Val Verde County in far southwest Texas - ruggedly beautiful
and full of everything that sticks, bites, stings, and
scratches. This is where
TexasOutdoorsman.com Editor Tyge Floyd and
myself chose to hunt opening weekend of spring turkey
season. Our choice of opening weekend hunting locations was
made easy with a warm invitation from
Canyon Creek Outfitters president, Eldon
Whitworth.
Eldon has been guiding hunters for over thirteen years and
has a wonderful philosophy about his hunts. He feels
that your "whole family should be involved in the hunting
experience". Eldon believes the hunting tradition needs to
be passed down to our children and their children. The man
practices what he preaches. Eldon's father Byron, oldest
son Stephen, and lovely wife Shonda, all work with him to
try and have you "experience more than just a great hunt".
From the time we arrived until the time we left, all seven
hunters in camp were made to feel welcome, comfortable, and
very well fed.
Pandale, Texas - in the northwest corner of Val Verde County
- was the location of our campsite. Our accommodations were
great with a very large air conditioned/heated cabin. The
cabin was complete with comfortable beds, lounge area with a
big-screen TV, restroom, shower, and huge kitchen. Speaking
of the kitchen, every hunter in camp probably "put on a few
pounds" with all the great meals which were served three
times a day.
All
of Eldon's
Canyon Creek Outfitters hunt's are fully guided
and include on-ranch transportation, meals, and lodging.
The hunting ranch is teeming with white-tailed deer, quail,
doves, and javelinas. There is also lots of fishing in the
Pecos River and varmint hunting. During our time on the
ranch, Eldon and three of his guides - Carl, Craig, and
Tracy - were friendly, knowledgeable, and had up-beat,
positive attitudes. They asked each hunter lots of
questions to insure that they could put us on the type and
quality of game that we wanted to harvest. One of the
guides, Tracy, put on quite a show in camp one night with
his singing and guitar playing. Again, the theme of a
"family atmosphere" was felt.
The
opening morning of spring turkey season started early with a
4:00 AM wake-up. But, that wasn't too bad with the smells
of bacon, eggs, sausage, and made-from-scratch
biscuits drifting in the air. Those smells plus the
excitement of opening morning got everyone up, dressed, and
fed in a hurry.
As
good outfitters do, the guides had a predetermined location
where they wanted us to set-up and start calling from. Some
of the hunters wanted the guides to do the calling. Eldon
was to be our guide and he gave us the option of us or him
calling to these southwest Texas spring kings. Having the
nickname "Da Guru" means that I should know what I'm doing.
So, I decided to do most of the calling with Eldon backing
me up with his sweet, sexy, hens yelps. Eldon was also
toting a digital video camera to film our hunt. This would
be my first time under the harsh glare of the camera while
hunting! For those of you who don't know me or who haven't
seen my picture, I have a face and body better suited for
radio! I would be trying to harvest a bird with a
shotgun while Tyge was going to try his luck with a bow.
Eldon had made a ground blind for us to film and either
shotgun or bow hunt from. The ground blind was well
constructed, roomy, and relatively cactus free. After
setting up our two hen decoys and settling into our blind,
we began calling with a few soft tree yelps. We were nearly
knocked over with an immediate, loud gobble from an oak tree
130 yards away. With a gobbler this close and daylight
rapidly approaching, very little calling was needed. After
about forty minutes of gobbling and strutting on the
top-most tree limb, our tom and his three companions flew
out of the tree in the opposite direction!
We
were a little disappointed as we thought we were set-up on a
sure thing. The tom continued to gobble in response to our
calls, but it was obvious that they were moving farther and
farther away. Knowing the land well, Eldon suggested that
we try and get ahead of the birds. Our guide felt the birds
were headed to a long, open draw about 200 yards away. So,
we hot-footed it after our gobbler.
We
reached the draw and it looked like the perfect place for a
turkey to strut and gobble in! A long, open section of land
with tall hills on either side. There was lots of small
mesquite trees, scrubby oaks, and cactus! We set up a blind
for Tyge to bow hunt from and I spent some time clearing out
a "safe spot" under a mesquite tree for me to sit under. We
settled in and began calling again.
About every eight to fifteen minutes, I would try a series
of yelps, clucks, purrs, or combinations of all. I used
different pitched diaphragm calls - both clear and raspy. I
also used strikers of different materials on a double-glass
slate call and my favorite box call. None of them had the
desired effect as I could only raise one far off gobble for
the next three hours. During the morning and early
afternoon, a cool front blew in. The wind changed
directions, the temperature dropped, and it rained off and
on. The weather was causing us problems that our guide and
our calling just couldn't seem to overcome.
In an adjacent draw, we heard a shot, followed by a lot of
hollering and yelling. So, we picked up and headed that way
as lunch time was getting close. One of our hunting
companions from Kentucky, Billy Goley Sr. (on the right,
with his son Billy Jr.), had harvested a nice three year old
tom with the help of his guide, Tracy Beams. After the hand
shakes and pictures were taken, we all decided to head back
to camp and break for lunch. After another great meal with
the required story telling, more picture taking, several
strategy sessions, a power nap, and a vicious game of
Hearts, it was time to head back to the field.
The
three of us decided that our gobbler would most likely
return to the open draw where he could try and attract some
new lady friends. Also, his roost tree was nearby and there
weren't many other trees in the area over fifteen feet
tall. We headed back to our earlier positions with Eldon
setting up near me with the video camera.
