Solo
Well-known member
Texas was all it's cracked up to be and then some. Three of us headed west to the High Plains in search of the motherload of Rio's. We arrived early on Saturday morning, unloaded all of our gear, then caught a quick nap. By 2pm Central we were pulling into the ranch we were to hunt and greeted by two longbeards gobbling in the driveway of the rancher. After talking the place over with the rancher's grandson, we each set out on our on ways. By dark, two of us had killed three birds. My buddy smoked two after calling in 51 hens, 1 jake and 3 longbeards. I killed one longbeard that evening that was with 15 hens and a few jakes, a good 3 year old.
We had been told that the ranch we were hunting had 300 birds roosting in the cottonwoods around the ranchers house. We were all a little skeptical, but I swear if there weren't 300 birds there, there wasn't one. It was the most incredible thing that evening watching those birds pile in there from all directions and go to roost. I knew where I would be sitting the next morning!
Sunday morning came and we got there an hour before daylight. As we were talking about when we should get out of the truck and get in the brush, I rolled my window down and we were greeted with multiple gobbles. I think it was time. All three of us split up and headed off. Before I could even see the bead on the end of my barrel, I could hear turkeys making flydown cackles. It was an amazing sight as I watched 30 or so longbeards, 25-30 jakes and 50-60 hens fly down and assemble. These were just the birds in front of me and there were still dozens of other birds gobbling nearby. They all did their thing over the next 25-30 minutes, gobbling hundreds of times all the while.
Finally the hens starting breaking off and they were marching on the path that would put all of them at 35 yards from me. I sat motionless as dozens of hens and jakes walked by waiting on the longbeards that were behind. The first gobbler caught up with the group and I promptly thumped his head. I look back in the direction they were coming from and two more gobblers were coming hard. Those two gobbler got to the bird I had just shot and they starting working him over. When those two got their heads lined up, I dented the primer and had my 4 bird TX limit before the sun was above the horizon of the 2nd hunt of the trip.
My buddy also killed one that morning, bringing the total up to 7 longbeards in one afternoon hunt and one morning hunt. Incredible!
Sunday morning kills...
Since I was limited out, I spent the day picking up sheds while they hunted that afternoon. That afternoon we added one more gobbler to the total making 8 longbeards. We only had one more morning to hunt since the ranchers grandson had to get back to rodeo college. The next morning, they tagged team a group of birds they put to bed and killed one more gobbler. 2 full days hunting and we killed 9 longbeards out of a possible 12. It sure made the long drive back a little easier. I feel confident that with another day of hunting, we would have all had our limit.
Birds and bones...whack-n-stack.
We've hunted Nebraska and Kansas for Rio's in the past and this place is by far the best place I've been in my life. We're headed back and the best thing is that the ranchers grandson has a ranch in Oklahoma for us to hunt that he says has just as many birds and only 10 miles away from this ranch. Interacting with hundreds of birds is something I never thought I'd have a chance at. We all made this trip for well under $1000 a piece, including licenses, gas and food. Unreal!
We had been told that the ranch we were hunting had 300 birds roosting in the cottonwoods around the ranchers house. We were all a little skeptical, but I swear if there weren't 300 birds there, there wasn't one. It was the most incredible thing that evening watching those birds pile in there from all directions and go to roost. I knew where I would be sitting the next morning!
Sunday morning came and we got there an hour before daylight. As we were talking about when we should get out of the truck and get in the brush, I rolled my window down and we were greeted with multiple gobbles. I think it was time. All three of us split up and headed off. Before I could even see the bead on the end of my barrel, I could hear turkeys making flydown cackles. It was an amazing sight as I watched 30 or so longbeards, 25-30 jakes and 50-60 hens fly down and assemble. These were just the birds in front of me and there were still dozens of other birds gobbling nearby. They all did their thing over the next 25-30 minutes, gobbling hundreds of times all the while.
Finally the hens starting breaking off and they were marching on the path that would put all of them at 35 yards from me. I sat motionless as dozens of hens and jakes walked by waiting on the longbeards that were behind. The first gobbler caught up with the group and I promptly thumped his head. I look back in the direction they were coming from and two more gobblers were coming hard. Those two gobbler got to the bird I had just shot and they starting working him over. When those two got their heads lined up, I dented the primer and had my 4 bird TX limit before the sun was above the horizon of the 2nd hunt of the trip.
My buddy also killed one that morning, bringing the total up to 7 longbeards in one afternoon hunt and one morning hunt. Incredible!
Sunday morning kills...
Since I was limited out, I spent the day picking up sheds while they hunted that afternoon. That afternoon we added one more gobbler to the total making 8 longbeards. We only had one more morning to hunt since the ranchers grandson had to get back to rodeo college. The next morning, they tagged team a group of birds they put to bed and killed one more gobbler. 2 full days hunting and we killed 9 longbeards out of a possible 12. It sure made the long drive back a little easier. I feel confident that with another day of hunting, we would have all had our limit.
Birds and bones...whack-n-stack.
We've hunted Nebraska and Kansas for Rio's in the past and this place is by far the best place I've been in my life. We're headed back and the best thing is that the ranchers grandson has a ranch in Oklahoma for us to hunt that he says has just as many birds and only 10 miles away from this ranch. Interacting with hundreds of birds is something I never thought I'd have a chance at. We all made this trip for well under $1000 a piece, including licenses, gas and food. Unreal!
