Anyone else out there turkey hunt off riding mules or horse back?

[SpitNDrumN]

Anyone else use mules or horses to cover ground to hunt gobblers? We're located in Va. it isn't just a way to hunt in the west. on average depending on how many birds we hunt or if we get to hunt or set up on any we can travel 5-15 miles before lunch of national forest land. Keep riding cutting ridges and riding mountain and ridge tops until you find a hot bird ready to be worked. When you find one ride within several hundred yards of the bird then get off tie them up and then close the remaining couple hundred yards on foot. If you kill him great but if you don't guess what you don't have to walk back to the truck with your tail tucked between your legs. just get on and ride back.

We also use them for deer hunting to get way back in on national forest land where no one else walks to. That's where the old big'ens live.

Here is a bird I called into my dad pictured with the bird roughly a 2 hour walk on foot. We made it there in under 30 minutes on the mules.



Jasper one of our Mules. We prefer Mules over horses in the mountains because they are more sure footed, strong, confident, and can go all day.

[silvestris]

Were I rich and young and owned sufficient acreage, I would have a camp in the middle and a stable of mules.  Cars and trucks could be driven down the main road to the camp and tractors to work the few well-spaced bugging plots.  Otherwise, no motorized vehicles.  That would be heaven.

[Beard Collecter]

Glad to see your post!! Where were you all spring. Never saw any posts on the VA site this spring. How did your spring season go?

[SpitNDrumN]

Between changing jobs during the middle of turkey season it didn't go to bad. Done a lot better. I killed one, called one into my dad that he killed and called one into my cousin which he killed. Called 6 others birds into two different guys on the last two Saturdays and niether capitalized on their opportunities. I should have had one more bird hunting solo.

[Snoodsniper]

That looks like a lot of fun!

[Kates]

Very nice.  I have coon hunted off mules and its a blast.

[alclark2]

It sounds like fun!


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[Tail Feathers]

Looks like a great way to get close to 'em while saving a little leg work.

[Crawdad]

Man, being 73 & with bad hip joints, could I sure use one of those.

[owlhoot]

did some coon hunting years ago, lot of fun.  That would be fun for turks too.

[SpitNDrumN]

     The day my Dad killed the bird in the picture above we road 11 miles that day before noon. We found the bird he killed and tied the mules up. When dad pulled the trigger we was only 180 yards from the mules. But we was roughly 3 miles from the truck and had only walked 400 yards total to kill the bird at that point. We might have walked a half mile total that day. Most of that was when we got off the mules and lead them to stretch our legs and rest our butts. The birds we've killed using our mules we have never been no further than 500 yards from them from where we killed a bird.

     I posted this on here to see if I could find anyone else that uses mules to turkey hunt. I have posted other post on other forums boards and I can't believe with as many people as I can reach with the internet that I have not heard from or ran into anyone yet that has used mules or horses to Spring Gobbler hunt off of.

     I have ran into guys that use them to deer hunt with them around here like we do but I haven't found anyone that turkey hunts with them yet. They are the real deal for hunting deep back in the mountains on public land for bucks. When its cold in the fall and winter all of us hunters know that when you walk up a mountain you sweat and when you get to your deer stand that sweat takes away your bodys insulation factor and your back and feet get cold pretty easy. But with the mules we can ride right up a big main ridge all the way to the top, tie them up, and walk a couple hundred yards to our deer stands and not even broke a sweat yet. Which makes sitting all day more comfortable. It's not out of the norm for us to be hunting several miles from our truck in the middle of no where back where the old big boys live and die of old age, where no one walks to hunt because its to far or to steep or to rough. But we're there back deep in the brush where there isnt hardly any hunting pressure and where the old bucks live and feel safe.

[TRKYHTR]

That looks like fun.

Joe

[El Pavo Grande]

I never have, but it looks like a fun way to hunt.

[catdaddy]

It is so good to see your post on this topic. For years I have dreamed of turkey hunting using a mule. I think of a few times, espcially out west, when they would have been invaluable. I am surprised more people don't do it. 

[drenalinld]

Great looking mules. I would live to have a good mule or two to hunt on. I just don't have enough time to care for them.