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I love chasing rio grande gobblers across Texas. It is estimated that we have more than 750,000 of them in the state. That means Texas has more birds than any other state in the U.S. That also means, when conditions are right, you can hear more toms in a single day than many spring hunters hear in a year! I have shot as many as three mature birds in one day, and actually have had the chance to shoot more than that on a few trips, but TPWD only gives us a few tags. That's all right though, it leaves that many more for YOU to come and shoot!
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2006 spring turkey hunting update. A decent year despite the drought! Fortunately, carry over in the adult turkey populations from perfect reproduction from the three prior years has left us with a more than an adequate number of turkey. The toms were a bit reluctant to run to a call in the super dry, warm conditions, but they were workable on most occasions, and my personally guided shooting opportunity rate remains VERY high (over 95%). Several of my clients had multiple chances at birds. I also put over a dozen adult gobblers on video this spring. That's even more fun than shooting one, if you ask me!
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2007 spring turkey hunting update. Well, we went from too little rain to too much rain. To get a year of normal rainfall in Texas would be, well, NOT normal. In most years, it's either way over or way under the average. This one was wet, Wet, WET! As you may know, gobblers don't respond too well in the rain, so my overall success rates were not up to snuff, yet somehow, I managed to keep my personally guided opportunity rates pretty darned high (over 90%).
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2008 spring turkey hunting update. If you don't mind shooting Jakes (one year old toms), this was an awesome year. We had young toms seemingly everywhere. I had one day that I called in over 25 total, and had 18 in front of me at one time. But, if you were strictly looking for longbeards, this was the toughest year of spring turkey hunting that I've ever had in Texas. We had the chance to shoot a total of 8 mature birds all season. I've called in that many mature birds in one day several times before, not for a season!
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2009 spring turkey hunting update. South zone has closed as of Sunday. Early season was TOUGH as there were hens just about everywhere, and in numbers. Gobblers don't respond too well when they have hens with them, and almost never leave a real hen to come to a fake call. It got slowly better as the season wore on, and I wound up with a total of 96 gobblers to shotgun range for the year, on 32 different shooting opportunities. That's pretty darned good hunting. However, although it's higher than last year, my success rate with clients is still lower than I would like it be. 17 days guiding; opportunity to shoot at least once on 11 of those days (65%). 11 days hunting myself (mostly with camera); opportunity to shoot at least once on 9 of those days (81%).
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The good news is:
The gobblers often came in groups of three to seven toms at a time. We only shot one each time. That means there are still plenty of birds around for 2010. It should be a great year! Book your hunt NOW!
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