|
"Boss Tom in
Sonora."
"Rio Grande Turkey Hunt in
South Texas on the Double D Ranch"
NOTE:
To view the video clips used in this article, we recommend you
have
Windows Media
Player installed on your PC. You can download the latest version
FREE by clicking
here. Visitors with a high speed Internet connection can LEFT
click on the video images to begin the download. Dialup visitors
will be better served by RIGHT clicking on the images and selecting,
"Save Target as...", then viewing the video after it downloads.
|
By Tyge Floyd,
Editor
Email
Tyge here. |
Spring
turkey hunting in Texas always holds a special place in my heart.
Each spring when the gobblers start strutting and lighting up the
morning air with their booming calls, I remember my first "real"
turkey hunt. Oh, sure, I'd taken my share of birds over the years.
Most of them had been unlucky enough to show up while I was deer
hunting in the fall. One or two others had made the mistake of
coming into the same wheat field where I grew up and were quickly
dispatched with a well placed rifle shot. It wasn't until a little
over 5 years ago that my good friend and TexasOutdoorsman .com
Field Editor Carl Wilson showed me how spring turkey hunting is
supposed to work.
I'll
never forget that hunt. We were on Carl's lease in Jack County. Carl
spent the whole weekend working birds into shotgun range for me and
another hunter. I truly never had much interest in turkey hunting
until that weekend. We ended up taking a bird that by most folk's
standards was not much of a trophy, I think he had a 4" beard.
However, it was one of the most exciting hunts I had ever
experienced and I was hooked!
When
Dean Dermody of the
Double D
Ranch in Sonora, Texas invited me to hunt his operation this
spring the first person I thought of inviting on the hunt was Carl.
We left the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex early enough in the morning
to ensure we would arrive in time to roost gobblers at dusk. After a
six hour drive, we met up with Dean and were given a quick tour of
the southern part of the ranch. We had spent a total of about 6
minutes on the property before we saw our first gobbler cross the
road right in front of us. I took that as a good sign and we were
eager to get our hunt started.
Dean
suggested we hunt a draw close to the road near a feeder he keeps
filled year-round. This draw had a ridge behind it where gobblers
went to roost in some of the larger oak trees found there. We setup
a couple of hen decoys and made some calls now and again. Not long
after we were just getting settled in, a hen came into view. She
checked out the decoys and fed around the feeder for a while, then
left quietly and undisturbed. Before the evening hunt was over,
another hen made her way into our setup.
|
Click on
the image above to
view this video clip. (4.5mb) |
We were hearing two gobblers off in the distance and decided
we would be better off starting back to the truck a little
early so we could pinpoint where the toms went to roost. As I
was gathering my gear in preparation to leave, I spotted
movement off to our right. It was turkeys! Jakes, to be exact,
seven of them. I sat down and got the video camera rolling.
All Carl could do is stand there and watch, as any additional
movement would have surely spooked them. We watched them for a
minute or two until they figured out something was not right.
Though they were close and I could have taken one with ease,
we decided these young birds would get a free pass today. We
were here for a trophy bird and taking a young Jake was not
going to cut it. Once they departed we hot footed it back to
the truck to go locate the mature birds we had heard earlier.
We spent the rest of the evening listening to several gobblers
sound off from the treetops. |
Our hunt the
next morning was fruitless. The tom we had roosted the night before
gobbled every time we called to him. I felt sure this bird would be
in our laps any minute, he was fired up and blasting off nonstop for
several minutes. Then he just shut up. We were puzzled and patiently
waited for several minutes, thinking he may be coming in silent. The
next time we heard him he was a long way down the ridge and
obviously had found some hens.
We left
the area and tried some calling in other spots throughout the
morning with no luck. After lunch, Dean showed us some more of the
ranch. He told us he had been seeing birds in the middle of the day
around a windmill another pasture. With the afternoon temperature
forecasted to reach 90 degrees, we figured this pasture and constant water
source would be a good place to hunt. When Carl and I returned a few
hours later, we setup within sight of the trough. Immediately after
Carl gave his box call a few strokes we heard a gobble, and it was
close. The bird kept coming our way and it was looking like we were
about to get a visit from a mature gobbler. Then, just as had
happened on our morning hunt, the bird shut up. We were shaking our
heads and wondering what could have happened.
|
"Gobble, gobble, gobble!!!", I nearly jumped out of my skin. I
was startled and surprised as the tom boomed from over my left
shoulder. He had circled and come up almost behind us. Carl
could not move, as he was leaned up against a small tree with
his back to the bird. I peeked back over my shoulder and let
him know to stay put until I told him it was okay to move.
