Texas Turkey Success

[OJR]

I have been hearing stories of folks struggling in central Texas this year. Anyone have any reports? We had 6 guys near Coleman and saw one gobbler in 3 days. This spot has been very productive in the past. Just wondering if others have had a similar issue.

[JMalin]

One of the places I hunt simply doesn't have the birds that it has in years past.  Seems like the hog, skunk, coon, armadillo, and grey fox populations are up.  Birds have never roosted on the property, but have always trickled in throughout the day.  Gunna give it a rest this year as I have other places to hunt with good numbers.  If you were hunting this past weekend, the front surely had something to do with the tough hunting.  When the wind finally laid down and the sun came out Sunday afternoon, things turned around for me and I was able to tag my second bird of the season.

[OJR]

The wind was rough Saturday morning and laid down a little by mid-afternoon. That's when we killed the one bird. But we saw almost no sign. one set of tracks and one turd. Last year on this same ranch we were covered up. Some of the locals we talked to said the "birds aren't here yet". "They roost in the winter down on the river and only come back when the mesquite trees green up". I'd never heard of this migration but some recent research seems to back it up.

[JMalin]

They certainly do winter up in rivers/creeks/drainages.  My impression hunting so far is that it is a bit early, plenty of hens that aren't sitting on a nest, and the toms simply aren't suicidal just yet.  Things should really pick up over the next week or two.

[Txag12]

I was between Coleman and Brownwood and was lucky enough to tag two good birds Saturday. Had a couple other toms I saw that just acted skitish, the high winds had them on edge it seemed as is expected. Landowner who's place we hunt says he hasn't been seeing as many around this year. I do believe it is still slightly early, the birds seem a little behind which I attribute to some late cold weather we had. Another week or two with the consistent warm up we are having and I think it will be a game changer. The hatch across the majority of the region was poor last year and mediocre the year prior so numbers are expected to be down with minimal Jakes and two year olds running around gobbling at anything they hear

[kjnengr]

OJR,  I know a couple people that hunted a ranch in central Texas this past weekend.  They had a good bit of trouble.  Most of it was because the gobblers were still henned up and the first two days of their hunt were impacted by weather (high wind) issues as well.  I think with better weather and the gobblers broken up, they would have done much better.