My buddy and I had a great trip to TX last week on a swap hunt. Great weather and lots of birds....lots of birds. I forgot how much Rios like to talk. Gobbling on the roost was off the chart.
Day 1
1st day, 1st setup, Got out of the truck and let loose an owl hoot and nothing!. Did it again same thing... Our host said that's weird there should be birds here. So I went to town on the hooter and that brokem loose. LOL there were birds gobbling to me, gobbling to gobbles and everything in between. We had at least 2 going cuckoo about 500 yds from us so we went and set up for them.
We found a good setup spot up about 100-150 yds from them.These birds were sooooo hot! For the fun of it, I was trying to see how quietly I could call and still get them to gobble. I pulled out the box call and was calling so soft I could barley hear it....but they sure had no trouble. About 5 min after legal we had two nice 3yr old type birds fly off the roost. They came running into about 30yds and got nervous and started to leave. After 4 whispered "do u have a shot?" to my buddy and 4 "no" as they were leaving the setup I took them at a longer distance than I'd normally shoot. 9 3/4" beards 1 1/4 spurs on both
As we were taking pics we could hear more birds going nuts about 1/2 mile further up the creek. So off we went. Turned out to be 2 groups. Group one was 3 long beards getting a drink at a stock tank and group two was 2 long beards and 7-8 hens moving towards the tank. We set up in some live oaks and started working the birds. The group one went nuts, and started running several hundred yards towards us. They hung up about 75yds out and then shut up and walked past...was one of the weirder turkey call ins ive seen. They for sure didn't see us. Not sure what happened. Good thing was the other group was still sounding off and moving down a ranch road. So we moved around on them and set up. I started calling and the hens started calling back and the toms went nuts. This continued for about 5 min and I started cutting...which ticked off one of the hens and she started coming to give me a piece of her mind.....dragging the whole flock with her. At 40yds they all stopped (think they saw my buddy move) and started to mill and flick the wings around with that "Im about to leave attitude". but at 40 yds the 20ga with #9 tss was more than enough and my buddy collected his first Rio
We still had birds gobbling...and tags but also had 2 days of hunting left so decided to call it at 930 as the temps were already in the mid-70s.
Day 2
We went down to the other end of the ranch which paralleled a river. We had birds gobbling at the 1st stop but our host thought they were on the neighbor’s property on the other side of the river so we moved on. 2nd stop a grove of live oaks lit up to an owl hoot…and so did some owls. We figured there were at least 2 maybe three birds gobbling. We moved in and set up about 100 yds from them on the edge of a small meadow. For the next 30 min we listened to one of the coolest performances Ive seen/heard in 35yrs of turkey hunting. The owls must have had a nest in the live oaks right across the meadow from the turkeys. The turkeys and owls were maybe 70yds apart. The owls would hoot and the turkeys would lose their minds. Over the course of the 30 min show, we heard the owls hoot, scream, moan, chirp and monkey call nonstop…and the turkeys were just losing their minds. I’m pretty convinced the owls were doing it deliberate. It was a tag team show of epic proportions. LOL It was just awesome!
About legal shooting time I started calling and shortly after that 3 mature birds dropped down….into the trees rather than into the nice little meadow I had anticipated…and set up for. They came in hard on our extreme left sorta behind the 6 foot dia live oak we were sitting against.…and into about 8 feet. That didn’t last long and they started leaving putting. Since my buddy was on the left it was all him and he rolled around the tree and dumped one at about 25yds. I had no shot. 2 yr old w/8" beard 3/4" spurs
Since it was like 720am and we could hear more birds further out towards the river and way off in another direction we skipped the picture taking for the time being and started hiking towards the closest gobbling towards the river. These birds it turned out were on the far side of the river on different property….but there were a pile of birds gobbling over there. So with nothing we could do with this group we went back to the truck. As we were closing in on it, I spotted a tom with two hens strutting in the rd about 500 yds away. We made an attempt to circle around through the brush. If any of u ever find yourself in this scenario in south TX….don’t do it!! That stuff is sooo thick and thorny it’s stupid. We called it quits and went to the truck to look for band aids. After getting into the truck it was about 9am so we decided to run and gun to the end of the ranch a couple miles further down river. We didn’t make it a mile before we had a big group of birds sound off.
