Grayson County is a 1 bird Spring only, Hunter check in County.
I have had the opportunity to hunt on some awesome land that borders the refuge and several other key draws that run through the county.
Over the course of the season I have worked over 20-25 gobblers, and fortunate enough to have hunters take 5 of them.
For the first time in 4 years we had turkeys on my property and was able to call one of 3 gobblers into range and harvest it.
4 out of the 5 birds taken, were first time Turkey hunters and was their first Turkey!!
It has been years since I have successfully hunted spring turkeys and I had forgotten how Awesome it is!!
Saturday was the last day of season up here, and I had Ray Hulse come up from Wylie to see if he could shoot a mature bird. I told him to be ready to walk, cause I was going to give it my best shot!
We covered several hundred acres over the course of 3-4 hours,and several properties...Finally went to a smaller section of land and tried it one more time. We had given up and got back in the truck and started to drive to another location when I looked and here came 4 gobblers!!!
They musta heard us and were taking there time getting to us (coming from another property and traveling a few hundred yards). I threw the truck in reverse and hauled butt back to park and get set up!
We ran to a spot next to the creek, (best spot I could think of with shorter grass) We set up ole "tina the turkey decoy" and dove into the brush. Ray sat against a tree and I leaned on a laydown behind him. I called and they arrupted!!!!
After 15 minutes they crossed a fenceline, the creek and here they came! 4 Gobblers! Four Mature gobblers! All having 8+ inch beards!!! (they were draggin the ground)
I told Ray to take his time and pick out the one he wanted...I swear he pointed the gun at each bird twice, finally deciding on the one that was struttin' the most...
He said okay, I said go ahead and take it!
He pulled the trigger and "Click"!
When we had ran over there he checked his gun and didn't slam the chamber, which didn't secure the bolt!!! We now have 4 birds starring at us!!!! He slowly pulled the shell out and reloaded it. He then took aim, pulling the trigger and BOOM!! Rolled the Bird! It was awesome!!!!
Biggest bird he had ever taken! Was the 21st bird checked in at the check station, and of the 21 birds 5 are birds I called in and my hunters took!
What a GREAT spring Turkey season!!!
Wanted to say congrats to:
Mrs. Luckyducker, Beaversnipe & Toada.
Barnez I still can't believe we had that bird at less than 20 yards and could get it to come out of the draw!!!
Till next year!
J.J.
Here are some pic's of Ray's bird he got on Saturday:
"Tree hangin' spurs"
And here are some of the other birds that were taken:
Landon (Toada) and his bird:
Ivan (Beaversnipe)
Vicki (Mrs. Luckyducker)
Rob (Rob Lay)
Birds that will be around for next year: