Rio Grande Turkey

[Drycreek]

My best friend and I just got back from our annual spring turkey hunt. We are privileged to be able to hunt on a friend’s property near Post, TX where he has a nice house that we stay in. He has a water guzzler as well as water troughs for the cows that his neighbor sometimes runs on his place. We cheat and don’t run and gun as we used to, we’re both too old for that ! . He has stands near the water that we hunt from, so it’s more like deer hunting than turkey hunting. It’s a pleasurable getaway for two old friends (of thirty plus years) and we enjoy it. My buddy had to be back today for a doctor‘s appointment tomorrow so we cut it about a day short. Nevertheless, we each killed a Tom and I missed my second chance.

Missed with a shotgun you say ? Yep ! My only excuse is he was very close, like twelve yards, and he was walking with that head bobbing like a bobble head doll. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it !

 

[weekender21]

It’s easy to miss at 12 yards! Congrats on the Tom’s, easy or hard hunt I’ve never been on a turkey hunt I didn’t enjoy.


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[yoderjac]

Congrats! With todays tight turkey gun patterns, we can reach out to quite some distance, especially with the new heavier than lead shot like Hevi-shot and TSS. That makes the pattern extremely small at close range. I had the same issue when I was younger and did more run-n-gun style hunting. I ended up buying an over and under (10 gauge) with selectable barrels. I put a more open choke in one of the barrels and used a more traditional load in that barrel.

Now that I'm mostly hunting from blinds, I've gone back to my browning gold lite 10 gauge. I have red dots on both shotguns. That really helps with shot placement. When hunting in the open, it is not uncommon for a bird to circle and approach from behind. This often creates a situation where the bird sees me and putts before I'm ready to fire and is moving by the time I shoot. This is where the more open choke comes in. I would hunt with the barrel selector set for that short distance barrel. If a bird is in a position for a longer distance shot, there is plenty of time to select the long-distance barrel. I don't have this issue when hunting from a blind. Birds coming from behind don't see me so I can pick my shots much more selectively.

Those Rio's sure are pretty. I've only hunted turkey in the east, so I've only hunted Easterns. A couple of other hunter education instructors and I held a Turkey Hunting Workshop this March. Several of the other instructors have done grand slams, but I prefer to hunt locally. Turkey hunting is a unique kind of hunting and I love it. Any gobbler is a trophy and those are great looking birds you guys got!

 

[Drycreek]

Thanks guys ! Something that was kind of peculiar to me, my turkey was visually bigger and obviously heavier than his, but his had longer spurs and a longer beard. I’ve killed lots of Rios, but that’s kind of unusual in my experience.

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks guys ! Something that was kind of peculiar to me, my turkey was visually bigger and obviously heavier than his, but his had longer spurs and a longer beard. I’ve killed lots of Rios, but that’s kind of unusual in my experience.

I can't speak to Rios specifically, but that is not uncommon with Easterns. Spur length is an indicator of age. Gobblers reduce food consumption in favor of breeding in the spring. Energy stored in that breast sponge is used to supplement them in the spring. An older bird may be past prime or may be expending a lot of energy defending his breeding rights. Younger gobblers, lower in the pecking order may be expending less energy in the spring. I've harvested many 2 year old birds that are heavier than 4 and 5 year old birds. I would not say it is typical, but it does happen frequently.

I've also noticed that gobblers harvested earlier in the season tend to be heavier than those I harvest later in the season. I'm not sure if this is just coincidental or not, but it seems to be the case for me.

Again, I don't know enough about Rios to say this applies, but I would guess that it would.