The
weather continued to get worse. The rain came back and the
wind really started to blow. My decoys were jumping and
spinning like they were being electrocuted. We hunkered
down and waited out the weather. I continued to call loudly
every so often when there was a break in the wind. Since
the wind was blowing in our face, I was afraid only turkeys
behind us would hear our calls. After a couple of hours of
not-so-great weather, it broke for the better. The rained
stopped and the sun broke through the clouds.
As
I am prone to do in the spring while turkey hunting, I dozed
off. The combination of lunch, being cold and wet, followed
by the sun coming out, did the trick. But thankfully, our
guide Eldon was alert and looking in the right direction. I
was awakened by hearing my name being repeated again and
again. I slowly opened my eyes and scanned the area, but I
couldn't see anything. Our guide still didn't think that I
was awake. His voice was getting more urgent and louder.
He finally quit calling my name and loudly whispered,
"LEFT"! I slowly swiveled my head 180 degrees to the left
and about 120 yards away was a big old tom! Eldon almost
hollered this time, "LEFT!!!". I said, "I'm on him boss
man"! I'm sure he was ready to strangle me thinking that I
was asleep all that time, but it was all part of my master
plan?!?!?
This old gobbler was used to having his way with the
ladies. He was not used to the hens not coming to him. My
hen decoys were still mostly spinning and jerking like they
were possessed because of the high winds. The tom would
give the decoys a good look, break into a short strut, then
walk slowly towards them while feeding.
Well, this wasn't my first rodeo! I do know enough not to
call when a tom is moving towards your position. First, if
he's feeding and moving towards your position, he is calm,
interested, and basically focused on your decoys. Second,
calling at this time, after he's seen the decoys, will only
cause him to look for the source of the calling - you.
Third, having a turkey look at you, instead of looking at
the decoys, is normally not a good idea.
At
about 75 yards, the tom hung up next to a cedar tree and
wouldn't come any closer. He was still interested and still
puffing up like a beach ball, but he wouldn't come any
closer. I gave him about four minutes and then tried a few
raspy yelps. He cut my calls off with a loud gobble and
then stretched out his neck and put the "big eye" on us. As
I mentioned above, having a turkey eyeball you is usually
not a good idea. He was hanging up and I felt he was
becoming suspicious. But, being very still and
wearing quality camouflage can give you a good chance of
staying unseen. It worked and the spring king continued to
move and feed towards the decoys. At about 60 yards he hung
up again next to a mesquite tree. This time I tried a
little purring and it worked. I was rewarded with a double
gobble and the tom continued on his love stroll. At
around 40 yards he stopped again. This is where I almost
blew it big time!
With the wind blowing my decoys so hard and the tom taking
so long to get into position, I was getting very nervous. I
have been hunting for many years and I never get nervous. I
get excited, but not nervous. I always go through a
"pre-firing ritual" that includes controlling my breathing
and a metal checklist. My mental checklist includes
ensuring that my weapon is shouldered properly, that my head
is down on the stock, that I am sighting properly (not
looking above the sights), that the sights are on the exact
spot that I want to hit, etc... But, I found myself not
breathing and thinking negative thoughts like "DON'T MISS -
JUST DON'T MISS - DON'T MISS"! I would normally be clear
headed and confident. But, I was sweating, nervous, and not
breathing!
Then, it dawned on me why - I was scared to death of missing
on camera!!! I have never been filmed before while hunting
and I was afraid that I would miss this shot. I looked over
at Eldon and he was focused in on the bird with the camera.
He was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. But,
I wasn't. I was "choking under pressure". I actually
laughed a little to myself at that thought. I starting
breathing again and relaxing a little bit. I looked back at
the tom and decided it was now or never. It looked like a
very long shot, the bird was hanging up, and the wind was
blowing very hard. The gobbler was in an alert position
with his neck fully extended. I aimed slightly to the right
of dead center on his neck, allowing for the high wind. I
held my shotgun steady as I began squeezing the trigger very
slowly so that it would be a "surprise" to me when the gun
actually fired...
They say that laughter is the best medicine. They also say
that you learn more from your mistakes/losses, than from
your victories. I sure did! Like I said earlier, southwest
Texas "is full of everything that sticks, bites, stings, and
scratches". I accidentally put my hand down in some
prickly-pear cactus while posing for pictures with my first
southwest Texas turkey! I didn't miss my shot and it was
recorded on film. We "laser-ranged" the shot and it was 42
1/2 yards in a very high wind. The bird weighed 19 pounds,
the right spur was 1 1/8", left spur was 1", the beard was 9
7/8", and the fan was in perfect condition.
This Rio Grande turkey is not the best bird that I have ever
harvested. I have never had an animal mounted before, but I
am going to have this bird mounted. It was the best shot on
an animal under the most pressure (self inflected
pressure for sure!) that I have ever made. It is a true
trophy for me!
On
opening day alone, three toms and two javelinas were
harvested between seven hunters. The weather turned nasty
again during the night on Saturday and put a real slowdown
on the gobbling. We tried hard for six hours on Sunday to
call a tom into bow range for Tyge, but with no luck. With
a long drive ahead and several more spring turkey hunts
scheduled, we decided to head back home. We both look
forward to hunting with Eldon and his guides again. (Maybe
this fall we can get into some whitetail action!)
Eldon Whitworth's
Canyon Creek Outfitters, his family, and his
guides made this successful hunt come together. The "can
do" attitude and professional service that
Canyon Creek Outfitters provides for the hunter
is outstanding. With a dedication to the client and a
strong desire to attend to every detail, this outfit
should be at the top of the list for any hunter.
