I completed a 5 year royal slam in the Mountains of Mexico near the small morman community of Colonia Pacheco in the state of Chihuahua. I booked the hunt with El Corral Hunting Guide Services out of Arkansas. It is run by a friendly gentleman named Mike Murray. Mike was excellent to work with. He answered all my questions, was easy to get ahold of, and was completely honest. Just an fyi if anyone on here decides to call mike for a hunt be ready to be shocked how much he sounds like Jeff Foxworthy lol. My guides for the hunt would be the 2 men that own the ranch in mexico, Jorge and Murice a father and son team. Thier mother/wife is the camp cook. The food was excellent, im not big into spicy food and she made everything special for me. I hear her mexican food is great tho. I flew into el paso and was picked up by Jorge. We drove into New Mexico and crossed into mexico with no problems.Jorge and Murice both speak perfect english so that made the trip a little easier. The mountains near their ranch were beautiful. After getting settled into camp i was asked if i wanted to see the ranch and hunt the afternoon. I said sure. The ranch was amazing and held lots of wildlife. After taking some photos jorge dropped me off near a road that turkeys were strutting on before roosting. I have a set of avian x merriam jake and hen decoys so i put them out and got tucked into some brush along a tree. It was still early about 530pm so i just sat taken in the new scenery. About 15 minutes past, a i heard a gobble far off. He would sound off a ton as he got closer, but then he started working away. I decided to call very softly and was able to get him to come back. Once he saw the decoys he ran down the hillside and started to strut all around my jake. I shot him at 20yards with a mossberg 835 that was provided for the hunt. He had a 10" beard, was 20 lbs, his one spur was broken pretty good and the other was rubbed down to about 3/4". They area is full of rocks so i wasnt expecting any super spurs. Goulds can be heavy birds but this hunt was late and the season and i think they were a little skinny from chasing the ladies. This bird was taken under 25 minutes of hunting. He is the one pictured on the rock. I hadnt really planned to take a second bird but the next day i decided why not. I didnt hunt the next morning due to some jet lag. During the day i took more photos and checked more of the ranch out. I even found a scorpion under some rocks, thats something you dont find in ohio lol. That afternoon we went out to check some cattle and see the cliff dropping off into the river. The view of the river was great. While checking on cattle at an old homestead site in the pouring down thunderstorm i heard a gobble. I grabbed my stuff and we were off to the races. Jorge's father Murice thought he knew where the birds would be heading. He had seen them in an area in the afternoon nearby. We raced there and I hurried to get my decoys out. I called a couple times with no answers. All of the sudden i saw birds, 2 nice toms with hens. The toms came right to the jake decoy again. I shot the bigger of the 2. He had a 10 1/2" beard, was 20lbs also, and had about 7/8" spurs.This turkey is pictured with myself, jorge, and murice. I had been sitting less than 5 minutes. It was crazy how fast it happened. The gould turkeys are beautiful birds with snow white feathers and long legs. The tail fans are huge and i swear there heads are a much brighter red. The next day i took more pictures before we headed into town in the valley below the mountains. Jorge and his family live in a little town call Colonia Juarez. It is a morman town with many of its residents speaking english. The houses and the school and local temple were very neat. The area is surrounded by peach and apple orchards. Jorge took me to see local indian ruins that dated back to the 1400's. We also went into Casa Grandes to eat some famous mexican bacon wrapped hot dogs from a local sidewalk eatery. They were great and it was nice to see all the culture. Jorge and his family were great host. The following day he took me to el paso to catch my flight home. Jorge had all the tags and paperwork ready and crossing the boarder into new mexico was really easy. This trip was awesome, a dream come true. El Corral Hunting Services was a great choice.
turkey number 2
cabin that we stayed in. Had a nice kitchen and a nice bathroom with hot water and a tub/shower.
Lovett williams had stayed in this cabin before.
The landscape was beautiful. Aldo Leopold had been on this ranch and wrote about the river that goes thur the ranch.
The best part of traveling to hunt turkeys is the new terrain.
Hen goulds are so big. They look bigger than the old eastern gobblers here in ohio.
If you like chasing Merriams in the states in places like the black hills you would love chasing Goulds in these hills.
Rocks were everywhere. I found the scorpion under a red rock like these. Its easy to see why the goulds had rubbed there spurs down.
