Bunch Of Big Toms Down!!!

[Lance]

We are counting our blessings again this year!

It was a bit of a hard hunt as far as the amount of gobbeling. But the areas we were hunting are the same areas we have been hunting for 17 years so we were able to get into plenty of action anyway!

 

 

 

Our first week out for turkey this year TLO was blessed to be able to guide brother and sister 12 year old Savanna and 14 year old Chase on their first successful turkey hunt! They were able to buy Over The Counter Tags and join us to make some amazing memories on our awesome Spring Turkey Hunts! We had a great time with you guys and can't wait to do it again!

 

Chase took a great archery mule deer with us this last January and he has an AZ archery bull tag with us this September! Check out his buck on our website and stay tuned for pictures of his archery elk hunt! This kid is on a roll!

 

 

Savanna pictured here with her Big Old 10" beard tom, proud father Greg and jealous brother Chase! I called this big tom in from the bottom of the canyon behind in the background more than a half mile away! It took a while but we worked him into the spot we wanted him and I videoed while she laid him out!

 

Chase with his 9 1/2" beard!

 

The kids made sure we enjoyed a big fire every night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Believe it or not, I actually had a chance to hunt NM turkey for myself this year!!

 

These two toms were all henned up across two BIG canyons! But it was a day when they gobbled late into the morning so I went for the hike! They got pretty quiet by the time I got over there and it took an extra hour and a couple more miles of zigzagging to find them again. After moving in close to their occasional gobbles I circled them and got in front of them on the edge of a ridge to intercept them. But after they didn't show up I started sneaking forward. I finally got them to gobble one more time and realized they had gone down a split in the ridge that led down into the big canyon. I knew by then that calling from any angle wasn't going to work on these birds and decided to put the stalk on em!

I eased over the ridge a couple steps at a time while glassing ahead through the open ponderosas. I spotted a red head about 150 yards out and then the other. The two toms had one hen with them and were just feeding their way around the corner. I began the stalk using the ponderosas to cover me the best I could. They were moving away and I was trying to keep up and close the distance while avoiding being seen! It's not easy to stalk a flock of turkeys but it sure is fun! When I got about 80 yards from them they went around a sharp corner in the ridge. This allowed me to hurry forward out of sight! I rounded the corner on a fast quiet walk with the gun to my shoulder and ready for action!

After a few more yards I heard a PUTT! One of the toms stepped through a gap in the trees and stopped behind another to look back for me. I could see his tail and knew he was stopped and looking back for what had startled him.

He was only about 40 yards so I held my gun on the tree just waiting for him to step out. After a few seconds he began to walk out but mostly away so to his surprise I side stepped the tree and hammered him down! BOOM! I automatically jacked another round into my pump while looking for the second bird! Right away and in a big hurry the second tom and the hen took flight out across the big steep canyon! Flying broadside from my left to right they were zipping through the tops of the trees about 60-70 yards out and getting away fast!!!! It was an opportunity I had dreamed about many times and wasn't about to let it slip by! A big smile lit up my face as I led the bird, picked a small gap between the trees and touched it off!! BOOM!! The tom took the full load and folded hard in mid-air!!! His height and momentum over the big canyon took him on a looong fall way down and almost out of sight. It was an AWESOME thing to watch!!! He hit the ground and began to flop down the steep slope and out of view so I ran to collect my first bird so I could get down there!

As I neared my first tom he lifted his head and looked at me as if he still had a lot of fight in him. I didn't have time for that because my second bird was still flopping his way down the canyon! So without breaking stride I pulled up and let him have another load of 3" T shot from 20 yards! BOOM! The shot scooted him back a foot but by the time I finished running up to him he wasn't moving and that's just what I wanted. I scooped him up and headed down the canyon for the second! By the time I got down there he was all tangled up in a bush and not going anywhere. I took some pictures and packed up my two birds and gun and headed back across the canyons to my truck. It took about an hour and a half to hike with the two toms back to the truck. I reached my truck about 12:30. It was the most fun turkey shot I'd ever made and by far the longest turkey pack out I've done and well worth every minute of it! Just too much fun!!

Both my toms had 1+" spurs and 9" beards.

 

 

 

Then it was back to work and some more tom stackin' action with hunters Waldo and Kevin!

 

First tom up was one that Waldo took! We called this big tom in from WAY across the canyon in the background of the pictures! We worked him for a long time and finally he came from clear on top on the other side where we were glassing him and all the way down to some big cliffs below. He held up there for a bit then launched off the cliff and flew down to the bottom! It was awesome! But then he started going back up the other side.... after a while and with some new tricks we convinced him to come back and up our side! We had to find a place where he could get up between the cliffs on our side and set up. Once we got him lined out he came gobbling right up, popped over the ridge and gobbled at the decoys right before Waldo about knocked him back down the canyon! It was the most awesome turkey call up I've ever seen! The whole thing lasted over an hour across crazy country and we could see him for a lot of that time!!!

I love these pictures of Waldo and his bird!

 

This is Kevin with his big tom that he took on the last day. This is Kevin's second Spring turkey with TLO.

 

 

Each hunt was it's own wonderful individual story! Despite the slow gobbling we had loads of action and in the end there were 23 shots taken! Needless to say, a few got away, but with all the Turkey, Elk , mule deer, Coues deer, Bear (including the biggest bear I've ever seen!) And all the wolves, we had non-stop action from dawn till dusk! And with the wolves some of the nights were pretty interesting as well!

Spring turkey is so much fun and I already can't wait tell next year!!! I hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories, we sure had fun making them!

 

Lance

[Tines]

Too cool!

[Elkaddict]

Great stories and pictures!!