Stakin Up the Texas Rios

Rhino

By Rhino
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Rhino Monster Buck

Rhino

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To say the least, our turkey hunt this year at the King Ranch was outstanding again. With last year’s drought, we were limited to 2 birds each this year. Although we had to deal with high wind conditions altering our tactics a bit, it was still an outstanding turkey hunting adventure. With so many exciting experiences that happened during the hunt, I’ll try to stick to the highlights. Since one hunter in our group had to cancel, 3 of us (Tim, Demery, and yours truly) decided to go with one guide and triple team the birds while our guide waited in the truck taking siestas. For our own reasons, we opted not to try to hunt these Texas Rios near the roost sites at first light, choosing to work them after leaving the roost.

1st Day: Tim would be the 1st shooter followed by me, then Demery. With the wind howling in the 25 to 30 mph range we made the mistake of going toward a couple birds we heard gobbling before we realized those gobbling birds had to be less than 100 yards with the wind blowing so hard. From then on we were mostly hunted by first seeing the birds, passing them up in the truck and then walked back to hunt them. The 3rd bird we set up to hunt walked into a group of mesquite trees as we passed by. After passing and getting out of sight, we walked back to set up. Tim and I set up to call with Demery behind us to give the gobbler the impression there was more than one anxious hen looking for company. In less than a minute Demery saw the bird step out about 100 yards away strutting. The bird stretched out his neck and gobbled but we could barely hear him in the high wind. From the position Tim and I were in we couldn’t see anything. As he slowly strutted toward us Tim and I had to reposition for Tim to get the shot. Within seconds after repositioning the bird appeared still in full strut. At the 15 yard line we could barely hear him drumming. Tim finally pulled the trigger with the bird at only 10 steps. Tim’s 1st gobbler had 1 3/8” spurs and an 11 ¼” beard. Since we are limited to 4 pics per post now I'll post their pics seperatly.

Late morning we saw gobbler enjoying the shade of a big mesquite tree. After slipping around to to set up and work him, the gobbler moved to our right gobbling but too far for a shot. We moved to try to get ahead of him but somehow managed to slip into the woods right before he came out into the dirt road we just walked in from. Thankfully he greeted us with a gobble to our first call giving away his location. Demery said, your move Al. I swung around the cover between an open area and the road trying to get in front of him. When I came out of cover I was just behind the bird. I give him a loud cluck stopping him to look back and flipped him over in the road. My 1st bird had a 9 ¼” beard and 1 3/16” spurs. Wouldn’t you know it, my bird flopped around and ended up in one of the only mud holes on one of the ranches roads. Here’s my 1st wet gobbler.

My1stRio.jpg

Shortly after killing my bird we saw 4 gobblers moving along the edge of a small lake toward the damn. We moved in to work them setting up on a big mesquite tree as the 1st bird stepped up on the damn. With the temp now around 90 the birds decided to relax in the shade. They would all strut and gobble at all the nasty hen talk we delivered but wouldn’t budge. We eased out staying behind cover and swung around to come in the other side to work them but they still wouldn’t budge. I even tried the moving away hen trick and while Tim and Demery stayed put but no dice. Demery decided to slip in to close the distance while Tim and I hung back delivering nasty hen talk. He got close, gave them a loud cluck to locate them and 4 red periscopes raised up. 3 birds moved to the right while one hesitated giving Demery a clear shot. Demery’s 1st gobbler had 1 7/16” hooks with a 9 ½” beard.

We then took a break for lunch and returned to the camp area to put those 3 birds in the cooler. I took these pics of this strutting gobbler with a hen in a no hunting zone while heading to the cooler.