Awesome. I gotta do that.
That sounds like an awesome trip, Congrats !
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Congrats on an awesome hunt!!
Sounds fantastic!! Congrats!!
Thanks. It was a great trip. Can't wait to get the birds back from the taxidermist. Lol. Going to mexico next spring to complete the world slam next.
Nice! Love the pictures, looks like a really fun time!! You got me thinking about doing it. Congrats to you!
Congrats on the Gould's and yes it is beautiful country. Hunted Yecora, Sonora and the scenery is very similar. Good luck next year on the Ocellated. Are you going with yukkutz hunting for your Ocellated?
Congrats! On the two nice goulds, beautiful country injoyed the pictures.
Yes I'm trying to book with yukkutz for the oscellated. I can only go during my spring break from school so its hard planning trips.
Congratulations on two nice Gould's! Living out in the west I get to see a lot of country like that and I still love it. Good luck on your World Slam.
Awesome trip and congrats on two fine Gobblers!
very nice birds and what scenery!!! if you dont mind me asking.what does a hunt like this run?
Congrats. Sounds like an awesome hunt and the guide had really done his homework. Will have to put that on my to do list.
The hunt for this season was $1775. That was for one bird. That included airport pickup/ drop off, food, drinks, lodging, tags, and use of shotgun. This is a great price for a Gould's hunt in mexico. A second bird this season was $600. Which is also a good price. Some other Gould outfitter's charge much more. I really feel like they provide a great value. All there hunters were 100%. 3 of us even killed a second bird.
Sounds like an incredible hunt!! Congrats!! :icon_thumright:
old cow corral near where i shot my second turkey. I loved all the rustic logs.
The views going into camp were amazing. Its easy to see why the gobblers here have a hard time keeping there spurs sharp.
There were alot of old rustic houses in the mountains. Its neat to think of the simply life the settlers in the area must of had. Im sure they had alot of work to do but life had to be a little less stressful and hectic out there in the hills. This area has to powerlines or cell towers. pure nature.
Another example of the local craftsmanship. This was the horse barn on the ranch were i hunted.
The river that ran thur the ranch was written about in a book by Aldo Leopold. The river is the Hawk River. Jorge and his father took me there to see the views. We had just left this area when I shot my second turkey.
It was thundering when I shot my second turkey. I actually located the gobbler when he sounded off at the thunder.
With a few water holes on the ranch all storms are a good thing. This was the biggest water hole i saw and was told it dries out thru the dry months.
This area had excellent habitat for wildlife. The ranch was 12,000 acres and during the winter and early spring they would see groups of over 100 turkeys feeding.
Theres nothing like hunting in the fresh mountain air. It truly is a hunters paradise down in mexico.
Congrats
congrats on your Gould's and Royal Slam good luck next year on your Ocellated on your way to a World Slam.
Congrats on your Royal Slam and good luck with the World Slam next year. Really enjoyed your post. Thanks for sharing!
That's awesome, congrats on a great hunt. Were there many others in camp with you or did you go alone?
The way my schedule worked out, i was the only hunter in camp. They like groups of 3 but can do larger or smaller groups too. I'm a school teacher so I don't have a lot of vacation days
Just talked to the taxidermist mounts will be done soon. Can't wait to post the pics in this thread.
Congrats on a great trip!
Awesome
Nice! Make sure you post pics when you get them back
Nice work.
Congrats! Awesome photos
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Got my turkeys back from the taxidermist. They are 3/4 full bodies. The back wing is cut off so they sit closer to the barn wood back. I built the barn wood backs. They came out great. (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160416/742c8962c15517d0fdde085055ffca38.jpg) (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160416/c19add3530c632d9ccdb0c8c2ce0c79f.jpg) (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160416/0b6fbcb752b8d2b25a0421d6510d5353.jpg) (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160416/e3e11365ccf7d3132825ca8462afe3c6.jpg) (http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160416/52e208472218e3900f83f69c2c6a4926.jpg)
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Beautiful birds !
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very nice mounts one day Lord willing I'll get me a goulds
While this post is starting to age (I am told) I cannot resist commenting on this post. Hunt sounds really great and I will consider this outfitter when I am ready. But I really like the way the turkeys were mounted. The wood work is great and I like how the limb sticks out of the barn wood. I am sure it has been well treated for insects.