Rio Newbie needs help

[BirdNut]

Got a friend with leases in Tx with Rios...thinking about chasing them with him.  He is a new turkey hunter, I have hunted Easterns in GA for over 20 years.

What are the key differences between Rio's and Eastern's?  Do Rio's gobble at crow and owl calls?  I imagine roosting birds is done along creeks with taller trees-I would not think they roost in mesquite and granejo or juniper.

Thanks for the help!

[honker22]

Yes, the rios will be roosting in the big cottonwoods along the creeks.  They will also roost in oak trees that are fairly tall.  The biggest difference to me is the range that the rios have.  They will literally travel miles during the day and come back to the same roost tree.

It is a good idea to not hunt them directly off the roost, like you would an Eastern.  If you mess up the roost, you may mess them up for the rest of your hunt.  They will simply go elsewhere to roost.  They tend to gobble more but the distance can be deceiving.  You will be dealing with windy conditions most of the time.  Rios will shock gobble at anything, but I doubt there are many barred owls locally.

Rios are fun to hunt.  They can be very tough, especially early in the season because of all the hens.  Big groups of jakes have also ruined a few of my hunts.  Sounds like you may have a promising spot.  Good luck

[chcltlabz]

For the most part, yes, roosting along creeks and the taller trees, but they will roost in anything they can.  I've seen them roost in mesquite and even seen them roost in telephone poles once.

IMO, the biggest difference in easterns and Rios is dominance.  Rios seem to be very dominance oriented.  They're always looking for a fight, and the pecking order seems very well established to me.  When the boss is talking, everyone else shuts up.

[stinkpickle]

All of the above.  The Texas Rios I've hunted gobbled all day long at a crow call.  It was nice  They were fairly easy to locate.  About the dominance thing...Rio hens seem to be a LOT more aggressive.  Start calling a Rio tom from too far away, and there's a good chance a hen will intercept and drag him away.  I had that happen over and over and over and over again on my last trip.   

[Reloader]

All good points.  Pay attention to the point about not shooting them close to their roost.  If you'll let them fly out and get away, then call them in, they'll usually come right back and roost in the same spot that night.

They gobble much more than Easterns and they seem to respond in the afternoon as well as the morning at times.  I hunt them all day long. They shock gobble at dang near anything, crow and owl calls work well.

If you get on a henned up flock, a jake or strutter decoy will sometimes piss the boss tom off. 

I'd say the most important thing I learned when I started hunting Rios was to look for sign.  If you find a ton of scat, tracks, and scratching, they are probably cruising through at some point in the day even if you dont hear them on the roost.  They can cover miles quickly.  A boring hunt at daylight can turn into a gold mine mid morning if you're on good sign.

Find water sources and scout.  I always look for water and open areas near by for scouting. 


Good Luck

[Gooserbat]

They have pretty much sumed it up.   A few tips I  would suggest is practic judging distance in an open invronment if you are used to hunting only woods.  Also there are still bugs I have had times when I thought the buffalo gnats were going to carry me off and feed me to their babies.  So bring something for bugs.

[K9Doc]

What they said.  Bring me along and i will show you a whole new bag of tricks for tricking Rio's.    

[gobblerguide]

Look for hay rings where the rancher has been feeding cows all winter,they will come and scratch in them several times a day.Sometimes on a very predictable pattern.

[BirdNut]

Hey everybody-I appreciate all the responses...their season starts a week after ours.  He is going to take his son out on the youth weekend that is Mar 24-25.  I probably wont get out there till mid-April.  If I get one I will post it!

[redleg06]

  If you'll let them fly out and get away, then call them in, they'll usually come right back and roost in the same spot that night.

They gobble much more than Easterns and they seem to respond in the afternoon as well as the morning at times.  I hunt them all day long. They shock gobble at dang near anything, crow and owl calls work well.

I'd say the most important thing I learned when I started hunting Rios was to look for sign.  If you find a ton of scat, tracks, and scratching, they are probably cruising through at some point in the day even if you dont hear them on the roost.  They can cover miles quickly.  A boring hunt at daylight can turn into a gold mine mid morning if you're on good sign.

Find water sources and scout.  I always look for water and open areas near by for scouting. 

Good Luck

I'm a Tx native and grew up hunting rios and I see alot of good points on this thread but I bolded a few that really stood out.

Rio's will cover a lot of ground in a day and dont mind moving so if you get a hot one, paritcularly if you dont have much cover between you and the bird, I'd try to work him vs get too aggresive moving to him because they can come in quick in wide open country and a lot of the places i hunt are extremely open. In mesquite flats, you may be able to move quite a bit better and help him close the distance. 

In a lot of cases, the water suggestion can be huge because they have to roost where they can find trees and that may or may not be close to water so they will travel to get it because unlike alot of places in the eastern part of the country, it can get pretty dry.  If you dont have a good idea where to start scouting then try the water holes first cause they will usually be there at some point and if there pattern is to head that way off the roost, you'd be wise to scrap setting up on them right off the roost and instead postion yourself between them and where they want to go (the water hole in a lot of cases or a particular place to feed) and then call cause you might end up chasing them in wide open country other wise.

Since roost trees are often hard to come by, you frequently have multiple gobblers and a bunch hens in the same group of trees and that makes them a little tougher to hunt off the roost (again, unless you know where they are likely to head off the roost and are between them and that spot). I usually end up following them, keeping tabs by their gobbling, until later on in the morning when they start to break up from the hens a little bit. Or figure out where they are headed and loop wide to get in front of them. They usually gobble enough to make this fairly easy. Mid-morning and afternoons are usually better for me than early morning for this reason.