We parked and moved up over a little hump in the road, AKA south TX hill, and glassed down the rd. About ¼ mile down was a pile of strutting birds and some hens. I can’t say for sure how many, but I counted 7 strutters (my buddy later said there were several others not strutting). So since I’m somewhat dense in the head, I once again forayed into the TX brush…solo this time (buddy isn’t as dense). I was able to get through it for a ways and was able to get around them. I set up and started calling, they gobbled, I called, they gobbled..as they slowly moved towards me….went on for about 20 min, when right beside me a bird came running in from the opposite direction to about 15 feet, gobbled, saw me, turned and ran away putting….I “think” it was a jake but couldn’t say for sure. I can say this bird spooked the big group that was coming towards me and they started to move the other way. So back into the jungle I went and got around them again and set up…but in a real poor location, but my only option without spooking the birds. Once set up I started calling and they were close, maybe 75 yds and started moving my way. Pretty quick I could see red heads and fans coming. Within about 10 min I had the whole flock at 20yds but there was low growing brush and all I could see were red heads and fans. Also all the toms were in a real tight wad. I knew if I tried to shoot one…more than one was going down. So I started to putt….that didn’t work they just gobbled to it. So I waved my arm. They saw that and most of them started to leave. I still had 3 strutters in a wad and a hen right in front of me under 20 yards. I had the red dot on their heads and as soon as one split off a few feet I touched off. Rio #3 9 3/4" beard 1 1/8" spurs
By now it was noonish and HOT. So we called it a day.
Day 3
Day three was a totally different beast. A low pressure system moved in overnight and really shut the birds down. This wasn’t a real big deal as we had already had a great hunt.
My buddy decided to set up a blind with his bow on a water tank we had seen birds using both days prior. I decided to go after a giant bird our host knew of in the high fence section of the ranch. My buddy had a flock come into about 60 yds but they didn’t like the blind or the decoy or something and left.
I got on a roosted gobbler with hens right where I was told the big bird should be. But when his feet touched the ground his beak locked up and they went into the brush. I drove around trying to run and gun a bird and got a couple birds to gobble but they were not hot, one or two responses and then they shut up. I glassed up a pair of longbeards on a rd and moved in on them but they weren’t interested. I went and picked up my buddy and while driving back to the ranch house we came across 5 longbeards in a field strutting all alone. SWEET!!!! So we snuck around got setup. We could see the birds about 100 yds away on the edge of the field just standing there kind of chilling in the shade. I sent out some yelps, they all went into full strut and gobbled milled around and bee lined it for the far end of the field at a fast walk. They would gobble to every call but never stopped. They hit the brush and disappeared. Left me with a WTH?????? Look on my face. LOL
All in all it was a fantastic trip. My only complaint is I got into turkey mode and have to wait three weeks for MT to open now. LOL
Being a fish nerd I thought seeing USAs only native cichlid, the Rio Grande perch, was as cool as the turkey hunting...they taste good too
Day 1
1st day, 1st setup, Got out of the truck and let loose an owl hoot and nothing!. Did it again same thing... Our host said that's weird there should be birds here. So I went to town on the hooter and that brokem loose. LOL there were birds gobbling to me, gobbling to gobbles and everything in between. We had at least 2 going cuckoo about 500 yds from us so we went and set up for them.
We found a good setup spot up about 100-150 yds from them.These birds were sooooo hot! For the fun of it, I was trying to see how quietly I could call and still get them to gobble. I pulled out the box call and was calling so soft I could barley hear it....but they sure had no trouble. About 5 min after legal we had two nice 3yr old type birds fly off the roost. They came running into about 30yds and got nervous and started to leave. After 4 whispered "do u have a shot?" to my buddy and 4 "no" as they were leaving the setup I took them at a longer distance than I'd normally shoot. 9 3/4" beards 1 1/4 spurs on both
As we were taking pics we could hear more birds going nuts about 1/2 mile further up the creek. So off we went. Turned out to be 2 groups. Group one was 3 long beards getting a drink at a stock tank and group two was 2 long beards and 7-8 hens moving towards the tank. We set up in some live oaks and started working the birds. The group one went nuts, and started running several hundred yards towards us. They hung up about 75yds out and then shut up and walked past...was one of the weirder turkey call ins ive seen. They for sure didn't see us. Not sure what happened. Good thing was the other group was still sounding off and moving down a ranch road. So we moved around on them and set up. I started calling and the hens started calling back and the toms went nuts. This continued for about 5 min and I started cutting...which ticked off one of the hens and she started coming to give me a piece of her mind.....dragging the whole flock with her. At 40yds they all stopped (think they saw my buddy move) and started to mill and flick the wings around with that "Im about to leave attitude". but at 40 yds the 20ga with #9 tss was more than enough and my buddy collected his first Rio
We still had birds gobbling...and tags but also had 2 days of hunting left so decided to call it at 930 as the temps were already in the mid-70s.
