well, just thought i would go to the 'gun' thread and fill ya'll in on my turkey hunt this weekend.
we(wife and i) got out there saturday afternoon, and set up the camp. luckily, the others there were taking care of food, so we basically just had to set up the tent and blow up the air mattress. cole, the guy who owned the ranch, took me out to one of the blinds near a stock pond and said the turkeys will usually come in around dusk to get water. i had a mouth call, that i havent got good at using yet, and was trying to bring them in. to bad it aint deer season, cause we saw PLENTY of them coming in to drink. couple nice bucks, but mainly doe's. anyway, we could hear the turkeys in the tree line, but they never came into range. as the sun started to set, we could hear them flying up to roost in the trees. we never did get a 'clear' look at a turkey, but they were definitely all around us. we walked the trail back to camp(about 45 minutes), and i was nearly exhausted.. i am getting too fat, and too old. it was almost nine by the time we got back, and they had just started dinner.. these guys are all big hunters, so it was an 'all game' dinner. we had potatoes w/deer & jalapeno sausage, deer back straps, turkey breasts(killed that morning), quail, and goose. one of the guys was from amarillo, and apparently, that is a popular place for migrating geese. it was my first time to have goose, tastes like duck.. it was pretty good. we all ate well, drank some beer, played some songs on the guitar, and hit the tent. i was tired.
sunday morning,7:30 am, i get woke up to a gobbler just up the hill from the tent, probably 200-250 yards. my wife said she was too tired, and just wanted to sleep, so i grabbed the 12 gauge, and a jacket, and headed up the hill. once up on the top, i nestled down by a tree and reached into my pocket to grab my mouth call, IT WAS GONE.. with no way to call them in, and not wanting to get up and run them off, i just stayed there, hoping they would cross my path. it never happened.. once again, i could hear them in the tree line and could see movement in the trees, but they never got in range. i did have two big jack rabbits move up on me though.. they never even knew i was there, they probably got within 15 feet of me. i could swear i kept hearing an armadillo digging in the ground behind the tree i was against, but i never checked. once i got up to go back to camp, he was gone. got back to camp around 10:30, shannon had already deflated the air mattress and was fixing to pull the tent pegs..(thats a good wife that will break camp alone).. and she found my turkey caller, it had fallen out of my jacket.. as i walked up to the the tent, she just laughed, threw it at me and asked,"did ya forget something"?? anyway, got back just in time to have a havelina & egg burrito, and loaded up the jeep. we left around noon, and were home by 1:30.
although i didnt drop a turkey, we had a great time, and it is cool just to get out in the country for a while. lucky for me, the guy who owns the ranch(cole), is fixing to marry one of my wifes best friends, so looks like i will have a good place to hunt come deer season..
just thought ya'll might like to know how the weekend went.
have a good week..
bigjohn
