting.[attachment=1,msg2915514][attachment=2,msg2915514][attachment=3,msg2915514][attachment=4,msg2915514]
That's an interesting pot. Sorta like a cluck/purr pot. If not maybe there's it's a sound chamber? Is there a soundboard on that?? Who made it?
Nice bird...
I'm taking off tomorrow to hunt opening day. I've got a semi blind built in some cedars. I built it last weekend and set my chair up there today and put the finishing touches on it. Had 3 different gobblers sounding off this morning. They were gobbling their cool heads off. I'm hoping for good luck tomorrow.
Quote from: dnovo on April 19, 2020, 08:15:02 PM
I'm taking off tomorrow to hunt opening day. I've got a semi blind built in some cedars. I built it last weekend and set my chair up there today and put the finishing touches on it. Had 3 different gobblers sounding off this morning. They were gobbling their cool heads off. I'm hoping for good luck tomorrow.
Good luck Danny! I have the whole day off tomorrow.....
Tim B
Has anybody took a head shot with a single bevel?
I had two toms at 6 yards but there bodies were covered by a log. I wasn't comfortable taking the head shot due to no experience with single bevels. I'm confident that I can make the shot at that distance but I would appreciate some guidance or advice.
Thank You!
Single bevel Double bevel no difference
A lot of gobbling at daybreak then nothing - hunter till 1 and called in a hen....that's it....for now....
Tim B
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Had an exciting morning.
Nice Denny!
Great picture Denny. We have snow squalls and high winds this morning. Hopefully tomorrow morning will be my opportunity😉
Congrats Denny! Nice bird and great picture! My streak of opening day Toms came to an end this year. At one point the gobblers had me surrounded and I thought I was gonna have to fight my way out of the woods! They must have been adhering to some sort of social distancing protocol though because none ever showed. Me and my sexy slate will be back in the blind thursday morning! Good luck all!
Ray, I really like those green limbs on that Super Shrew. The turkey looks good too !
Wonderful harvest Denny...
Nice bird!! Congrats
Tim B
Pretty good day!
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Beautiful picture Gary. Congratulations!! Windy and spitting rain here today. Birds have been quiet and unpredictable in my historic spots. Tomorrow is last day of my one week hunt period up here and trying to make a connection.
Thanks Ray! Good luck tomorrow, hope it all comes together for ya!!
Tim B. - I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of some of those MO limb hangers!
Quote from: Flingblade on April 23, 2020, 10:49:02 PM
Thanks Ray! Good luck tomorrow, hope it all comes together for ya!!
Tim B. - I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of some of those MO limb hangers!
Ha me too! Nice bird there!! Congrats! That's a great pic too!
Tim B
Well it was a beautiful day in the woods but no turkeys heard or seen. Deer. Loons. Sandhill cranes. Geese and a plethora of crows. Nature entertained but the sun has set on my MI turkey season. Good luck to those still out.
Well my turkey hunt was suppose to start 4-30-20 on Illinois public land, but the state canceled all hunts on public land so no go for me. I found out by calling the Il. DNR to make sure, I wonder how many went to hunt not knowing Il. canceled public land Hunting. :dunno:
Love seeing the trad family members succeed.
Exciting hunt this morning but no bird. Had 4 gobble the whole way in but then hung up at 25 yds.
We will see what tomorrow brings
Good luck boys
Tim B
I've got hopes for tomorrow. (Don't we always?). It poured rain here from 4 am til 5 this afternoon. I'm getting out tomorrow. It's supposed to be cool and sunny. Come on gobblers. I've got my blind all set up.
I'm a bit late to this thread. Between my day job and shop, not to mention having 200 trees to plant, I wasn't sure I'd get to go this spring.
Things kinda came together today , rained too much to plant the trees (according to the internet) so put em in the spare refrigerator and got out my turkey medicine bow. Turns out it shoots same arrows as my deer hunting bow so I'm in!
Roosted a bird a bit ago and stuff is in truck. No blind, just a swivel chair and a lightweight ghillie... :pray:
Turkeys 2 , me 0
Roosted bird had 3 hens with him , another was coming but got intercepted .
Gotta spray a couple plots so I'm back home ...
This was on lease, saw about 15 deer and a yote ...
I heard 3 or 4 gobblers. Saw 2 hens come by my blind. I thought 1 gobbler was coming in but never showed.
My first Turkey hunt with a bow was in the early 70's. I have many Turkey stories but sad to say I never filled a Turkey tag using my traditional equipment. The last Turkey I shot with a Recurve was a nice Gobler I shot right through the chest. He went twenty yards and started to teetar and I shot at him two more times and he ran into a swamp and I never found him. I got discouraged and went on a Turkey killing spree using a shotgun. I'm back to hunting with my traditional bows.
