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.

Elwyn W. and I made a road trip from Louisiana to Waterloo, IA an unbelievable 17 hours to hunt with close friend, Bruce Wohlers who hosted the 1st Annual "Yankee Boy" Invitational Turkey Hunt. After some margaritas and Famous Dave's ribs with Devil's Spit sauce, we headed to the farm to get ready for the next morning's hunt. It was snowy and cold when we arrived. Bruce made contact with our guides for the next morning, Dean and Kelly. We were to meet them at a gas station at 4:45AM. From there, we drove a short distance to a huge bare field with a 10-15 acre woodlot in the middle of it! It was 17 degrees and dark, dark when we got out of the trucks! After about a mile hike, Dean and I settled into the edge of the woods to await daybreak. Right before shooting light I heard a jake yelp in front of us - he was close. As I scanned the backlit trees in front of our position, I counted seven toms within gun range. Dean asked if I wanted to call and I said, Why? As the bird's pitched down, I sized them up and took the larger of the birds with a 10" beard and absolutely no spurs! The tom weighed 24 pounds. Later that morning Elwyn set up on three toms we saw strutting in a field - 45 minutes later and an outstanding off-hand, uphill shot and Elwyn had a 26 pounder with 10 1/2" beard and 1 1/4" spurs. Both birds fell prey to my Mike Walker one-sided cedar box. This is the finest sounding box call I have ever owned. Mike lives in Morton, MS and makes many different types of calls that all do one thing - Talk Turkey! The next day we drove 17 more hours home all for less than an hour of hunting. Hunters are a strange breed, aren't we?!

Bruce G. with a trophy Eastern tom from the Cinnamon Ridge Lodge in SC last Spring. Lots of birds, but tough hunting.

Scott B. of McKinney, TX recently returned from a week-long bear hunt and had the following comments, "Preston provided a top-notch Spring black bear hunt. The personal attention he provided, the quality of the hunt and the work ethic of my Manitoba guide, made the overall experience more than I could have hoped for and easily one of my best hunting adventures. In addition to taking my beautiful bear, I hunted with two friends who also took great bears and enjoyed the total experience. Our guides were personally committed to ensuring that we had an opportunity to take a good bear and to making our safety a priority. We all saw several bears each day and were treated to comfortable. memorable surroundings during the time out of the woods. I will use the services if The Gumbo Ranch again and recommend them to others."

Mark P. of Irving, TX also had some comments, "A short note of thanks for coordinating our black bear hunt with Alex Kalden at Davis Point Lodge and Outfitters in St. Martin, Manitoba. This was the first black bear hunt for Scott, Randy and myself and it was fantastic. The accommodations and food were all we would want, the Kalden family, Alex, Peter and Ulla could not have been nicer and the overall hunt was spectacular. We would have a wonderful breakfast at 9AM, went out with the guides checking baits from 10AM - 1PM, came back to the lodge for a hearty lunch and then hunted from 4PM - 9:30PM each day. We then gathered back at camp and talked about our hunt, had a sandwich, a few cocktails and hit the sack around midnight. I would definitely go back again and would, without question, refer my friends who want to hunt black bear. Thanks for taking care of us!"

Randy H. of  Dallas, TX said: "The trip was awesome and I appreciate you booking us with Davis Point Outfitters. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great bear hunt. "