Hunting Gobbling Rios in February

[cwedding]

Hey guys, Andy and I (cohosts of The Turkey Hunter Podcast) are excited to be doing our 2nd annual hunt raffle to benefit the NWTF and Turkeys for Tomorrow. In 13 days, we will be drawing out 2 lucky hunters to join us in South Texas for an awesome hunt occurring February 18-21. This is one of the only opportunities in the country to hunt turkeys in February and is a great hunt with plenty of gobbling and spring behavior. We were able to take 5 Rios last year on our hunt and have extremely high hopes this year as the jake numbers were crazy high.

All proceeds will be split 50/50 between NWTF and TFT to benefit wild turkeys.

Go to this link to get your tickets. Hope to see you in S. Texas in 41 DAYS!

https://rafflecreator.com/pages/78793/2nd-annual-wild-turkey-hunt-fundraiser?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaaOXuYv8fSWTEU1hY3svGspcD6BvL4YgMvLSjSuxaBpzkdqkqaQwujFEsc_aem_3zbHCPoEe-JQPsh_VZKu_w

[GobbleNut]

Sounds like a worthy cause.  Questions:
1) Am I correct in that it looks like there are two separate hunts for one person each in the drawing rather than a single hunt for two hunters? If so, is there any allowance for additional hunters coming along with each of the two winners?  (Some of us like to take these kinds of trips with a hunting buddy)
2) Will the hunters be in control of their own destiny...that is, actually be able to hunt and call for themselves?... or will they simply be trigger-pullers tagging along with the hosts? ...or worse yet, will they be sitting over a feeder waiting for feeder-conditioned turkeys to show up?
Potential ticket buyers and inquiring minds would like to know...although I am only "asking for a friend"...   
 

[eggshell]

Hey Gobblenut, I'm asking as your friend you can blame me LOL. I have no desire to be someones gun boy or feeder reaper, but I'd love a true turkey hunt in February.

[PalmettoRon]

I think the general consensus is that by opening seasons later, this gives gobblers a better chance to breed and therefore hopefully reverse the declining turkey population.

Even in South TX, I suspect any adult gobblers that are killed will not have bred any hens.

How many adult gobblers were killed on the first annual foray to South TX?

Did you guys kill any jakes? Do you have pics from last year?

Granted on one ranch or two, it's not going to make a difference overall what the harvest is, but this seems to conflict with the current recommendations by many wildlife biologists to not kill gobblers before they've had a chance to breed.

[PalmettoRon]

I don't have any interest, but for any guys so inclined to go, it would be useful to post references from last year's hunt.

[GobbleNut]

I think the general consensus is that by opening seasons later, this gives gobblers a better chance to breed and therefore hopefully reverse the declining turkey population.

Even in South TX, I suspect any adult gobblers that are killed will not have bred any hens.

How many adult gobblers were killed on the first annual foray to South TX?

Did you guys kill any jakes? Do you have pics from last year?

Granted on one ranch or two, it's not going to make a difference overall what the harvest is, but this seems to conflict with the current recommendations by many wildlife biologists to kill gobblers before they've had a chance to breed.

Valid questions and concerns, although I believe a lot of those south TX ranches have substantial turkey populations that most likely would not be impacted.  I would be (more) concerned that the gobblers would still be flocked up and the hunting would be more like fall/winter hunting for gobblers rather than them exhibiting spring breeding behavior with associated spring hunting tactics and calling. ...Clarification on that would be useful.

In addition, I would be even more concerned that the hunting would be feeder-based. I know some people that take kids down there in early March each year and they are killing big, older gobblers...but all of them are being taken over feeders.

Nonetheless, I would be willing to support the cause and in no way am I trying to be critical of the effort... just need a bit more clarification on what the hunting would consist of.  From where I live, it is probably a day's drive to get there, and on the off-chance I might win a hunt, I would rather give it to someone else than go down there and find out that the hunting would consist of hunting over feeders or ambushing gobbler flocks. ...That ain't my thing... 

[Kygobblergetter]

The op could probably provide better details but I listen to their podcast regularly and from what I can tell they wouldn't be participating in hunting over feeders. I know in their most recent podcast they talked about last years hunt and the tactic the winner used to kill birds. Based on that I also don't believe you'd be a trigger puller


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[Tail Feathers]

This post removed due to my error, see below. 

[MStrky]

Brooks, Kenedy, Kleberg & Willacy counties all have a fall season till February 23rd.

[Tail Feathers]

I was trying to edit and something went wonky.  Yes, several counties are indeed open in late Feb.  I'm trying to edit my first post.

[cwedding]

Hey guys - so to respond to questions in no particular order-

- There are 2 separate hunters that will be drawn as winners of the raffle. We will not be able to allow guests to come with the 2 hunters as we have the ranch booked for 4 total guests/hunters.