Day 2
We went down to the other end of the ranch which paralleled a river. We had birds gobbling at the 1st stop but our host thought they were on the neighbor’s property on the other side of the river so we moved on. 2nd stop a grove of live oaks lit up to an owl hoot…and so did some owls. We figured there were at least 2 maybe three birds gobbling. We moved in and set up about 100 yds from them on the edge of a small meadow. For the next 30 min we listened to one of the coolest performances Ive seen/heard in 35yrs of turkey hunting. The owls must have had a nest in the live oaks right across the meadow from the turkeys. The turkeys and owls were maybe 70yds apart. The owls would hoot and the turkeys would lose their minds. Over the course of the 30 min show, we heard the owls hoot, scream, moan, chirp and monkey call nonstop…and the turkeys were just losing their minds. I’m pretty convinced the owls were doing it deliberate. It was a tag team show of epic proportions. LOL It was just awesome!
About legal shooting time I started calling and shortly after that 3 mature birds dropped down….into the trees rather than into the nice little meadow I had anticipated…and set up for. They came in hard on our extreme left sorta behind the 6 foot dia live oak we were sitting against.…and into about 8 feet. That didn’t last long and they started leaving putting. Since my buddy was on the left it was all him and he rolled around the tree and dumped one at about 25yds. I had no shot. 2 yr old w/8" beard 3/4" spurs
Since it was like 720am and we could hear more birds further out towards the river and way off in another direction we skipped the picture taking for the time being and started hiking towards the closest gobbling towards the river. These birds it turned out were on the far side of the river on different property….but there were a pile of birds gobbling over there. So with nothing we could do with this group we went back to the truck. As we were closing in on it, I spotted a tom with two hens strutting in the rd about 500 yds away. We made an attempt to circle around through the brush. If any of u ever find yourself in this scenario in south TX….don’t do it!! That stuff is sooo thick and thorny it’s stupid. We called it quits and went to the truck to look for band aids. After getting into the truck it was about 9am so we decided to run and gun to the end of the ranch a couple miles further down river. We didn’t make it a mile before we had a big group of birds sound off.
We parked and moved up over a little hump in the road, AKA south TX hill, and glassed down the rd. About ¼ mile down was a pile of strutting birds and some hens. I can’t say for sure how many, but I counted 7 strutters (my buddy later said there were several others not strutting). So since I’m somewhat dense in the head, I once again forayed into the TX brush…solo this time (buddy isn’t as dense). I was able to get through it for a ways and was able to get around them. I set up and started calling, they gobbled, I called, they gobbled..as they slowly moved towards me….went on for about 20 min, when right beside me a bird came running in from the opposite direction to about 15 feet, gobbled, saw me, turned and ran away putting….I “think” it was a jake but couldn’t say for sure. I can say this bird spooked the big group that was coming towards me and they started to move the other way. So back into the jungle I went and got around them again and set up…but in a real poor location, but my only option without spooking the birds. Once set up I started calling and they were close, maybe 75 yds and started moving my way. Pretty quick I could see red heads and fans coming. Within about 10 min I had the whole flock at 20yds but there was low growing brush and all I could see were red heads and fans. Also all the toms were in a real tight wad. I knew if I tried to shoot one…more than one was going down. So I started to putt….that didn’t work they just gobbled to it. So I waved my arm. They saw that and most of them started to leave. I still had 3 strutters in a wad and a hen right in front of me under 20 yards. I had the red dot on their heads and as soon as one split off a few feet I touched off. Rio #3 9 3/4" beard 1 1/8" spurs
By now it was noonish and HOT. So we called it a day.
Day 3
Day three was a totally different beast. A low pressure system moved in overnight and really shut the birds down. This wasn’t a real big deal as we had already had a great hunt.
My buddy decided to set up a blind with his bow on a water tank we had seen birds using both days prior. I decided to go after a giant bird our host knew of in the high fence section of the ranch. My buddy had a flock come into about 60 yds but they didn’t like the blind or the decoy or something and left.
I got on a roosted gobbler with hens right where I was told the big bird should be. But when his feet touched the ground his beak locked up and they went into the brush. I drove around trying to run and gun a bird and got a couple birds to gobble but they were not hot, one or two responses and then they shut up. I glassed up a pair of longbeards on a rd and moved in on them but they weren’t interested. I went and picked up my buddy and while driving back to the ranch house we came across 5 longbeards in a field strutting all alone. SWEET!!!! So we snuck around got setup. We could see the birds about 100 yds away on the edge of the field just standing there kind of chilling in the shade. I sent out some yelps, they all went into full strut and gobbled milled around and bee lined it for the far end of the field at a fast walk. They would gobble to every call but never stopped. They hit the brush and disappeared. Left me with a WTH?????? Look on my face. LOL
All in all it was a fantastic trip. My only complaint is I got into turkey mode and have to wait three weeks for MT to open now. LOL
Being a fish nerd I thought seeing USAs only native cichlid, the Rio Grande perch, was as cool as the turkey hunting...they taste good too
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