One, two, three. I counted three birds, two gobblers and a
young Jake. When they walked behind some trees we both turned
around to face them. Carl worked his call softly and the big
tom gobbled a couple more times. The birds were across a fence
and were out of range. They milled around for a few minutes
then slipped back into the brush, never offering a shot within
range. |
Click on the image
above to
view this video clip. (5.0mb) |
After
these birds gave us the slip, we headed over to another spot and
tried some calling there without much action. Our first full day had
been exciting, but the birds had beat us into submission. On our way
out of the ranch we saw two big, mature toms cross the road near a
gas well at the top of a hill. It was nearly dark and we knew these
birds would have to roost nearby. At daylight the next morning we
were setup at the base of the hill within 200 yards of a creek with large oak trees full of
turkeys. With our binoculars in the early morning light, we counted
at least 5 and maybe 7 gobblers in the trees. There were also many
hens and small Jakes along the creek. This was Turkey Central and
were had gotten lucky enough to find it.
|
Click on the image
above to
view this video clip. (7.0mb) |
Carl setup a decoy and we waited for the birds to fly down off
their roost. The air was full of turkey yelps, tree talk,
gobbles and purrs. It was the kind of hunt turkey hunters
dream of. Two gobblers made their way toward our calls,
strutting and gobbling the whole way. Several hens were also
coming with them as they closed on our position. When the
birds were 65 yards out, a hen walked right past Carl, who was
only 30yds from the two strutting toms I had on the video
camera. The problem was a huge cedar tree blocking his view,
as he could not take a clean shot. The hen that had just walked past
Carl spotted him and started an alarm put. Game Over. The two
toms turned around and returned to the big group of toms
strutting in the field below us. It was disappointing to say
the least, but still I had goose bumps on my skin. |
We
worked our way back to the truck, stopping to call every so often
with no answer from interested toms. It was getting late in the
morning and we needed to be leaving soon. I was unloading my gear
into the back seat when I asked Carl if he wanted to stop by the
windmill on the way out to see if anything was happening there. He
agreed it would be a good idea. When we got out of the truck below
the windmill, he hit his call for one short series. "Gobble, gobble,
gobble." We got an answer. We slipped quietly up
the road toward the windmill keeping our eyes peeled for turkeys. I
stopped and glassed through the mesquite trees ahead and spotted two
toms feeding in the green grass around the water trough. We sat
down, no decoys, no video camera. Carl called again, they answered.
I glassed through the trees again and the birds were still feeding
but not interested in coming any closer. What took only a few
minutes seemed like an eternity. The birds were just not getting any
closer. I decided that if they
weren't going to come to me, I would go to them.
I told Carl to keep calling while I crawled through the high grass
on the side of the road next to the trees. I needed to get another 50
yards closer to the birds. Once I had made it to where I thought I
would have a shot, I slowly raised up and spotted one of the toms
looking back toward Carl. I quickly raised my shotgun and put the
bird down. Carl came up and congratulated me on the harvest. He said
it was all he could do to keep from laughing as I crawled through
that grass! My gobbler turned out to be quite a bird. He weighed
19.5lbs, sporting a 10.5" beard and spurs of 1 3/8" and 1 1/2" long.
His feathers showed he had been fighting a lot, which explains why
he didn't want to close on our calls. He had probably been beaten a
time or two in the past weeks and just about had enough of fighting
over the hens on his part of the ranch.
If you
are looking for a quality hunt on some beautiful South Texas real
estate, consider giving Dean a call at the
Double D
Ranch. The place is loaded with deer and turkey and Dean runs a
top notch hunt on a great outfit. I'm looking forward to getting
back down there just as soon as I can! For more information
visit their web site at
www.double-d-ranch.com, or call Dean Dermody at 325-387-3209.
Dean has package hunts for whitetail deer, turkeys, varmints and
exotics that will have you planning a return trip soon.
At full draw,
Tyge Floyd
Editor, Texasoutdoorsman.com
|
