New Mexico 2020

[JMalin]

He's a long spurred son of a gun too.  Recap later.  Gotta take advantage of a calm morning.


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[GobbleNut]

From your last comment I figured it was about to go down.  Congrats JMalin.
If you get a chance, get a good pic of that birds rump feathers/iridescence in the sun.  The back iridescence makes me think he's got some Rio in him.  ...Beautiful gobbler!

[JMalin]

From your last comment I figured it was about to go down.  Congrats JMalin.
If you get a chance, get a good pic of that birds rump feathers/iridescence in the sun.  The back iridescence makes me think he's got some Rio in him.  ...Beautiful gobbler!

Oh I did, but won't post until this evening.  I'm sure he's 100% Merriam.

[JMalin]

Tagged out.

[JMalin]

Tagged out.

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[HookedonHooks]

Congrats on some good looking birds! That's quite the morning.

[tomstopper]

Congrats on some fine birds

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[JMalin]

Hunt recap.  Sunday morning started out promising.  I wasn't up as early as I needed to be and there was a truck already at the spot, but the from past encounters with other hunters, they normally setup on the side of the mountain and rarely hike to the top.   The birds had already flown down when I got close to where I needed to be and there was either a hen or hunter (in hindsight, I think it was a real hen) that had a gobbler answering, so I elected to be courteous and just stay on the logging road until the gobbler closed in.  While standing in the middle of the road close to the top of the mesa, a strutter (not the bird gobbling) appeared out of nowhere with two other birds.  My hands are tied as the bird is between me and where the hen/hunter is calling from and safety was a concern.  The group is only 30 yards from me anyway and by the time I had racked in a shell, they should have bugged out of there.  About a minute later one of them takes notice of me, starts putting, and then all three birds take flight down the canyon.  The hen/hunter stops calling and I continue my final push up the logging road to the top. 

Several birds continue to gobble at the bottom of the canyon, but it's a fool's game to drop down to hunt them in this part of the world.  I called to them and they would answer occasionally, but weren't coming up.  I walk the ridge/mesa down until it narrows, call down to opposite side canyon, and a bird answers me at the very bottom.  To my surprise, he continued to not only answer, but work his way up slowly.  It's the first time out here hunting where I've had a bird actually work up from the canyon floor below me.  I come off the top just a little bit and setup on an elk trail that I feel the turkey would use to come up.  He works his way about 3/4 of the way up answering my calls the entire time, gobbles a couple of times a few minutes apart in the same area (where I guess he decided to hang up), and then shuts down completely.  Don't know why he didn't finish after coming up so far.  I gave him 20 minutes or so to finish, tried calling one last time, then decided to bail on that bird.  The wind started to pick up, so I came back down off the top and went to scout some other areas.  Nothing else I checked out that day looked particularly promising and I didn't hear a gobble for the remainder of the day. 

Monday morning, I'm up at the right time and make it back to the same ridge that I had hunted the morning before.  One bird at the bottom of the canyon was gobbling consistently on the limb.  I hit the crow call and a few other gobblers sounded off, including one up top maybe 300 yards in front of me.  I close the distance another hundred yards or so, not wanting to get busted and setup.  When some distant hens start their morning talk, I do the same.  Some soft tree yelps initially and then a bit louder, matching the other hens volume.  The gobbler I'm closest to begins gobbling as it gets closer to flydown.  Then a hen that sounds much closer to the bird than I am sounds off.  I'm far enough away that I don't hear the bird fly down at all, but can tell that he's on the ground when the gobbles sound a little more distant.  Long story short, he drifts off some, heading in the direction of the closest hen with the gobbling becoming very inconsistent.  I make a big loop around because the ridge is so open.  He gobbles once on his own and I'm able to get a great idea of where he is, and it just so happens that there's quite a bit of dense cover between me and where he gobbled from.  Then I hear gobbles from two distinct birds relatively close to one another and close enough that I feel it's time to put my back up against a tree.  I catch a glimpse of turkey running quickly from the brush to my right to left out at maybe 100 yards.  I'm certain it couldn't have seen me.  After a few minutes of silence, I decide to move a little more up the logging road and toward the brush where the turkey had ran from.  As I'm easing my way there, I catch the glimpse of the edges of a fan 100 yards away.  I immediately drop down, straining keep on what appeared to be two turkeys.  When the birds disappear from view, I inch forward to the best tree on the edge of the logging road and thick cover.  I cluck on the slate, and a bird hammers within 100 yards beyond the brush out in front of me to the right.  At this point, I feel it's just a matter of time until the turkey comes to investigate.  I hear drumming for several minutes slowly getting closer and closer.  I live for that!  The anticipation building.  I have no shot at all to my right and only can shoot the bird if he comes down the logging road, at which point, if I see him, he's in range.  After what seemed like an eternity, he comes into view briefly before stepping back out of view, strutting and drumming.  He comes back into view at 35 and breaks strut briefly just before I sent a dose of heavyweight 7's his way right at 8:00 AM local time.

