Live Hunts - South Texas Turkey Hunt - March 31

Live Hunts - South Texas Turkey Hunt - March 31 - Day 1

Saturday - March 31, Day 1
South Texas Turkey Hunt

This is a hunt for Rio Grande Turkey on a great ranch in south Texas which I have hunted previously. The hunt takes place with Wildlife Systems, Inc., on the McLean Bowman Ranch in Dimmit County, Texas. I've hunted here twice before, once for hogs and last year for Turkey and hogs. Last year I killed 2 hogs with my bow and managed to shoot a Tom turkey with my shotgun, despite it being a tough hunt because of timing. Last year the turkeys weren't as actively getting into their breeding routine as is normal on the ranch. Hopefully this year will be different. The ranch has lots of hogs and lots of turkeys, although their primary thing is trophy Whitetail deer hunts.

On this hunt I'm going to try and take a turkey with my shotgun, and then depending upon the circumstances may try to take one with my bow from my ICE Blind.

A.M. Hunt
This morning was pleasant, probably 65 degrees, and overcast. I set up in a ground blind that was pre-placed for me to bowhunt, on a long, wide sendero that is part of a corridor that the turkeys move through frequently. I took my 2 decoys to try and help entice some birds my way. This morning I was hunting with my bow. I heard probably 60 gobbles this morning, coming from what sounded like 4 different roosting areas. They gobbled for about a half hour, but then after fly-down they pretty much shut up. The ranch manager said they've been seeing some lone hens and they are speculating it's possible the birds have actually already done some breeding because of all the rain and warm weather they've had here in the last few months. We'll see how the tom's react.

The hens that made an appearance this morning

After fly-down one group kept up gobbling, sounded like at least 2 toms. However, they were about 200 yards away, across a fence and they weren't coming across. About an hour after daylight 2 hens worked their way down the sendero, pecking at bugs and such along the way. I was hoping that the 2 toms I was hearing would follow them down, but they didn't. The hens only stayed in the area about 10 minutes and then went into the brush on one side. About 45 minutes later I was sitting, not paying much attention, when to the side of the blind I heard a whooshing sound, looked up and immediately saw a full fan at about 20 yards. Obviously, I was startled. I'm guessing the tom made his way in down the brushline and then only when he was close did he step out into the sendero. I got a better look at him (out the side window, no shot) and noticed that he had about a 4-inch, thin beard. I wasn't sure whether I should shoot him or not, didn't know if he would be classified as a jake. As it turned out, he didn't offer me a shot and must not have liked something about my decoy set-up because he left shortly. I didn't even get a good photo of him.

The gobbler I saw this morning gave me this shot - camera shot

I also saw a group of about 20 hogs cross the sendero 50 yards down. We're going to set up my blind this afternoon across the fence where the toms were gobbling for about 3 hours this morning.

P.M. Hunt

A shot of my blind set-up for this evening

This evening I set up my ICE blind about 12 yards from a fence that kind of funnels the turkeys as they're heading back to their roosting area. This is where they were hanging out for several hours this morning.

One of the hens I was able to get a decent pic of

I ended up seeing 3 hens and what I think was the same gobbler as this morning. Several of the hens were less than 10 yards from my blind, but the tom was about 100 yards away and didn't come any closer. The fence you see in the photo above is a hog-wire fence surrounding an oat patch for the deer. The fence is to keep the hogs out of the oats.

Saw another group of about 20 hogs this evening, moving through the brush behind my blind. There are lots of pigs on this ranch.

We'll hit it again hard in the morning.

Go to Day 2

Trip Notes
Our hunt takes place with Wildlife Systems, Inc. on the McLean Bowman Ranch in Dimmit County, Texas. The ranch is loaded with Hogs, Javelina, Whitetail Deer, Predators, and Turkey. This trip we're concentrating on Turkey.

The Bowman Ranch has a nice, comfortable ranch house. Very clean, comfortable accommodations. This hunt includes lodging and excellent food cooked by the ranch managers wife. They have a great walk-in cooler to take your animals to cool off. It's a great ranch, just watch out for rattlesnakes! If you'd be interested in setting up a hunt on the Bowman Ranch, contact Wildlife Systems, Inc., you can visit their web site at:

http://www.wildlifesystems.com/

Equipment
I shoot a Martin Jaguar bow set at 70 lbs, Easton 3-60 ACC arrows, and Wasp 125 gr. SST Hammer broadheads. On this hunt I was wearing Predator Spring Green camo, as it blends in very well with the foliage in south Texas.

My shotgun is a Remington 870 Express 3-inch, and I'm shooting Remington 3-inch shells with 2 oz. of #6 shot. Worked very well for me last year on several birds, so I'm using it again.

I also used my Double Bull ICE Blind which I purchased from Michael Middleton at www.texasbowhunter.com and although I've only hunted from it a few times, I'm inclined to like it very much. I plan to be using it a lot in this year's hunting seasons.

e-mail Joshua Flournoy

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