Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting A few nice birds....

Despite the weather, we slammed some Rios last weekend and had an outstanding time.

We drove in on Friday to do alittle scouting and find a couple of good areas to set up Saturday morning. While scouting I bumped 3 jakes, saw a few hens, and found two good areas for Dad and I to set up Saturday morning before light. The weather report predicted high winds with gust in excess of 60mph for Saturday, cold and 40mph gust for Sunday, and even colder with 20mph winds on Monday, so I knew we'd better capitalize on every chance we had during the difficult weather.

Saturday morn I set Dad up in an area I'd taken a monster last year and I eased down to another location 500-600 yards down the creek. As I was walking to my spot some coyotes started to howl and 3 toms hammered off gobbles right on top of me. I was in the broad open, but felt the darkness would give me enough cover to get to my spot. I placed a jake and hen decoy in the field and eased over to a tree to settle in. As daylight came the 3 toms were hammering at every sound, so I let out some soft tree yelps to get them zoned in on my locale. When I felt it was light enough, I did a flydown and they ate it up. I was sitting there with my gun in my lap trying to decide which call to hit them with next when I caught movement and two of them came running in about half strut and blew up for a show at the decs. I waited a few seconds and slowly shouldered my gun as they put on the show. At 35 yds I lined them up and let 'em both have it with one shot. Two nice toms, one was a double beard that weighed in at 20lbs, 1" spurs, and had 9" and 9-1/8" beards. Bird 2 was 17lbs with a 10-3/8" beard, 15/16" and 1-1/16" spurs. Shortly after my double the high winds set in and hunting was nearly impossible. I don't even think a turkey could have stood in those fierce gust. Later we heard on the news that gust were recorded in excess of 70mph! Needless to say the rest of day one was toast with no birds seen.

Here's some pics of birds 1 and 2:





On day two we set-up near a field in some brush before light, but again the wind was fierce. It was below freezing making it even worse and after a fruitless hour we had to head to the truck for some heat! We decided to park on a high ridge overlooking several fields and wait for some birds to show before trying again. I start glassing and imediately spot 5 toms and you would know they were about 100 yards from where we'd froze our rear ends off 30 mins prior. I told Dad we had to hit em and he said he was sittin' right there in the truck and I could get out in that mess all I wanted. I couldn't stand it and had to make a stalk despite the wind and cool temps. I eased through the brush for cover for nearly a mile and when I arrived near the field for a good look, the birds were nowhere to be found. I watched for a while with no luck, so decided to slip through the brush and sit near the field edge for a while. As I was slipping through the brush, I caught movement and somehow I'd slipped right into the middle of the flock!! I had about 8 hens to my left and 5 toms straight ahead. They were hunkered down in the brush escaping the wind. The only problem was I could just see their heads and couldn't tell if they were longbeards or jakes. They finally spotted me, knew something was up, and started heading away. I finally caught a glimpse of a beard and let one have it. He was a real nice tom weighing in at 17-5/8lbs, 8-3/8" beard, and both hooks 1-3/8in. I toted that rascal a mile back to the truck and woke dad from his nap for a photo op :-)

Bird #3:




He couldn't stand it then, I'd already piled up three toms and he hadn't fired a shot. I told him you got to stick with them and press through the tough weather. He was fired up and ready then, so we slipped to a good looking area to try for him a bird. I set some decs about 25 yards out and we settled in for the sit. After everything settled a while I hit them with all I had to cut through the wind. We hadn't been sitting there 10mins when I spotted two toms in a dead run for our location. I told dad to get ready when they went behind some brush, so he eased his Browning to his knee. They stopped at about 50 yds, strutted a bit, and let out a few gobbles we could barely hear in the wind. I couln't even see them, but heard the saftey snap on that Browning and knew it was going to happen. He let one have it, the other bird flew straight up in the air at 25 yards, and dad dropped him stone dead like a goose from a pit blind. Two nice toms, one weighed 20lbs, 15/16" spurs, and a 7" beard. The other weighed 17lbs, 7/8" spurs, and triple beards!!(8", 7-1/2", 13/16")

Bird 4 & 5:

[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-031S-1-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-008S-5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-003S-7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-005S-6.jpg[/img]

Later that afternoon we set-up in the same spot he took the double at noon. After 3 hours we spotted a flock in the distance traveling a field edge and decided to make a loop to get ahead. Along the way I hung back and let dad go ahead. After a while I heard a faint gobble right on top of his locale followed by the crack of his Browning minutes later. He'd laid the smack on a real bruiser at a mere 15 yards and said there were several other good ones with the one he shot. Day two and we'd already laid the smack on 6 birds in some tough conditions, it was definitely time to ease into town for a victory steak :-) Dad's bird weighed in at 21lbs, 1-1/4" hooks, Double Bearded 8-3/8" and 8-5/8"

Bird 6:
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-011S-5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-012S-2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-014S-3.jpg[/img]

I'm thinking it just doesn't get any better than this, but I still had a tag to burn and a few hours to hunt yesterday morning so we hit em again. It was 29 degrees with a stiff North wind, dad decided to hang out near the creek bottom where I'd taken the double on day one and I went back to the spot I'd killed my 3rd bird on day two. It was pretty cold, but the gobbles at daylight warmed me right up. I had several hens and 4-5 toms pitch out into a field at about 200 yards. They put on a heck of a show fighting, strutting, and gobbling a bit, but I was no match to the flock of live hens mouthing off in the field. After a while I spotted two specks on the far side of the field and sure enough it was two toms heading for the pack. One ran straight to the flock only stopping a couple of times to peer at my decs. When the second tom got to about 500 yards I hit him with everything I had on a diaphram and aluminum pot to cut through the wind. He loved it stopping to strut and gobble a bit. As he neared the flock, I thought it was over, but hit him as hard as I could again. He stopped and strutted again, so I hit him hard again, that rascal broke strut, and made tracks in my direction. When he hit 50 yds he puffed up again and I hit him with some sweet talk one more time. He couldn't stand it he ran right up to the decs and blew up again for the love dance. I let him impress the plastic lady for a while, then let him have it at about 20 yards. He weighed in at 19.5lbs, had a 9-1/4" beard, and 15/16" spurs.

Bird 7:
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-019S-2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-020S-2.jpg[/img]

It was a hunt turkey hunters dream of and if we never did it again, we'll always remember this one. I just can't imagine it getting any better. When I heard the forecast Friday night, I was just hoping we'd get a bird, never even imagined we stack them like cord wood :-)

This one says it all:
[img]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Reloader01/MVC-027S.jpg[/img]

They were taken with my reloads, the "Hammer" line.

The intense winds and dry conditions really put our rigs to the test(blowing grit). I used one 870 for two days and it finally got difficult to shift at the end of day two, so I switched to my back-up 870 and smoked the last one with it. The Browing Gold was a single shot mid day on the second day.

Have a Good One,

Reloader

Holy mackerel! Nice going guys!!!

Does Texas have any turkeys left? LOL!

You dropped them like geese!

You can't beat a hunt like that.

Youse guys are killin' machines. Congrats on a great hunt...and sticking to it through some tough conditions. Thanks for sharing the hunt and the pictures.

Nice birds, but what's with the heavy coats?

Outstanding!

Thanks Guys.

Steve, it was 29 deg with 40mph wind, so the wind chill was a bit nippy

Ya'll have a good one,

Reloader7RM

That was one heck of a hunt.Good luck topping that and thanks for the story.

NICE stack of birds....
That sounds like a heck of a hunt...