What a great weekend hunt. Lots of Rio Grande gobblers.
The first morning was a comedy of errors. Lunchtime was quiet back at the ranch; no one had fired a shot. Which is not to say the morning's hunt was uneventful: Johnny had a longbeard and its entourage of jakes in his lap for a spell but they had somehow gotten the drop on him and he couldn't shoot; O.B. was within about 35 yards of an about-faced strutter, ducked down to slide off his vest to crawl a few more feet and when he peeked over the bushes *poof* the bird and his harem of hens had quietly vanished; Big Joe had seen 6 longbeards at several of the morning's set ups and in each instance, cattle had wandered in and "because cows are bigger than turkeys" pushed the turkeys out.
My first morning? Nothing like the first morning hunt and seeing 3 jakes followed by 2 rio longbeards coming purposefully across the field at first light, marching right towards you, and then seeing them slide off to the other side of the tree line about 100 yards away...and then a half hour later realizing that they've slipped right past, completely undetected. Later, after sneaking down the dried up creek bed seeing them some 75 yards distant blowed up at each other like high school boys looking in a weight room mirror, but then watching them ignore my practiced, if not darned right seductive, hen calls because they were too preoccupied with a half dozen little hot-talking hens further down the creek bed. And then suddenly remembering: I'm a duck hunter!
The mood at dinner had changed 180 degrees following our afternoon turkey hunt. That was the afternoon Big Joe had suddenly heard an eruption of excited gobbles. Five big, rio gobblers had entered the field, seen the poor, plastic jake decoy, strode to the set like "five wagon wheels" and commenced to slapping the little jake decoy around. Until Big Joe just couldn't stand the horrific site a moment longer. One drop of the single shot's hammer, 3 dead long beards.
That was the same afternoon that O.B. caught up with Johnny's lapdancing longbeard from that same morning, put a bead at the base of that gobbler's neck and returned to camp with not 1, but 2 rios. We finished the day with 2 shots fired, 5 Rio Grand turkeys, mesquite grilled pork chops, high-fives and hunting stories. Johnny provides great narrative of his turkey hunt, but what he omits from his colorfully told story (besides us riding him for 3 long days and nights about his turkey hunt misadventures, like only long-term hunting partners can) was not only that he took it to the absolute bare wire before finally pulling the trigger, but that he was prepared to hunt until dark, if necessary, to do so!
From a distance I heard the shot and remember saying to myself, "Whew, he got it". The first was followed quickly by a second shot and I remember saying to myself, " Self, you need to put on the big spurs because that boy just missed". No mistaking what really happened: that pair of heavyweight rios was prominently displayed on the hood of the truck for all the world to see when they pulled. I'd seen them from a half-mile away. It was a great weekend, a great turkey hunt with plenty of drinks, laughs, 2-pound porterhouse steaks and rios. Lots of rios. Yep - everyone's going back. For more information about your Rio Grande turkey hunt, contact me toll free 1-866-438-3897.
Ramsey Russell GetDucks.com
The first morning was a comedy of errors. Lunchtime was quiet back at the ranch; no one had fired a shot. Which is not to say the morning's hunt was uneventful: Johnny had a longbeard and its entourage of jakes in his lap for a spell but they had somehow gotten the drop on him and he couldn't shoot; O.B. was within about 35 yards of an about-faced strutter, ducked down to slide off his vest to crawl a few more feet and when he peeked over the bushes *poof* the bird and his harem of hens had quietly vanished; Big Joe had seen 6 longbeards at several of the morning's set ups and in each instance, cattle had wandered in and "because cows are bigger than turkeys" pushed the turkeys out.
My first morning? Nothing like the first morning hunt and seeing 3 jakes followed by 2 rio longbeards coming purposefully across the field at first light, marching right towards you, and then seeing them slide off to the other side of the tree line about 100 yards away...and then a half hour later realizing that they've slipped right past, completely undetected. Later, after sneaking down the dried up creek bed seeing them some 75 yards distant blowed up at each other like high school boys looking in a weight room mirror, but then watching them ignore my practiced, if not darned right seductive, hen calls because they were too preoccupied with a half dozen little hot-talking hens further down the creek bed. And then suddenly remembering: I'm a duck hunter!
The mood at dinner had changed 180 degrees following our afternoon turkey hunt. That was the afternoon Big Joe had suddenly heard an eruption of excited gobbles. Five big, rio gobblers had entered the field, seen the poor, plastic jake decoy, strode to the set like "five wagon wheels" and commenced to slapping the little jake decoy around. Until Big Joe just couldn't stand the horrific site a moment longer. One drop of the single shot's hammer, 3 dead long beards.
That was the same afternoon that O.B. caught up with Johnny's lapdancing longbeard from that same morning, put a bead at the base of that gobbler's neck and returned to camp with not 1, but 2 rios. We finished the day with 2 shots fired, 5 Rio Grand turkeys, mesquite grilled pork chops, high-fives and hunting stories. Johnny provides great narrative of his turkey hunt, but what he omits from his colorfully told story (besides us riding him for 3 long days and nights about his turkey hunt misadventures, like only long-term hunting partners can) was not only that he took it to the absolute bare wire before finally pulling the trigger, but that he was prepared to hunt until dark, if necessary, to do so!
From a distance I heard the shot and remember saying to myself, "Whew, he got it". The first was followed quickly by a second shot and I remember saying to myself, " Self, you need to put on the big spurs because that boy just missed". No mistaking what really happened: that pair of heavyweight rios was prominently displayed on the hood of the truck for all the world to see when they pulled. I'd seen them from a half-mile away. It was a great weekend, a great turkey hunt with plenty of drinks, laughs, 2-pound porterhouse steaks and rios. Lots of rios. Yep - everyone's going back. For more information about your Rio Grande turkey hunt, contact me toll free 1-866-438-3897.
Ramsey Russell GetDucks.com
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