I was lucky enough to harvest this beautiful Rio Grande gobbler on the last weekend of the season with my son in the stand on his 9th birthday. Typically I'm a bowhunter, but I've been teaching my 9 year old the ins and outs of bow and gun hunting. He's not quite there yet with the bow so we started with a rifle.
Thirty minutes or so after daylight I heard several gobbles very close by. I nudged my son and said, "come on bud there's 10-15 gobblers coming down the dirt road right at us." I could see the excitement in his eyes and could tell his heart was pumping big time.....He got set and steadied himself with my TC .223 and squeezed the trigger......The closest ones flew up and over a plum thicket and the others took off down the road the way they came in.... I'm not sure what happened (other than nerves), but unfortunately, it looked like he missed the shot.
He handed me the gun and I popped in another round. At this point, they were over 100 yards away down the road and on the move. As they entered a clearing I squeezed the trigger and one hit the dirt!!! We looked hard in the area where my son turkey was, but there were no feathers or blood. After 10-15 minutes we started towards my bird.
I didn't realize when I shot this gobbler just how nice he was. He weighed in at 18.75 #'s, his spurs measured in at 1 inch and 1.25 inches, and his beard taped out at 12.5 inches. From what I found on the NWTF website, my Rio would have the longest registered beard in Hardeman county and would tie with a few others for the 5th longest beard in Texas for a typical Rio Grande.
I'm going to get a life sized strutting mount, but I want to get him scored first. The few taxidermists I've used in the past don't score turkeys. I went online and read the qualifications needed to score my bird. I need a current NWTF member (I'm signing up myself, because I have to be a member too), another member or non-member, and then a third witness because the beard is over 12 inches with a picture of the beard being measured. I live in Dallas. Does anyone know of a good taxi that scores birds or is anyone a member that might point me in the direction of someone who will score him?
Thirty minutes or so after daylight I heard several gobbles very close by. I nudged my son and said, "come on bud there's 10-15 gobblers coming down the dirt road right at us." I could see the excitement in his eyes and could tell his heart was pumping big time.....He got set and steadied himself with my TC .223 and squeezed the trigger......The closest ones flew up and over a plum thicket and the others took off down the road the way they came in.... I'm not sure what happened (other than nerves), but unfortunately, it looked like he missed the shot.
He handed me the gun and I popped in another round. At this point, they were over 100 yards away down the road and on the move. As they entered a clearing I squeezed the trigger and one hit the dirt!!! We looked hard in the area where my son turkey was, but there were no feathers or blood. After 10-15 minutes we started towards my bird.
I didn't realize when I shot this gobbler just how nice he was. He weighed in at 18.75 #'s, his spurs measured in at 1 inch and 1.25 inches, and his beard taped out at 12.5 inches. From what I found on the NWTF website, my Rio would have the longest registered beard in Hardeman county and would tie with a few others for the 5th longest beard in Texas for a typical Rio Grande.
I'm going to get a life sized strutting mount, but I want to get him scored first. The few taxidermists I've used in the past don't score turkeys. I went online and read the qualifications needed to score my bird. I need a current NWTF member (I'm signing up myself, because I have to be a member too), another member or non-member, and then a third witness because the beard is over 12 inches with a picture of the beard being measured. I live in Dallas. Does anyone know of a good taxi that scores birds or is anyone a member that might point me in the direction of someone who will score him?
Attached Files
Comment