Post by ARO on Apr 6, 2006 10:48:51 GMT -5
i hunted with the adobe lodge, on the mustang ranch in san angelo texas. the overall hunt was great, and the host's and guide could not have been nicer.
we arrived at the lodge around 1:30 pm, and after some lunch and a quick briefing, we were in the field hunting. i started off by a little running and gunning, but after about 3 hours calling, and spotting several groups of turkeys, i quickly realized that they were not responding to any calling. so i tried a little spot and stalking, i then learned this is almost impossible in texas, you can sometimes see the turkeys a couple hundred yards away, but they can see you too!!! with about an hour left in the evening hunt, i spotted some hens about 100 yards away, so i crept up to about 50 yards unseen, and set up behind a mesquite tree. they were feeding toward me and i watched them for about 20 minutes, now they were about 35 yards away. while i was sitting there enjoying the moment, and thinking about were i was going to set up the next morning, i noticed another turkey walking in. my eyes lit up when i saw it had a beard, it was a tom, and it came in with out a sound. i slowly raised my gun, and put the bead on the head, BOOM, all the turkeys scattered and there was one laying on the ground. i went over and sat down, and tried to soak in the moment. my first rio grande turkey, what a feeling!!
the next day i heard plenty of gobbling in the morning on the roost's, but once they hit the ground they quickly shutup. i spotted a bunch of turkey on the next draw over throughout the morning and evening, but did not connect were i was. the next morning, i set up were i saw the turkeys the day before, it turn's out, there is a food plot over there and thats where i saw the turkey. after seeing about 25 hens, with no gobblers in tow, two jakes made there way in. since we were aloud three turkeys i decided to take one of the jakes, turns out it had a five inch beard. all the ohter jakes i had seen thus far, just had stubs. we figured it must have been a jake from an early hatch.
that evening decided to try another spot behind the lodge, i found an old blind that someone had made out of mesquite branches, and decided to give it try. of course i did a complete rattlesnake inspection first!! i set up there and let out a single yelp, every ten minutes or so. after about half an hour, i was just sitting there daydreaming, when i look up, and low and behold there's gobbler, about 30 yards from me, just standing there. he slowly walked in and at about 15 yards started strutting, thats when i relized he must have heard my calls, and pin pointed exactly where they came from, and was doing his liitle dance for miss hen. thats where he made his fatal mistake, for misses hen turned out to be a 3 1/2" load of #6's. so my hunt was complete with just one more morning of hunting left, in which i went along with my friend tony, and watched him shoot his second turkey ever.
we arrived at the lodge around 1:30 pm, and after some lunch and a quick briefing, we were in the field hunting. i started off by a little running and gunning, but after about 3 hours calling, and spotting several groups of turkeys, i quickly realized that they were not responding to any calling. so i tried a little spot and stalking, i then learned this is almost impossible in texas, you can sometimes see the turkeys a couple hundred yards away, but they can see you too!!! with about an hour left in the evening hunt, i spotted some hens about 100 yards away, so i crept up to about 50 yards unseen, and set up behind a mesquite tree. they were feeding toward me and i watched them for about 20 minutes, now they were about 35 yards away. while i was sitting there enjoying the moment, and thinking about were i was going to set up the next morning, i noticed another turkey walking in. my eyes lit up when i saw it had a beard, it was a tom, and it came in with out a sound. i slowly raised my gun, and put the bead on the head, BOOM, all the turkeys scattered and there was one laying on the ground. i went over and sat down, and tried to soak in the moment. my first rio grande turkey, what a feeling!!
the next day i heard plenty of gobbling in the morning on the roost's, but once they hit the ground they quickly shutup. i spotted a bunch of turkey on the next draw over throughout the morning and evening, but did not connect were i was. the next morning, i set up were i saw the turkeys the day before, it turn's out, there is a food plot over there and thats where i saw the turkey. after seeing about 25 hens, with no gobblers in tow, two jakes made there way in. since we were aloud three turkeys i decided to take one of the jakes, turns out it had a five inch beard. all the ohter jakes i had seen thus far, just had stubs. we figured it must have been a jake from an early hatch.
that evening decided to try another spot behind the lodge, i found an old blind that someone had made out of mesquite branches, and decided to give it try. of course i did a complete rattlesnake inspection first!! i set up there and let out a single yelp, every ten minutes or so. after about half an hour, i was just sitting there daydreaming, when i look up, and low and behold there's gobbler, about 30 yards from me, just standing there. he slowly walked in and at about 15 yards started strutting, thats when i relized he must have heard my calls, and pin pointed exactly where they came from, and was doing his liitle dance for miss hen. thats where he made his fatal mistake, for misses hen turned out to be a 3 1/2" load of #6's. so my hunt was complete with just one more morning of hunting left, in which i went along with my friend tony, and watched him shoot his second turkey ever.
