BOWHUNT FOR THE RIO GRANDE
by Robert Hoague

The Last Stand

DAY 2 - Some Gobblers Never Give Up

Back At The River Ridge: I couldn't hunt in the morning but was at the Ridge above the river at 3:00pm. In minutes a hen came from my left and walked past the blind. As I reached for my camera we both heard a gobble. It was in the 200 yard range. Without hesitation the hen exited stage right.

Also without hesitation, I yelped with the Woodhaven Billy Yargus mouth call. The gobbler answered right away. In 2 minutes I called again. Gobble! And this one was much closer. I called on the tail end of his gobble and he blasted out another one.

He gobbled two more times, real ear busters, and at 3:16 he popped out ot the woods like he was on a mission. 

He stepped it off smartly in my direction ... and very quickly he was in front of the blind. I was looking through the camera viewfinder and didn't realize he was as close as he was.

He turned sideways and I saw two things about him that I didn't notice at first. Part of his beard was cut off (who knows what happened). And he was sporting spurs that were close to an inch long. This was a 2 year old gobbler.

But when I took the next picture (below) I could tell something had gone wrong. He had seen something or heard a sound he wasn't comfortable with.

PUTT !!!

Whatever the reason, it looked like I was busted. I froze.

But he didn't freeze. Instead he was back in the woods, pronto. Loudly putting with every step.

A hen came out in a few minutes and went down the ridge. I called to see if I could hold the hen in the area and a thundering gobble interrupted my soft yelps. 

At 3:38 the same gobbler walked out of the trees again. This time I did not take any pictures, because my hands were already full ... with my BowTech Tribute ready to launch a brand new Grim Reaper RazorTip.

He was on the move, walking briskly and constantly putting. I wanted either a standing still shot or a closer shot. But he wanted to walk around putting -- just past my comfort zone for a moving shot. Then he putted his way back into the woods.

I called every 15 minutes with a few soft yelps, alternating between the Woodhaven Cherry slate and the Billy Yargus mouth call. 

At 6:17, two minutes after my last call,  I saw and took a pic of a turkey inside the edge of the cedar trees in front of the blind. It had the unmistakable red color on it's neck. This was a gobbler. I did a high pitched Kee Kee on the Billy Yargus call. 

At 6:21 the same gobbler walked out of the trees. I took its pic.

No more picture taking now. Instead I swapped my Sony for the BowTech. Every thing was cool. The gobbler walked behind a tree in front of the blind, when he cleared the tree he would be 14 yards away. When I could see him about to step out I drew.

Something on my arrow made a faint noise. PUTT !!!

I got the bright green top pin of my Spot-Hogg bowsight on him but he was on the go and already past my 25 yard marker. 

I let down and felt my arrow. Rats, I had shot a turkey with this arrow on the Nebraska bowhunt and didn't clean the arrow off and it had a little dried residue on it. And it gave me away this afternoon.

Three times was not a charm today, at least not for me. Two more hens paid me a visit before I left. Here is one that was fluffing up its feathers before going down the ridge to find a roost tree.

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