Tactics for Rios

[hipp2412]

I have the opportunity to hunt in Medina County Texas this spring for Rios. My nephew got me on the private land to hunt however he does not hunt turkeys. So I am on my own to figure these birds out. My questions are, do I use the same tactics I use for Eastern birds ?  Such as Decoys, calling style, locating birds? Do they walk the Sendero's?  Thanks for any tips you can give me.

[Yoder409]

In a nutshell.......... If you can't work one from the limb, walk the senderos calling loudly and stopping to listen often.  Very likely you will kill birds that come following in from where you had been.

[GobbleNut]

In my experience hunting Texas, how you approach hunting comes down to a number of factors.  The habitat features of the property you are hunting is one element.  Does the property have roost sites?...or are the turkeys roosting off of the property and possibly wandering onto it to feed or pass through?  Is it farm country with agricultural fields or food plots either on it or adjacent to it?  Are active feeders set up on the property and/or on adjacent properties?  (a real good head start for you is to get on Google Earth or another mapping app and take a look at the aerial view of the place.  You can learn a lot from that)

Every one of the elements mentioned can either be a positive or a negative.  I have hunted properties where every turkey in the area was roosting on the property, and conversely, I have hunted places that had no roosting habitat and no turkeys roosted on it (hopefully, you will be in the former situation...makes things a LOT easier). 

The presence or absence of agriculture and/or feeders, either on the property or the surrounding properties is another factor that can make or break your hunt.
I have hunted properties where feeders were being used (pretty common in Texas) and the habits and movements of the turkeys were completely based on movements from roosting areas to those feeders.  I have also hunted properties that had no feeders, but the surrounding properties had them...and all the turkeys in the area were concentrated on those properties, with very few, or none, on the property we had access to hunt. 

Any or all of these factors can make or break a Rio hunt.  Get the right combination, and your hunt can be a breeze, with lots of action and opportunities to take a bird or two by using the same (smart) hunting tactics and calling techniques you would use for turkeys anywhere.  Get the wrong combination of those factors, and it probably won't make any difference how you go about hunting the place. 

From my experience in Texas over the years in hunting a number of places, I have pretty consistently been in situations where there was either one extreme or the other.  Hopefully, the place you get to hunt will be closer to that "positive" extreme.     

Another thing I have found on all of the hunts there, the turkeys (if they are there) are very habitual.  If you hunt a couple of days or more and pay attention to what they are doing every day and don't booger 'em up, you should be able to formulate a strategy based on their habitual movements to be successful.   

[backforty]

I've only hunted rios in Kansas but noticed these differences. If you locate the roost spot and don't booger them near it they will return to that same spot in the evening. They prefer to be in the open the majority of the time.  They will still work even if they are with hens. There gobble doesn't carry as well as an eastern and they will sound farther away than they are until you get use to it. One area I hunt in Kansas if you don't kill them off the roost they move off the property and don't return till late afternoon so there's no point in staying there. We try them in the morning and if we can't pull one we go check other properties then return to those birds in the afternoon and try to catch them heading back to roost.

[GobbleNut]

One area I hunt in Kansas if you don't kill them off the roost they move off the property and don't return till late afternoon so there's no point in staying there. We try them in the morning and if we can't pull one we go check other properties then return to those birds in the afternoon and try to catch them heading back to roost.

Yep,...have seen the exact same situation in one of the places we hunted in Texas.  It seemed like all of the birds in the general area wanted to roost in the same group of trees every night...and fortunately, those trees were on the property we got to hunt!   

But...all of them would leave the property after fly-down in the morning pretty quickly and would return right before sunset to the roost area.  We killed a number of turkeys there, but it all happened right at daylight and dark mostly.  In addition, those turkeys were loyal to that roost site even though we shot a few of them close to it.  Of course, we only hunted two or three days each time we went there and tried to be as covert as possible.  I suspect if we had put more pressure on them, they most likely would have abandoned that roost...but they never did while we were there.

Although I prefer to not put a lot of pressure on roosting areas when hunting, in that particular case, it was either shoot those birds near the roost...or just give up and go home.  Sometimes you just have to play the cards you are dealt and make the best of it. 

[Tail Feathers]

Never booger a Rio roost.  They sometimes use them for years and years. 
Rios will take a lot more calling than an Eastern. Don't be afraid to call aggressively. 
They aren't afraid to travel a good ways to get to that hen.

[hipp2412]

Thanks for the information..

[Tom007]

Hunted Rios quite a few times. South Texas with my brother. The terrain is Brushy, Sondero type where decoys work great. If you don't like decoys, you can Run&Gun, it's a bit tougher due to the lower, more open cover. Great birds to hunt for sure. Good luck...

