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The family and I were invited to a little place in south Texas over the weekend to make another attempt to get my wife, son and maybe myself a turkey. We hunted this same place 3 years ago and were not able to seal the deal despite hunting hard. The objective was that order, neither of them had killed a bird.
We arrived to 100 degrees and 30mph wind Friday afternoon which in my limited experience isn’t that great to chase turkeys. This go around the fella who I met from another forum made the decision to split us up into pairs. My son and I went one way and he and my wife went another. They saw a bird just before dark and junior and I blanked.
Saturday morning the weather was much better and seemed far more promising. Around 9am my wife texted and said she had shot but they were not able to find the bird. Rylan and I saw nothing but deer. As we rolled into camp my wife reaches into our buddy’s buggy and pulls a turkey from the bed. She pulled a fast one on us and was rather excited of her bird. The real story was she rolled that tom with a blast of 20 ga TSS at less than 20. Joke was on us.
Couple photos and a snack and my son our host head out. Momma and I chill around camp enjoying the quiet afternoon when we get a text about noon. “Done”. Kiddo had rolled a bird!! Once they get back, a few photos are taken and then a quick siesta. That afternoon DP and myself head over to an area of the ranch he heard birds from Thursday afternoon. We pick a cross road and tuck back into the brush. He tells me he expected this tom to come down the road from our right as they had been roosting a few hundred yards to our left.
It takes about an hour for us to see any signs of life when a hen steps out at 15 yards. She meanders down the road and ends up just out of site. A little while later DP says he can hear a tom drumming down the road. And it was coming from the right. I cant hear a thing! He keeps telling me that bird is at 60 yards and coming all the while I cant see or hear anything. Suddenly there is movement thru the mesquite and I can see at least 3 hens. When the lead hen gets to about 40 yards I realize there are FIVE hens with a single tom dragging up the rear.
The lead hen makes to mere feet and the tom is about 40. The problem is hes behind 2 of his hens and I cant shoot. What seems like 20 minutes passes all while there are 3 hens within 20 feet of us. I see the lead bird stand straight up and I think the gig is about to be up. A quick glance down the road and I see the tom is on top of our 30 yard mark. The only issue is I can tell the stock of the gun is not shouldered and all I can think of is how bad its gonna get me. Im hesitant to shoot but know I cant move to re-shoulder the gun.
Safety goes off, the gobbler clears and the Beretta barks. Third bird down! All in one day
We take a few photos and walk back to the SxS. While driving back we set a bunch of buzzards along the neighboring high fence. We’re thinking it’s another coyote caught in the trappers snares and are making a quick run toward camp. As we get to the snare I see that’s its clearly not a yote. Ends up being good size female lion. She was not there Thursday while the scouting was taking place. They had seen at cat 3-4 times over the years on camera but no one was able to set eyes on her. Who knows if it’s the same one or not. Pretty cool experience for my family who had never seen a cat in person.
Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
The family and I were invited to a little place in south Texas over the weekend to make another attempt to get my wife, son and maybe myself a turkey. We hunted this same place 3 years ago and were not able to seal the deal despite hunting hard. The objective was that order, neither of them had killed a bird.
We arrived to 100 degrees and 30mph wind Friday afternoon which in my limited experience isn’t that great to chase turkeys. This go around the fella who I met from another forum made the decision to split us up into pairs. My son and I went one way and he and my wife went another. They saw a bird just before dark and junior and I blanked.
Saturday morning the weather was much better and seemed far more promising. Around 9am my wife texted and said she had shot but they were not able to find the bird. Rylan and I saw nothing but deer. As we rolled into camp my wife reaches into our buddy’s buggy and pulls a turkey from the bed. She pulled a fast one on us and was rather excited of her bird. The real story was she rolled that tom with a blast of 20 ga TSS at less than 20. Joke was on us.
Couple photos and a snack and my son our host head out. Momma and I chill around camp enjoying the quiet afternoon when we get a text about noon. “Done”. Kiddo had rolled a bird!! Once they get back, a few photos are taken and then a quick siesta. That afternoon DP and myself head over to an area of the ranch he heard birds from Thursday afternoon. We pick a cross road and tuck back into the brush. He tells me he expected this tom to come down the road from our right as they had been roosting a few hundred yards to our left.
It takes about an hour for us to see any signs of life when a hen steps out at 15 yards. She meanders down the road and ends up just out of site. A little while later DP says he can hear a tom drumming down the road. And it was coming from the right. I cant hear a thing! He keeps telling me that bird is at 60 yards and coming all the while I cant see or hear anything. Suddenly there is movement thru the mesquite and I can see at least 3 hens. When the lead hen gets to about 40 yards I realize there are FIVE hens with a single tom dragging up the rear.
The lead hen makes to mere feet and the tom is about 40. The problem is hes behind 2 of his hens and I cant shoot. What seems like 20 minutes passes all while there are 3 hens within 20 feet of us. I see the lead bird stand straight up and I think the gig is about to be up. A quick glance down the road and I see the tom is on top of our 30 yard mark. The only issue is I can tell the stock of the gun is not shouldered and all I can think of is how bad its gonna get me. Im hesitant to shoot but know I cant move to re-shoulder the gun.
Safety goes off, the gobbler clears and the Beretta barks. Third bird down! All in one day
We take a few photos and walk back to the SxS. While driving back we set a bunch of buzzards along the neighboring high fence. We’re thinking it’s another coyote caught in the trappers snares and are making a quick run toward camp. As we get to the snare I see that’s its clearly not a yote. Ends up being good size female lion. She was not there Thursday while the scouting was taking place. They had seen at cat 3-4 times over the years on camera but no one was able to set eyes on her. Who knows if it’s the same one or not. Pretty cool experience for my family who had never seen a cat in person.
Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
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