- We did not hunt over feeders last year. However, there are feeders on the ranch and pretty much every single ranch in Texas. I was worried about this myself last year, but did not find the feeders to detract from my run and gun style of hunting.

- Basically, if you win and come to S. Texas with us, you can hunt however you would like on the ranch. You can hunt with us or without us. You can hunt sitting over a feeder every hour of the day or run and gun (I personally will be covering some ground and trying to find a gobbling turkey). If you are not an experienced hunter, we would be happy to come along and help with calling and getting a gobbler in range. If you are highly experienced and would like to hunt solo, we can have some coffee before daylight and see you again at lunch. We want the hunt to be up to each winner's discretion on how they spend their time. Last year - We drew 2 winners - Del and Jason. Both of our winners were highly experienced and good turkey hunters. We actually all hunted separately a good bit and hunted some together just for comradery's sake.

- In regard to shooting gobblers before breeding - The ranch we are hunting with this year, El Pintor, sets an annual bag limit that is very conservative for their amount of acreage and flock size. We believe the ranch owner knows best as to how to effectively manage his turkey flock as he has been doing it for many years. Also, the multi-million $ study out of Tennessee by Drs. Harper & Buehler has shown that the timing of the removal of gobblers had no effect on the reproductivity of turkeys in their study. Most studies seem to indicate it is much more important that 30% or less of the males be removed rather than the timing of the removal of those males being important. The ranch owner sets extremely conservative harvest figures for his ranch annually.

- In regard to the hunt itself. We are actually moving 1 ranch over from last year. We had success where we were (5), but the neighboring ranch was absolutely stacked. The number of gobblers and jakes we saw/heard across the property line made us very motivated to get next door. This ranch operates on a Pay When You Kill (or mortally wound) basis. I do not think he would be in business very long if he was not putting clients on turkeys and we saw/heard all we needed to be convinced that it was the place to be.

- The #1 objective of this whole thing is to generate a sizeable donation for NWTF and TFT while offering 2 winners the chance at a really fun turkey hunt. If you would like to hear how the donation $ from last year's raffle was spent with NWTF, go listen to The Turkey Hunter Podcast episode 490 with Mark Hatfield.

I hope that answered some questions and helps with any apprehensions some may have about the hunt. I, for one, am very excited to chase gobbling turkeys on February 18th.

[GobbleNut]

Excellent!  Thanks for the detailed response to the questions. Sounds like a great opportunity for someone(s) to get started hunting early this year...and a great way to raise money to help wild turkeys!
Kudos to you guys for making the effort to put it all together! 

[eggshell]

That sounds really good. My only concern about the hunt would be having to attend solo. I'd love a hunt like that, but being in Ohio my travel cost would be significant and add in having to do it alone pretty much makes it a "No" for me. I think you'd get more interest if you only gave one hunt for two hunters instead of two solo hunters. If it was closer to me I'd buy tickets, but that's too far to go solo. Perhaps it's only meant to be a regional hunt. I have a buddy that almost always travels with me and we've been all over the USA, we'd both be buying tickets if it was a buddy hunt, but not solo.

We have hunted similar ranches in Oklahoma. They all have feeders, but you can hunt areas without feeders and hunt gobbling birds. Those rios cover a lot ground in a day.

[GobbleNut]

That sounds really good. My only concern about the hunt would be having to attend solo. I'd love a hunt like that, but being in Ohio my travel cost would be significant and add in having to do it alone pretty much makes it a "No" for me. I think you'd get more interest if you only gave one hunt for two hunters instead of two solo hunters. If it was closer to me I'd buy tickets, but that's too far to go solo. Perhaps it's only meant to be a regional hunt. I have a buddy that almost always travels with me and we've been all over the USA, we'd both be buying tickets if it was a buddy hunt, but not solo.

I'm with you on this, eggshell. I checked the travel distance and time for me (and I'm probably a lot closer than a lot of the members on here) and it is a 12-hour drive for me. Still, I will buy some tickets to support the cause. Even so, I would be reluctant to make that long of a drive alone and would have a serious debate with myself about going. (Yes, I recognize that some folks on here will drive twice that far to turkey hunt alone...but I am not one of them).

If I was by some miracle to draw one of the hunts, I would be looking into trying to find another close-by ranch in the area that might allow hunting access at a reasonable cost so that I might have the option of taking a buddy (or two) along. Bottom line for me is that a "one hunt for two guys" drawing would suit me much better, as well...just an FYI for consideration by the hunt-organizing fellows for the future. 

[PalmettoRon]

Thanks for your response CW. Y'all do have a great podcast and I think it's great to raise money for turkey research.

I'm sure there's some gobbling going on in February, but still suspect this is more like a fall/winter turkey hunt with the birds still not dispersed.

If that's correct?, of the 5 birds killed last year, were any of them jakes, all jakes or all mature birds.

I would think a mid February hunt anywhere including S TX, S FL, one would be hard pressed to get on 5 mature birds?