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Day #4 - One Leg
& The Double Beard
At Wulff Cedar Creek
Ranch
Lots of turkeys are moving
through my area and many of them seemed to be eating something in the 2-track
road. I looked but didn't see anything but very fine pebbles. So I asked
the owner Mike McCullar and he explained that they picked up these pebbles
for their craw.
 
Two groups of deer started
my day. Two hens came by me. Then I saw a gobbler in the road. I took pictures
as it approached the hens. To
The Hunt & Pics...
Soon 3 jakes walked in front
of my Double Bull blind and went to the area with the small pebbles and
picked away at them. Two more jakes joined in. Then 3 longbeards came walking
up the road. One was the Double Beard bird. To
The Hunt & Pics...
Day #3 - The Gobbler
Brawl
 
Afternoon: Downhill
200 yards a few hens and longbeards appeared. Six jakes walked up and the
longbeards charged them. This happened several times and twice two gobblers
fought. I took pictures but they were blurry due to their movement.
More longbeards came. I
began calling softly and a gobbler blew up. Several Toms came closer and
I got some swell pics. To
12 Pics...
I
put my camera down and concentrated on calling softly and clearly. I needed
to get them within 20 yards.
One
Tom moved ahead of the group and spied my decoys. It blew up and strutted
around. Other gobblers gathered around it.
I
got my bow ready.
One
of the gobblers had a double beard and a very fat body. He shoved himself
in front of all the others and started toward the decoys. He stopped in
one of the blinds shooting windows. I drew and aimed. He lurched forward
the instant I shot. I missed.
They
scattered.
Fred Lutger's
First Rio, A Longbeard
Fred Lutger with his
Rio Grande longbeard.
At dawn Fred heard more gobbling
than he has ever heard before, it was coming from every direction. Returning
after lunch he called a gobbler in right away. He saw it on the fence line
coming toward him.
Fred closed all the Double
Bull blind's windows except one to shoot out of.
Gobbles sounded on the left
and Fred peaked through a corner of a closed window. Two gobblers ran up
and went into full strut by the decoys. Fred dropped the window open and
one of the birds saw it and ran 50 yards.
Fred used his Knight &
Hale slate and the smaller gobbler started back toward the Montana decoy
Tom and a hen. Quickly the larger gobbler blocked the smaller one. Fred
had placed a stone at 20 yards and the Tom stopped by it.
Fred drew inside the blind
and eased into the window. He was nervous and his sight pin was not steady.
Fred thought, hold steady in the center of the bird. The pin stopped in
the center. Fred squeezed his Carter release's trigger.
The arrow went too fast
to see the hit but it sounded good. Both Toms ran to a cedar thicket. The
smaller gobbler stood there a while. He left and returned twice so Fred
was sure his longbeard was there.
Fred recovered the bird
there, a big longbeard with a 10 1/2" beard and 1" spurs.
(Fred is flying back to
Chicago and will meet us in South Dakota and the Merriam's bowhunt.)
Tony Dukes Gets
His 1st of the 4x4
Tony Dukes & Struttin'
Tom, Carroll
Tony returned to a mesquite
flat and moved his Double Bull blind 200 yards to the location where where
he had seen lots of birds. He set out the Montana Decoy's Gobbler Mounting
A Hen and hen decoys. Gobbles filled the air and at first good light 2
hens wandered toward the decoys. Back where the blind had been yesterday,
3 longbeards appeared. 4 more hens came up.
Strutting' Tom Carroll (of
Double Bull Archery) called with purrs and the hens circled the decoys.
He saw gobblers coming and whispered, "gobblers". They switched sides in
the blind. As Tom moved the camera to the window the bird was walking at
14 yards, Tony drew and fired. The Rocky Mountain Assassin tipped Easton
arrow dropped the longbeard in it's tracks.
The second gobbler jumped
on the downed bird and started pecking him. Tom handed Tony the video camera
and got his own bow but the gobbler moved off before he could shoot.
The gobbler weighed 20 pounds,
had a 10 3/4" beard and 1" spurs.
First Gobbler
Of The Hunt
Tom Holmes "Greenfletch" Bags Gobbler
#1
(L) Tom Holmes "Greenfletch"
and (R) Mike McCullar of Wulff Cedar Creek Ranch
Late afternoon Greenfletch
had called up 4 Toms, they hung up and he worked them hard with a mouth
call. Movement to his right got his attention. Two excited gobblers were
coming in 20 yards away. He drew, aimed and released.
A ton of feathers flew up
as the arrow knocked the Tom down. It ran and Greenfletch waited an hour
and found a decent blood trail, He Doug Crabtree trailed it. But it quickly
got dark and they found themselves in rocky, rattlesnake habitat and decided
to continue looking tomorrow.
They returned in the morning
and quickly followed the trail to the Gobbler. Surprise! A skunk was eating
the throat of the turkey. Fortunately the skunk ran away. The neck damage
was not much and the bird was ok. Grenfletch is a veteran turkey hunter
and a champion turkey caller and this was his first Rio Grande.
It was our pleasure to have
him as a guest on our Texas Grand Slammer bowhunt.
Pics: Greenfletch Wallpaper
1024x768,
800x600.
The Pic Above in 1024x768,
800x600,
640x480.
Day #3 - Gobbler
Brawl
Morning: I moved
250 yards South. It took two trips to carry everything. I picked up the
decoys and called. Answering gobbles were dangerously close, I chunked
the decoys behind a cactus and grabbed the blind. It's a good thing the
Double Bull blind sets up in seconds because right after popping it up
4 nice longbeards came through 40 yards away. When they were out of sight
I set the decoys in front of the blind.
It was a busy morning, in
all I saw 36 wild turkeys, 14 were gobblers, 8 stared down my decoys (from
out of range) and walked away.
11:00 was lunch pick up
time. At 10:53 I had a gobbler working in the distance. His head popped
up in the cactus 100 yards off. I was 11:12 and I was running out of time
so I laid on the volume. It worked, he sprinted toward me. But slammed
on the brakes at 50 yards. Neither one of us had noticed the ranch truck
driving up. The pick up time was my own request so I did it to myself.
Preparing For The Afternoon:
Because the area is fairly open I decided to try something different with
the decoys. Instead of placing them in front of the blind (in plain view)
I set them to the side so the Double Bull blind would block them. That
way the turkeys couldn't see them from a distance and watch them forever.
I felt this new setup would give me an element of surprise. And as things
worked out it was a good idea. More later today & some cool gobbler
pics too, this ranch has really has alot of mature gobblers ...
Day #2 - Tony
Dukes
Tony Dukes hunted
the windmill area again.
Day #2 - Fred
& Robert's Hunts
 Fred
Lutger and Bubba Gibbs hiked in and followed morning
gobbles. Bubba spotted a gobbler, and Fred set up the Double Bull blind
inside the edge of a field, put decoys out, and called. A white gobbler
came out of the nearby brush. (The ranch has 2 of these rare color phase
of gobblers and they are off limits.) Another gobbler followed it. The
birds slipped through without offering a shot.
Later Bubba slipped out
of the blind to see if there were any more birds in the field. There were
and he held up 5 fingers so Fred could see there were 5 gobblers.
He returned to the blind and Fred began calling. No vocal response.
30 minutes later Fred heard
a Tom spit and drum. The sound got louder as a big longbeard walked right
to the Montana Decoy strutting Tom. The shot was broadside, 20 yards. Fred's
shot went right and hit his tail feathers. The bird ran away, unhurt.
Back at camp Fred checked
his bow. He came right here from the Florida hunt and hadn't checked it
yet. It was off to the right and he had to resight.
After lunch (Dean's Armadillo
stew) Todd Harmon went with Fred to video. Here they are crossing
a creek. They called with no response. They moved 200 yards and on
the first call a gobbler answered. The blind was not up yet and Fred quickly
put out a hen decoy and started pulling the blind open. Todd saw 3 longbeards
coming and began videoing. Fred looked up, the longbeards were 15 yards
away. Fred grabbed his bow and drew. One of the longbeards putted and they
all walked back into the brush.
They saw 5 hens later in
the afternoon.
Robert Hoague - I
had web work to do and couldn't make the morning hunt.
 
Here are my turkey call
"helpers". They call pretty good. Turkeys
I saw today.
First thing for the afternoon
hunt was to set my Double Bull blind where I had seen the most turkey action
yesterday. Ten minutes later I saw 4 gobblers past where I could see yesterday.
That area turned out to be the hot spot, 3 dozen plus turkeys, hens, jakes
and gobblers passed through there.
My area had activity too,
several single hens and two groups passed nearby. Mid afternoon a hen flew
in from some place and landed by my Montana Decoy tom. She sounded off
with some calling that I only dream of being able to do. She walked around,
calling off and on for half and hour. Then she opened up with a loud volley.
I saw some turkeys coming in the cactus.
It was 3 hens and they walked
up to the calling hen and joined her in calling!
It was awesome. Now ...
if a gobbler was within hearing range!
But no dice.
Soon the sun dropped and
the 4 hens left to roost. Here is a photo gallery of some of the wild
turkeys I saw today.
Day #1 - Wulff
Cedar Creek Ranch
  
My Hunt: They let
me off on a high area above the river. Occasional gobbles drifted up as
I set the Double Bull blind up in a prickly pear flat 100 yards from the
road. Daylight came and I've never heard so many gobbles.
Their sound moved off the
the South.
Several more gobbled as
time passed but couldn't call any in. Also, I couldn't see very far so
I needed to move.
After lunch I went to the
same area and set up near the road where I could see 250 yards down it
in both directions. If anything crossed the road I'd know it.
In 5 minutes I saw the first
turkey 200 yards to the south. Lots more turkeys crossed there: groups
ranging from 2 to 8 and several singles. Lots of turkeys and too frequently
for me to move the blind there. Here are a few pics: PIc
2 -
3 Toms.
I could not call any down
to me.
To the north it was not
as busy, but it was good. The first gobbler blew up big when I called at
him. He moved closer and I took a pic when he was 120 yards away Longbeard
# 1. But he hung up there. Later another nice Tom walked through --
Gobbler
#2.
Gobblers At The
Windmill
Fred Lutger & Tony
Dukes: Tony took this pic of the nearby Windmill as daylight came on.
Gobbles were from every direction. Fred Lutger told Tony, "This is the
most gobbles I've ever heard." Two sets of hens came to the decoys and
moved on. Two jakes came next and hung up at 60 yards. After 10:00 the
gobbling finally stopped.
After lunch, on the way
out 6 longbeards crossed the road near where I was hunting. They moved
the blind and most of the afternoon's turkeys were to the South, were they
were this morning, including 3 different longbeard gobblers.
Here is a turkey
pic of Tony's. It shows you what this area looks like.
A deer snorted to the North
and two gobblers were 55 yards away. They ignored Fred's calls.
"It's because you sound
like an Illinois turkey instead of a Texas one," Tony kidded. :-)
Wulff Cedar Creek
Ranch - Sunday Afternoon on Arrival Day
We all met at the Wulff
Cedar Creek Ranch this afternoon. Joining the hunt are Tom Carroll
from Double Bull Archery and Tom Holmes. Randall Gibbs and Mike McCullar
used a Topo Map to show us the areas we will be hunting. The part of the
ranch we will be in is 5,200 acres.
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