I just got back from hunting a friends 13,000 acre lease around Barnhart TX. Before we went out I read some posts and articles discussing the drought and turkey behavior. It was tough hunting to say the least. Most of the turkeys were hitting cattle water tanks right after flydown and late in the evenings. Where they were during the day, we couldn't find them. The wind blew the first 2 days constantly. I'm talking 30-40mph. Then the wind died on Monday and it got hot. The temp Monday was nearly 100.
The great thing about having a friend who has a lease that big is not having to pay $1,000-$1,500 to hunt along with another $400 in expenses. The bad thing is he cares nothing about turkeys just deer. So we had to hunt in the morning, scout during midday and hunt in the evenings. He give us a 10 yr old 4WD suburban and let us go, and thats what we did.
Things started to change on Sunday. Our group of 3 begin figuring out the property and where the turkeys roosted and travel routes. We split up on every hunt and never hunted together. We only scouted as a group. It was great having thousands of acres just to yourself. We were traveling to a hunting spot when we busted a flock of birds. I got out knowing that the 3 gobblers would soon be looking for hens as soon as things began to settle down. About 30 mins later I heard a gobble about 300yds away. I yelp and was cut off with gobble. He never came so I yelped again and he gobbled at 150 yds to my right. I waited what seemed like an hour and no gobbler. I called again he gobbled several hundred yds directly behind me. 15 mins later he popped out of the cedars and mesquite in full strut. It surprised me and I tried to ease my gun around and got busted. As he turned to walk away I shot him at 28yds.
8 1/4 in beard 1 1\4 in spur and 1in spur. 20lbs 8oz.
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/011.jpg)
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/013-1.jpg)
After taking a few pictures I sat back down and let everything calm down a little more. After about 15mins I done some real soft clucking and yelping. Moments later I heard a hen cluck and yelp behind me. In the next couple of minutes 18 hens passed by my setup. When the last one went by, I got my gun ready hoping a gobbler would be traling them. Just seconds after I moved my gun, I seen him slipping through the bushes about 75yds behind the hens. He stepped into an opening and I shot him at 22yds. I killed 2 good birds in 30mins.
9inch beard 1 1/4 spurs 18lbs 10oz.
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/014-1.jpg)
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/016.jpg)
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/050.jpg)
Sunday's birds back at the camp
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/022.jpg)
After hearing only 15 gobbles out of the 3 of us from Fri. through Mon., things changed dramatically Tues. morning. We planned to hunt hard until 10am and then pack up and make the 14hr drive home. Before daylight we had already heard 5 birds sounding off. About 8am I heard a gobble 250yds away and responed with few raspy yelps. Within minutes 6 jakes and 2 super jakes came running to my calls. The 2 super jakes ran to within 20yds of my setup. With 2 tags still in my pocket I killed them both with one shot.
Both had 6in beards, full fans and around 5\8in spurs.
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/035.jpg)
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/047.jpg)
Our group of three killed six birds total. 3 longbeards and 3 jakes. Very few gobblers to be seen. The 5 gobblers we actually laid eyes on 3 of them took a dirt nap. We saw nearly 20 jakes and I've never seen that many hens in my life
congrats :z-guntootsmiley:
That was a great read. Thanks for sharing and congrats on some nice birds! :z-guntootsmiley:
Congrats. Way to stack em up!
WOW!!!
Exciting hunt, but it reads like you earned every bird with the time needed to find them!!
Glad it worked out well for you!!
God Bless,
David B.
It was tough. One of the toughest I've been on. 4 of our 6 birds were killed the last morning before we left.
Congrats on some nice birds and pics :z-guntootsmiley: :newmascot:
Congrats on a fine hunt
Congrats on a nice hunt. The pictures were great. The birds were gorgeous,,Well done, Dawg..Mike :you_rock:
Cool
I'm not much on killing Jakes but I would be like you as well with 2 mature gobblers down and 2 tags left and a non resident BOOM!
Great story, awesome pics, congrats :icon_thumright:
:icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
:happy0064: :happy0064:
That`s awesome!! :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
Here is a couple more pictures from the trip. This is all six birds we took this weekend.
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/052.jpg)
(http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd507/rodmsu/051.jpg)
Congrats! :z-guntootsmiley: