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Wow,
what a great trip!! Great weather, sunny days, lows of 40's-50's to
highs in the 70's. We hunted on the Gumbo Ranch, just south of San
Angelo. The place was polluted with turkeys. Five hunters in camp,
and the group bagged 13 longbeards (yes longbeards, no jakes) Three
of us took 3 birds, the other two took two birds.
I shot my first bird
the first morning around 8am. He came in with another longbeard,
and was the bigger of the two. There was an opening in the brush at
about 25 yards. At the shot, he ran away with his wings spread out
like an angel. I figured that I must have caught some of the brush,
and wrecked my pattern. I found him later in a small gully next to
a meadow. He had gone only 80 yards. I hit his head pretty hard!
Stats: 20lbs 8oz, 9-1/2" beard, 7/8" spurs, total score
57.0000
Second bird I found
atop a ridge looking into a bottom meadow strutting and chasing the
goats on the ranch. It was around 3pm on the first day. I got ahead
of him, and caught up as he gathered a hen. I kept in contact, as I
worked my way down the ridge. Two soft clucks, and he periscoped.
The rest is history! He had been fighting as his fan was badly
damaged. Stats: 20lbs 3oz, 9-3/4" beard, 1-1/8" & 1-1/16" spurs
total score: 61.5625
On the second day I
called in a nice longbeard for Randy Russell first thing off the
roost. The tom came straight in, and gobbled in our faces. 22 lbs,
10" beard, 1-1/8" spurs. Total score: 64.5000
Last day was a cool
morning and the toms went ballistic. I heard at least a dozen
longbeards, and at least that many or more jakes on the roost. I
chased a group of 8-9 longbeards until 8am. The hens were also very
vocal. I had a group of three 2-year old toms within 8 feet of me,
but passed on the shot. I found a longbeard in a meadow at 9am and
called him up a roadway to the gun at 9:30am. Classic hunt! Stats:
21lbs, 9-1/4" beard, 1-1/4" spurs. Total score: 64.5000
We had a ball!! I also
found a decent 7 point whitetail skull, and another dead gobbler
with 1-1/4" spurs that had been killed by a bobcat.
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