[Bottomland OG]

Never booger a Rio roost.  They sometimes use them for years and years. 
Rios will take a lot more calling than an Eastern. Don't be afraid to call aggressively. 
They aren't afraid to travel a good ways to get to that hen.

Sounds like this guy knows Rio's^^^^^^^^^^^

[PharmHunter]

I have the opportunity to hunt in Medina County Texas this spring for Rios. My nephew got me on the private land to hunt however he does not hunt turkeys. So I am on my own to figure these birds out. My questions are, do I use the same tactics I use for Eastern birds ?  Such as Decoys, calling style, locating birds? Do they walk the Sendero's?  Thanks for any tips you can give me.

Yes, yes, and yes.

And listen to what Tailfeathers said.  Good luck!  Headed to Texas in 10 days.  Always my favorite trip of the year. 
Another thing...find some water on a dry ranch and you will find them.  Forget about food.

[hipp2412]

Well folks I got it done. I hunted a small property and heard birds the first day but they would not come in. The next morning I set up in the same general area and the birds were hammering me but again they hung up. Afternoon came and I decided to sneak in where the birds were gobbling from. I then saw what the problem was, a high fence. I set up along the fence and called a bird into about 50 yards but he would not come over the fence. I did manage to call in 4 Kudo.
That same afternoon my friend took me to another property that held birds. We set up in a blind and we did not hear anything. So i decided it was time to cut and run. The first stop I had 4 gobblers going from different directions. I set up under some trees and I had a bird come into about 45 yards and it only took about 3 minutes of calling . He came out into the open and put on a show.
The end result was a 22 lb bird with 8 3/8 beard and 7/8" spurs.
Thanks to everyone that gave me info on bagging my Rio.

[Marc]

Very likely you will kill birds that come following in from where you had been.

They aren't afraid to travel a good ways to get to that hen.

One area I hunt in Kansas if you don't kill them off the roost they move off the property and don't return till late afternoon so there's no point in staying there. We try them in the morning and if we can't pull one we go check other properties then return to those birds in the afternoon and try to catch them heading back to roost.

Yep,...have seen the exact same situation in one of the places we hunted in Texas.  It seemed like all of the birds in the general area wanted to roost in the same group of trees every night...and fortunately, those trees were on the property we got to hunt!   

But...all of them would leave the property after fly-down in the morning pretty quickly and would return right before sunset to the roost area.

Although I prefer to not put a lot of pressure on roosting areas when hunting, in that particular case, it was either shoot those birds near the roost...or just give up and go home.  Sometimes you just have to play the cards you are dealt and make the best of it. 

I have never hunted anything but Rios, so I cannot compare...

But birds will use preferred roost trees year after year...  Same birds/different birds, there are often roost trees used over and over....

There are areas I hunt that are not worth going out at daylight, cause birds move into to them later in the day, and there are areas that the birds roost and move through in the morning, generally not reappearing to much later in the day.  You might hunt an area at first light with no apparent birds in the area that is loaded with birds several hours later, or you might have an area loaded with birds in the morning that is desolate a couple hours later.

Seems to me, that the run & gun methods were made for Rios...  I used to make a loop over larger properties to cover more ground...  Currently I find it more productive to go back over the the areas whence I just came, and often the second time through I will get a bird to answer that was silent the first time.  Very often you will hear birds respond from where you just came... 

Also, I have learned a bit of patients when moving on Rio's...  They will often come from a long distance very quickly.  When I get a distant response, espeically an enthusiastic response, I wait about 5 minutes before moving on him...  If he has not made much progress, I make my move, if he has made considerably distance towards me, I might either stay put, or make a short move to a more strategic location....  I have bumped a lot of eager birds that came to me much quicker than I thought they would.

GOOD LUCK!

[Marc]

Well folks I got it done. I hunted a small property and heard birds the first day but they would not come in. The next morning I set up in the same general area and the birds were hammering me but again they hung up. Afternoon came and I decided to sneak in where the birds were gobbling from. I then saw what the problem was, a high fence. I set up along the fence and called a bird into about 50 yards but he would not come over the fence. I did manage to call in 4 Kudo.
That same afternoon my friend took me to another property that held birds. We set up in a blind and we did not hear anything. So i decided it was time to cut and run. The first stop I had 4 gobblers going from different directions. I set up under some trees and I had a bird come into about 45 yards and it only took about 3 minutes of calling . He came out into the open and put on a show.
The end result was a 22 lb bird with 8 3/8 beard and 7/8" spurs.
Thanks to everyone that gave me info on bagging my Rio.

Nicely done!

Sounds like a great hunting experience!!!