Got back from one of the most spectacular hunts in my life. Hunting my first Rio Grande's on a private owned 5000 acre ranch in southwest Oklahoma. All of this secretly setup as a surprise anniversary gift from my awesome wife!
Hunting The Rio Grande turkey is a "Grande" experience to say the least. Very different than the old swamp eastern gobblers in my home state of Georgia.
Gentlemen, Rio's wear Reeboks is my new saying. These birds can move! I've never ran my fat old self around so much in my life. I must have heard 75 birds gobbling on the roost each morning and when they hit they hit the ground they definitely had an agenda. Also, approaching these birds in open country is hard work. Finding draws and washes to dip into was a frequently used tactic. And boy do these birds like to hear themselves gobble.
Day one, I got off a plane in Dallas and was picked up by the caretaker of the Oklahoma property, a high school classmate of mine I haven't seen in 20 years.
After a 4 hour drive we quickly got our gear and went to a spot to possibly see some birds and possibly roost some for the next morning. Well, within 45 minutes I had my first rio on the ground! Unbelievable! Was sitting next to a broken up bale of hay that the rancher had been seeing birds pick around in almost every day. Birds came in silent and it was one and done! Day 2 was full of gobblers but not a shot opportunity. Afternoon of day 3 was nuts. Got in between two groups of gobblers and jakes in a draw and cut hard and they went nuts! Both groups were on their way and one came running in full sprint to my calling. Had to cut again to stop him and boom! Bird two down and both tags filled! Spent Saturday just listening and helping my buddy do some work around the ranch. Hunt of a lifetime!
Bird 1 45min into day one!
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Bird 1
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Bird 2 day 3
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Bird 2
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Bird 2 walking out
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A Rio super jake putting on a show.
(http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz319/chefrific/OKJAKE_zpssvhdq3sa.jpg)
Horned Toad!
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What a property to hunt Rios on!
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A Good spot!
(http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz319/chefrific/OKGULLY2_zpsgrowff40.jpg)
Love me some Oklahoma!
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Congratulations, glad to see you had a great trip. Sounds like you got a keeper of a better half. I was planning on heading out there this past weekend, but wasn't sure how the birds were, but it sounds like I made a poor choice by staying in Illinois.
Awesome trip for sure! thanks for sharing
Congrats! I definitely miss hunting those Oklahoma Rios! You hit the nail on the head when you said they love to hear themselves gobble!
Well done, and great pics.
Sounds like an awesome hunt.
I can tell you were pumped by the smile on your face... ;D
Awesome! I hope to hunt for a Rio someday.
You have a great smile! Congratulations!
Sent from the Strut Zone
Quote from: davisd9 on April 11, 2016, 11:53:42 AM
You have a great smile! Congratulations!
Sent from the Strut Zone
:TooFunny: :TooFunny: Congrats.
Looks like a awesome time! Congrats
:icon_thumright:
Very cool, looks and sounds like a great trip. Congratulations on your success.
Congrats Sir; and your resemblance to an emoji is absolutely stunning. :z-guntootsmiley:
Very nice. That is some good country to hunt. Were you in the Altus area? Lots of guys call rios easy...but like you said they provide their own set of challenges due to terrain and range. Great trip you had!
Looks like a great trip!
Congrats on a couple nice birds.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: Txag12 on April 11, 2016, 03:09:46 PM
Very nice. That is some good country to hunt. Were you in the Altus area? Lots of guys call rios easy...but like you said they provide their own set of challenges due to terrain and range. Great trip you had!
I was just north of the Altus area. Close enough that I was entertained by C-17's from the base buzzing around us constantly.
Yeah, they answer calling easy, but what I found is that unless you are in their planned route, it's extremely hard to pry them off course.
Tactic of setting up between a couple of groups near roost time and calling worked really well.
In my opinion, Rios are a LOT more active and vocal than Easterns right before they roost.
AWESOME!
Congrats!
Congrats! Good to see you grinning from ear to ear in those pics!
Congrats! I hunted OK last year for the first time. The very first morning I had a bird gobbling on roost about 60 yards in front of me. He hit the ground to my right and off he went like he was going on a morning jog. Definitely different hunting style than the Eastern in my experience.
Sounds like a good time to me. Congrats on a great hunt and a couple beautiful birds!! :icon_thumright: Loved the pictures, thank you.
Bob
Congratulations, nice bird. From what you seen and heard how do you think the hunting will be out there in two weeks?
Quote from: aaron.haverfield@gmail.co on April 11, 2016, 10:56:55 PM
Congratulations, nice bird. From what you seen and heard how do you think the hunting will be out there in two weeks?
All depends on how much pressure they get, however the rancher was telling me that they were not quite fired up yet while I was there. If that's the case, it might be quite a show in a couple of weeks.
Congrats!
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Good hunt!
Good to see that area rebounding from the drought. It really had hurt the population is some areas down there.
:you_rock: I cut my teeth on Easterns. Can't tell you how many I killed that came in never saying a word. I much prefer hunting Rios. I've never killed one that came in silent. I was in OK this weekend as well. Called in two birds for a Wounded Warrior. He missed both times. I killed a bird on Sunday and then got to hunt Fort Sill on Monday. I've never seen so many birds in my life. That place has to be the mecca of turkey hunting.
Quote from: chefrific on April 12, 2016, 06:24:47 AM
Quote from: aaron.haverfield@gmail.co on April 11, 2016, 10:56:55 PM
Congratulations, nice bird. From what you seen and heard how do you think the hunting will be out there in two weeks?
All depends on how much pressure they get, however the rancher was telling me that they were not quite fired up yet while I was there. If that's the case, it might be quite a show in a couple of weeks.
Thanks for the info. Hope I can smoke one as nice as yours.
I too just finished my first Rio hunt and it was in Oklahoma as well! Definitely different country than what I am used to here in KY. I was also fortunate enough to tag out with 2 nice rios!
congrats on what looks to have been an awesome hunt
Wait till the last 10 days of the season...its not uncommon to call in gobblers from long distances and several different directions once the hens are sitting on the nests.
Gman
Quote from: Gamblinman on April 14, 2016, 07:52:53 AM
Wait till the last 10 days of the season...its not uncommon to call in gobblers from long distances and several different directions once the hens are sitting on the nests.
Gman
Wouldn't mind waiting to the last days of the season but I have a huge opening in two weeks that I need to use to fill my taste for turkey meat. lol
My first Rio hunt was in SW Oklahoma as well. Beautiful country, tons of birds, and all 3 of us tagged out!! The first night I roosted 80 birds, which included 12 mature gobblers. Awesome place to hunt turkeys!! And those Rios love to gobble!!
Congrats to you on a fantastic hunt!! :icon_thumright: