Fredericksburg 11/01/2009

I've been out to my lease between Fredericksburg and Harper to bowhunt a couple times but have yet to get a shooter buck within range. We have a decent mature 8 that I've had a couple encounters with at 20 and 30 yards but can't decide whether to take him or not. I'm holding out for something bigger or later in the season to smoke him. Have seen a really nice 10 but has a small body and is a young deer. Hopefully he will make it through the year or at least long enough to breed some does this year.

Stuck a 150-175lb boar this evening. Did not get pics or my arrow back as I caught him a little high and there was not lots of blood to follow. We don't see pigs around here very often and shoot them on site so I did not track him very hard or far. Just wish my arrow had passed through so I could recover it. When I hit him he spun around and I could see the arrow on both sides so maybe I can look for him opening weekend and get my arrow and broadhead back ($25). Going up for opening weekend for rifle and will try to take more pics and update.

Panhandle Lease

Spent the weekend of Sept. 11-13 at the Memphis lease. We filled just under 8,000 pounds of corn and protein feeders, but found some time Friday evening to squeeze in some dove hunting. The Mojo Dove was working! We were hunting the recently planted wheat field in the picture above and although there were not tons of birds, the ones that came in didn't leave!

Dove Hunt 9/13/09

Sunday afternoon hunt after watching the Cowboy's game at Dustin's. Great afternoon ending up with 38 birds, white wing, mourning, and a few ringnecks(collared).

First hunt for Arte since Kody's not around. I have never worked her with birds so I did not know what to expect. She did okay but did not want to retrieve the dove and was a little gun shy. By the end of the day, she was at least mouthing and playing with the birds although not retrieving them back to me. She just needs some work and maybe some ducks. Memphis and Gabby were with us to help show Arte the way.

Labor Day Weekend

Spent a couple days filling and repairing feeders. Everything always needs something. One of the feeders had a plastic lid which was destroyed by squirrels and allowed water to leak inside and rot and ferment the corn which destoys the feeder motor and timer. New batteries, corn, weedeating, etc. for the others.

Planted some pearl millet on the wet side of the hill at Delrose and the beaver pond at midway. Put in some small food plots with a blend from East Texas Seed Co. It always takes longer than expected to disc, drag, and throw seed, but should pay off since we got good rain within the next 7-10 days. Back in SA now, I have millet growing in the back of my truck! Hopefully things will be easier (just filling feeders and doing final adjustments for the season) next trip.

Only in East Texas... A fourwheeler at the gas station!!!

Chasing the Rio Grande Turkey

One of the few Rio Grande turkey hunts I did this year was with friend and client John who brought his daughter Kali. Hopefully it would be her first opportunity to take a gobbler. We had limited days to hunt as the season was coming to an end and neither of our schedules would match up. We finally decided to make it work the second to last day of the season. Luckily, my buddy Dave, who donated the hunt at a DU Banquet, gave me the skinny on the birds the night before.

We got out of the truck, geared up, and John hit the box call to see if we could get a bird talking. No answer, so we continued to hike to a couple spots I thought the birds would be hanging around, stopping to call every 100 yards or so. After going well over ½ mile, we finally got a gobbler to answer John on his box call. The turkey was way across and field and lake so we tried to hustle and sneak around to the side he was on. Well, we got busted, and that bird was gone! Plan B. Keep looping around the backside of the property to find another bird. 30-45 minutes later we’ve got another hot bird. We cut through a thick stand of cedar, down a little cut, and up a ridge to get set up. After only a few minutes of calling once we are ready, here he comes to check it out. John worked his magic on the call and got this bird within 45-50 yards. Kali is shooting a lever action .410 so we wanted a closer shot. This bird would not commit and finally eased off down the road. We decided to pursue and cut him off. There is a lone peacock on this place and that’s when it started giving us attention. It would come close to check out our calls and was messing the turkey up. Although not helpful with the turkey hunting, it was incredible to be within 10 yards of a wild peacock. It was very tempting, but not what we were after, and I don’t think Dave would appreciate it!

It was almost lunch time now and we thought our day was over. As we started hiking back to the trucks, we turned a corner to find a monster gobbler in full strut in a little cleared area. Our game plan this time was to split up and give chase. I snuck around a thick patch of cedars to corner and push the bird back to John and Kali. I was able to get within 30 yards and waited for them to close in. As I watched the bird walk down an embankment towards the lake, John and Kali came walking up. I stopped them with hand signals. They had not seen him slip below the ridge so I motioned to where the bird went. I had a great seat to watch it unfold. They were able to sneak up to the ridge, peek over, and Boom. Kali got her first gobbler and it’s a great one! 10 ¾ inch beard, 1 ¼ inch spurs, and over 25lbs. When you think the hunt is over, it can just be getting started. She definitely earned this one with all the hiking through thick cover and up and down the ridges and draws. Congrats Kali and John!