BOWHUNT FOR THE RIO GRANDE
by Robert Hoague

The Last Stand

DAY 7 - Lets Do  It One Mo' Gin

For the Morning hunt I returned to the River Ridge. It was another Pro Ears morning, what few gobbles I heard were very far away to the South East. I called but I'm afraid they would have needed their own Pro Ears to hear me. Two hens came up the ridge (separately) in the first half hour of daylight and went into the woods on their way to their nests.

Later on a buck walked in front of the blind and let me take pics of him and his beginner rack. Several pictures were very good and I will put them up in the Scouting section after the turkey hunt.

AFTERNOON: It clouded over after lunch and I was back out at 2:00. (I still have 2 more turkey tags left.) Several hens came through the area. Here are two of them. 

I called every half hour and after the 5:00 session I picked up a gobble in the direction of the river. I called again with the Woodhaven aluminum slate. Then next gobble was much closer and the third sounded like a bomb it was so loud. The Tom came into view along the fence you see in the above picture. He is 52.5 yards on the Nikon rangefinder.  

I called and he gobbled ... but he wouldn't cross the fence. So I changed calls and used the Woodhaven slate. During the next hour I worked him with all 6 of the Woodhaven diaphragm calls I had in my call holder. The sun came out and the now partly cloudy sky brightened up the landscape on and off.

Finally I stopped calling, this gobbler had me worn to a frazzle. It wasn't going any place but he wasn't coming either. He moved further along the fence and I lost sight of him behind some trees. And that gave me an opportunity to try something desperate.

I slid the Renzo's hen under the bottom of the blind and poked it in the ground half an arms length away. It wasn't seated real good but that would have to do, I couldn't risk making any noise. I called and he blew the ears off my head with a loud gobble. He was still in  the game, sorta. Twenty minutes later he walked into view and walked 50 yards to a low spot in the fence.

I called at him with the Doug Crabtree Woodhaven mouth call. He gave me one last gobble and continued down the fence and went into the woods to my left.

He was either gonna get long gone or he would slip in from the side. I didn't want to call loud so I made a mixture of soft calls on the Woodhaven Slate. He didn't answer.

Ten minutes later I saw him coming across the farm road. I still had my camera in my hand and clicked it on and got his picture standing right in front of the blind.  

Down with the Sony, up with the BowTech. The gobblers head jerked left and right like he was looking for something and he appeared  to be getting buggery. As he stood up and turned around with his back to me and started walking away I put the top pin on him. 

The arrow smacked through him and he ran through the open gate and I couldn't see him any more because that side of the blind is side closed up. It was 7:12 -- over two hours from his first gobble. 

Almost immediately two hens walked out of the same woods the gobbler had come from and passed on by.

When I got out of the blind I saw that I hadn't gotten the Renzo's decoy anchored solid enough and it had fallen over. Apparently the gobbler had seen it when it was up and was looking for it when he came up. 

I went to looking for the gobbler.  I had no idea which direction the bird had gone so I looked 50 yards on each side of the road. My truck was 80 yards away and the gobbler was a few yards from it under a cedar tree.

My gobbler from yesterday was packed in ice in a cooler in the back of the truck, ready for just such an occasion. I set my camera on Timer mode and took my own picture with both Toms.

What a thrilling hunt this spring turkey hunt has been. I put the two birds in the cooler and called my bud Perry Wicker to take pictures of these big Rio Grande gobblers.

EQUIPMENT COMMENTS:

• Today I used all the calls I had. Six different diaphragms and the aluminum and regular slate calls from Woodhaven Custom Calls kept the gobbler hanging around for over 2 hours. And finally some soft calls on the slate made him come on down. Woodhaven's turkey calls sound like a hen turkeys.
• For  the 5th time this spring the Tribute from BowTech Archery put a gobbler down for me. This bow is the smoothest I've ever drawn and it is very fast. Set at 62 pounds and so extra smooth to draw it you can (quietly) draw sitting down or on your knees and at 31 1/2 inch axle to axle it is very a maneuverable bow in the close quarters of a blind. The innovative BowTech Binary Cam System is the heart of this bows great bowhunting performance.
• The Razor Tip from Grim Reaper Broadheads smacked through the Tom with its 1 3/4-inch cut and the it was all over. Every Grim Reaper broadhead I've shot flies exactly like my field points and this one is no exception. And it is tough too.
• The Spot-Hogg"Real Deal" bowsight has bight pins, and that is a must when you hunt in a blind that is dark inside. This Real Deal was extremely easy to sight in. It uses turn knobs for up and down and for left and right. This is a big improvement over any sight where you have so slide the pins around and use an allen wrench to hold it in place. 
• The Venom Peep Sight System is a staple in this bowhunter's archery tackle. Its transparent blue color and perfectly shaped and sized eye hole make this peep ideal for bowhunting situations. And the unique tether hook up lines it up right every time.
• I made 6 arrows especially for this spring's hunt. I fletched them with the easy to use, fast fletching carbon fletcher from Arizona Rim E-Z Fletch that applies 3 feathers at a time. I really enjoy making my own unique arrows with this quick, simple to use fletching rig.
• Turkey hunting and a lot of walking go together. I selected the "Vail" Gore Tex Waterproof Hiker from Wolverine. This spring I've walked lots of miles in them, through swamps, up steep hills, and over muddy and rocky terrain. The Vail boots kept my socks and feet dry and gave me particularly good traction in the mud. These are very comfortable boots too.
• The NIKON Monarch 10 power binoculars let me keep track of the gobbler when he was behind the trees on the fence line. These are affordable but high quality optics that are the perfect size and quality for bowhunting.
• The Razor Tip broadheads were on Gold Tip 400 arrows with EZY-Eye yellow wraps fletched with bright yellow feathers from Gateway Feathers. I also used Jim Fletcher Archery's string loop release, the Flathead. And the arrow rest was a Whisper Biscuit from Carolina Archery Products.