Gosh, that was a book lol.



For GobbleNut

[JMalin]

After getting back down off the ridge, back to my truck, and taking photos, it was off to another area where I had killed a bird three or four years ago.  The hike in is pretty tough and the forest service has blocked off the trail to ATV traffic, which I'm sure is a good thing for someone like me who's willing to work for them.  On the way to the spot I wanted to hunt, I saw next to no sign along the ridge that seemed to just keep going up and up and up.  It honestly took me a good 45 minutes to finally make it to the bench I killed a bird on.  I setup in one spot, calling whenever I'd catch a break in the wind.  After 30 minutes of this, I continue further along the bench as it gently slopes downward.  After a few hundred yards, a series of yelps I let out is answered by a cutting hen (the closest bird) and a yelping hen further away.  We have a conversation and after the hen is fired up, I hear a single gobble.  The wind is up when the bird gobbles and I can't really tell the distance, only that it sounded like he may be near the closest hen.  Five or ten minutes pass, and then the hen starts to yelp again, to which I answer.  She's closed the distance some.  Next break in the wind, I cut on the halloran ceramic pot and give out a series of yelps.  The hen yelps in response closing the distance even more.  I begin to hear what I believe is very faint drumming, but I can't be certain in the wind.  A few minutes later, I catch the glimpse of a tail fan.  I see the hen below me to my left in gun range, then one tom, and then another.  The lead tom pops strut momentarily and I pull the trigger, but I hadn't clicked off the safety.  Now I'm shaking like a leaf as both toms strut within range.  They get behind a big ponderosa as I attempt to regain my composure.  I click off the safety and am able to take out the lead strutter.  The hen pitches off the side of the canyon while the other tom looks at his downed running buddy and moves in to attack.  It's only after I stand up to claim my second new mexico bird that the other tom goes running off.

Beards and spurs from my two birds.  First bird on the left (with one broken spur).  First bird weighed in at 22 pounds.  Second 19.8

I did not anticipate my NM trip ending this quickly.  All I want to do is get out there and work another bird in this beautiful country.  Absolutely thrilled to have had the success I did though, particularly after struggling quite a bit in Texas this year. 

[jtsmith3]

Congratulations! Man, I'm jealous. I roosted a pair of gobblers last night an got on them this morning. Same exact thing happened. A hen showed up and took them away. The flew across a quarter mile wide canyon to the other side where I was yesterday. I'm pretty sure it was the same birds. I debated sitting there but got up to pick up my decoy and leave. I walked over to the decoy, set my gun down and decided to take a picture of the roost tree with the distant ridge in view where they flew to. And... I hear contact clucks. DAMN! A gobbler came in and I was 20 yards away from my gun. Totally blew it. He moved off unalarmed and I attempted to stalk him (never works). Alarm putt and he flew across the canyon. Now I'm sitting at home in AZ wishing I was still hunting. It was coming together. The first week was awful though.

[Yoteduster]

Congrats on a couple really nice birds

[GobblinNC]

Congratulations on an exciting day and a pair of beautiful gobblers. That is what it is all about. Thank you for carrying us along on the journey.