StruttingRio1.jpg

StruttingRio2.jpg

A couple of hours after lunch we located 2 gobblers that were with 3 hens in a large open area near a shallow pond. Demery broke out his Montana gobbler decoy and we moved into position to set up on the edge of a mesquite thicket to work them about 150 yards from the birds. Demery crawled to the edge of the thicket and raised the decoy and gobbled. I followed up with a lot of nasty hen talk while Demery did the gobble and decoy work. All the birds came right toward us with the bigger gobbler in full strut. It was a great show with all 5 birds coming in but the 2 gobblers were too close together when they came into range. At 15 steps Demery delivered a loud cluck that separated them enough for Tim to deliver the killing blow. Tim’s 2nd gobbler had 1 ¼” spurs and a 9 ½” beard.

2nd Day: With the wind still howling in the 25 to 30 mph range we continued using the tactics that worked the 1st day. After attempting to work several ornery old birds we set up on 2 strutting gobblers with a hen. by mid morning with the temp in the upper 60’s getting into the low 80’s during the day. After setting up we just couldn’t manage to coax those birds inside shotgun range. However, while working them three 2 year old gobblers came in together from the opposite direction but we chose to pass them with the bigger birds out in front. Even though they gobbled at our calling they wouldn’t come in close enough. After about an hour we decided to make a move. Tim stayed put while Demery swung around to come in the back side and I moved around to the side where they had gotten close to some brush several times. After we were set up Demery’s hen talk coaxed them toward him and he delivered the killing blow to one of the birds. Demery’s 2nd bird was a double beard with 9 5/8” and 5 ½” beards along with 1 3/8” spurs.

After trying to work 3 other birds we saw a gobbler in a wide open area all by himself. We moved around to work him setting up on the point of a mesquite thicket. At first we didn’t see the bird when we got to the setup spot but started calling to watch for a response. Tim 1st saw him with his red periscope up coming our way about 200 yards away. Shortly after that he went into strut and strutted the whole way in. It was a beautiful sight to see with that bird coming from so far in full strut. When he hit the 30 yard line a loud cluck raised his head and a load of 4x6’s hit him in the face. My 2nd gobbler had a 10” beard along with 1” spurs. That finished out our limit of 6 gobbers. Here’s my 2nd bird.

My2ndRio.jpg

It just so happened, the NWTF was having their youth (Jake’s) hunt of a lifetime while we were there. After limiting out we caught them just before they were heading out for an afternoon hunt with Jeramie (the youth hunter). Jeramie was having some sorry luck up to that point so we shared all the information we had about when and were we were finding birds including what appeared to be a no brainer roost site hunt for the next morning. We had seen several gobblers with hens using the same path leaving a roost that we chose not to hunt. We met Carl Brown with the NWTF, his 2 cameramen, along with Jeramie and his father. It has to be tuff trying to film a hunt for their TV show with 6 people involved in the hunt, including the guide. After lunch we said adios to our guide Oscar until next year.

All in all we saw 11 jakes and somewhere between 50 and 75 gobblers (lost count) during the hunt. Didn’t bother trying to keep track of hen numbers.

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Rhino Monster Buck

Rhino

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great stories Rhino & congrats on all the awesome birds. If I may be so nosey...what does a trip like this run each of you? Do you fly or drive out there?

Sorry for the late reply..been going after my last Eastern here in MS. The King Ranch is on the high side of turkey hunts for price. They charge $500/day and a $275/bird trophy fee. If you cripple and don't recover a bird you still pay the trophy fee for that one. They don't provide lodging or meals (except lunch) so we stay in a motel in Raymondville, TX. We fly into Harlingen and rent a van to drive from there the 25 miles to Raymondville where we stay. The Norias gate at the King Ranch where we meet them early in the morning is about a 15 minute drive from the motel. My total cost including motel, license, hunt fee, trophy fees, share of rental van, air fare, and guide's tip runs about $2,400 to $2,500 with 2 birds. If more than 2 birds are allowed just add in more trophy fees.

Due to last year's drought, we were limited to 2 birds each. It is usually a 4 bird hunt. Hopefully next year it will be 4 birds again.

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