In those long years hunting with longbows, recurves and self bows I called in over 100 Gobblers. Sounds like a lot but your talking over a 40 year span. If I could do it over I wouldn't change a thing.
Hang in there Will...
Since this is the turkey talk thread I thought I'd post a picture of how I take 'em apart. Hope you don't mind Tim. Over the years I've heard some hunters say, "I just breast 'em out and pitch the rest" and I always cringe when I hear that. I've never heard a traditional bowhunter say that though; we work too hard for our birds to waste nearly half the meat. I like to hang the bird by the legs to skin and gut and then I cut into pieces.
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I end up with the breast, back, hips, legs, wings, neck and heart. All these pieces go into the Instant Pot except the breast and heart. After 35 minutes the meat falls off the bone and is then used in many different recipes. When done this way you realize turkeys do have backstraps! And there are two nice size chunks of white meat on the hips that is some of my favorite. After boning the bones go back in the broth to be simmered for 24-48 hours on low to make a delicious bone broth. With the breast I like to bone it out, cut cross grain into 1 inch steaks, marinate and grill or bread and fry.
Let's see; white and dark meat for all kinds of good eats, feathers for fletching, spurs for necklaces, dried legs and feet for back scratchers, tail fans and beards for wall décor and wing bones for calls! What a game bird! It's often said of pigs you use everything but the squeal. I guess with turkeys it's everything but the gobble!
Best of luck to all those still hunting! I'll be happily following along!
How do you get the legs tender? One time at turkey camp, one of the guys cooked them in a pressure cooker and they came out as tough as tire treads. I have always ground the leg meat with half as much bacon and made burgers.
Dave.
Dave- I used to cook them for about 6-7 hours in a crock pot on low and that worked great but now 35 minutes in the Instant Pot does the same thing only much faster. But the first thing I do after cutting the bird up is soak them in a brine or salt water for at least a day and sometimes two. After brining and cooking the meat is tender and the large tendons in the legs just pull right out. How do you get those large tendons out to grind the meat?
Does anyone pluck turkeys? I've tried and found it to be way too much work. I like to pluck pheasant and puddle ducks but geese and turkeys are too much work.
The TimberGhost and I are going after them this morning.
Nice post flingblade!
Good luck friend.
I moved the blind for the upcoming weekend...
Tim B
I had a lot of trouble getting the Toms to come in and challenge my Jake decoy this year. Most mature Toms had live hens with them and always seemed to go the other way. Solo hens would come in and investigate my set up.
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Then I finally called in an entire flock. Three hens, four Jakes, and a mature Tom. When the Tom got close enough to get a good look at my decoy set up, he gobbled with outstretched neck and then charged straight in with all four Jakes in tow. He locked up in front of my Jake and started to circled. I drew and let fly the 2219 with 1 1/4 inch attached woodsman elite . The bird went 50 yards. Mike
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Envious of you guys and gals. This is a rough year with gobbling only on the roost. I'm trying to roost some as I am typing
My brother's bird.
Nice birds boys!!
Tim B
Quote from: Flingblade on April 27, 2020, 08:35:49 PM
Dave- I used to cook them for about 6-7 hours in a crock pot on low and that worked great but now 35 minutes in the Instant Pot does the same thing only much faster. But the first thing I do after cutting the bird up is soak them in a brine or salt water for at least a day and sometimes two. After brining and cooking the meat is tender and the large tendons in the legs just pull right out. How do you get those large tendons out to grind the meat?
Does anyone pluck turkeys? I've tried and found it to be way too much work. I like to pluck pheasant and puddle ducks but geese and turkeys are too much work.
I pull the tendons the hard way. It takes a good bit of time and I don't always use the drumsticks because there's more tendon than meat. Two thighs deboned and ground with half their weight in bacon makes about 8 good sized burgers.
Dave.
I posted scenes from last years turkey hunt that finished with a strutting hen. Mike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Ems-cSiqo
Awesome guys! Y'all are haven a great time out there, Congratulations to all of ya :clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
Looks like I have 3 more hunts before the season closes this Sunday at 1 pm. I've had a great season thus far yet haven't killed one yet. I have called in 13 bearded birds and numerous hens.
Staying after them and having fun....
Tim B
Good luck on your last 3 hunts Tim! Hope it all comes together for ya! Just curious; what part of the state are you in? My wife and I are planning to move to the Springfield area in a couple years. Looking for a shorter winter season and less snow.
Quote from: Flingblade on May 05, 2020, 08:15:48 AM
Good luck on your last 3 hunts Tim! Hope it all comes together for ya! Just curious; what part of the state are you in? My wife and I are planning to move to the Springfield area in a couple years. Looking for a shorter winter season and less snow.
Im on the other side of the state fling....in southeast MO
Tim B