Join us as Fred Lutger, David Mills and Robert Hoague go for the Grand Slam this Spring. Our plan is to begin in Florida in mid March and move on to Nebraska, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee. Look for the daily updates, lots of on the spot pictures, and plenty of video for BowTube.com as the hunt progresses.
Texas - Rio Grande - Day 2 By Robert Hoague
Apr 6, 2008 - 8:51:06 PM
MORNING
We walked downhill and setup in a valley in the strip of woods adjacent to the planted corn field we hinted yesterday afternoon. Our setup was in a fairly open area populated with large, old pecan trees. Daylight came and we waited for the first gobble. It came from further in the same strip of wood we were in.
Our soft calls produced two different answering gobbles that were at least 200 yards from us. When the gobblers hit the ground they gobbled hard to our yelps and cuts. If they came through the valley in our direction we were al the good.
From the sound of their gobbles we could tell they had walked up hill. Then the gobbles got more distant. They were moving south, the opposite direction from us.
Not to worry. I already had a plan for that.
Fred broke down the blind and collected our folding chairs and other gear while I hurried uphill to my truck and drove back to load everything.
We quietly drove to the pond by the Dam where I hunt turkeys every year. My truck drives very quietly and is good for this kind of stuff.
But the gobbles were already past our position. They had turned with the curve of the river and they were now going west.
We went to the fence for the Back 200, parked in some brush and got our gear. Good ... the gobbles were not this far yet.
We walked 300 yards and set up the decoys and blind and started calling. The answering gobbles came closer.
But we never saw them and their gobbles continued to the west. We walked to a high ridge and listened as the gobblers turned south and kept on going.
AFTERNOON
This time we set up on the top of the hill on the edge of the woods, above where the gobblers had roosted this morning. The gobblers had walked along the edge of this wood line this morning and if they returned to the same roost trees changes were good they would come by us.
They didn't. And we did not hear any gobbles. But, that does not mean the gobblers did not come to the same roost trees. Plenty of times in the past I've failed to hear any nearby gobbles but had Toms sound off close to me in the morning.
So we left the blind where it was and will return in the morning.
