Great opener in Texas!!!

[Rio]

Took my dad on his first ever turkey hunt this weekend. Had a fantastic trip that I'll remember the rest of my life. We headed to a friend's ranch just south of Uvalde. This area was EXTREMELY drought-stricken last season, and I wasn't expecting much, however I was confident we could at least find a tutkey or two to play with, and maybe get Dad a bird.
Boy was I surprised when daylight broke on Saturday. We had at least 15 to 20 gobblers sounding off from the creekbed, along with 2 or 3 a little closer to us near a windmill. It was thundering in South Texas!!!
Just a few minutes after fly down, I yelped, and was immediately answered by 2 gobbles directly to our right. "They're close! Get your gun up, Dad!" As he was picking up his gun I noticed a third gobbler about 50 yds away in the brush, staring right at us...BUSTED! He started putting and spooked off the other 2. They worked their way off, but I decided we should stay put, in case any of those birds off the creek might come our way. About 20 minutes later, I heard the classic FFFT! BOOOMMMMMM right behind us. This time dad had his gun up, and a pair of 2 year olds curved around our right side at about 8 steps. They didn't want to fight my DSD Jake, but they played the game. Dad put the bead on the rear bird, and the first Rio of his hunting career, as well as the 2012 season hit the ground.

That afternoon we walked down a road paralleling the creek bed and came to a T in the road. I peeked around the corner, and spotted a couple strutters about 200 yards away. We backed up a few yards, set out the decoy, and settled into the brush. The way this particular setup laid out, we could only see about 15 feet left of our decoy. Our shot would have to be straight ahead or right. Anyway, after about a half hour, I got a hen fired up in a heated debate, and a gobbler down in the creek (to our left, remember) started going nuts. He'd gobble every time I called, but never seemed to get any closer. A few minutes go by, and Dad and I are just kinda enjoying a nice afternoon, when WHAM!!!!!  The creek gobbler had snuck up on us and was on my jake decoy in the blink of an eye. Dad shot him, nearly out of self defense, and bird number 2 was down. I dragged him back into our setup, and after a few minutes started yelping again. I got a double response from behind my right shoulder, but they never sounded like they were getting closer, plus, that's the direction that boss hen walked off. I wasn't really expecting much.
Dad and I are whispering back and forth, and I was in mid-sentence when we get LIT UP from about 15 yards behind us! (I will never ever ever get tired of that...lol)
A pair of gobblers was hard back over my right shoulder. I couldn't move....
I waited for them to walk back into the brush, got my gun up and swung around left handed. I yelped one time, and they immediately gobbled and stepped back out into the clearing. BIG MISTAKE!  I let loose with a 3 1/2" load of #5's, and my first bird of the season was down.
10.5" beard, 1 1/8" spurs....good start for 2012!

[TRKYHTR]

Great picture. Love the rock and the blood on it. Congrats,

TRKYHTR

[duxrus]

TX is definitely on my "wish list" but we were scred of the effects of the drought.....you might have just decided where we go in 2013....CONGRATS

[socalturkeyman]

Great read and congrats to you and your father!

[nctrkyhntr]

 

[DirtNap647]

congrats way to go

[boomer]

Congrats!!!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[Turkeyfan]

Love the picture of your dad in the wild flowers, great story.

[JVA54]

  Congrats!!

[Roostem33]

Sounds like quality father and son time to me, Congratulations!!!!!!

[redleg06]

Great hunt!

This is my first year living anywhere outside the State of Tx and I am missing it right now!!

[okiegobblers]

Great story, thanks for sharing!

[jyoung]

Awesome opener in deed brother!  Nothing like making great memories with your dad that you will treasure for a lifetime!

Jonathan

[Hognutz]

Congrats to your dad..That is outstanding!! Nice pictures, as well..

[pseshooter300]

Nice birds congrats