Rocksprings terrain
Several years ago, one of my cousins and I decided that we were going spring turkey hunting at my son’s place outside Rocksprings, Texas. I didn’t know the first thing about turkey hunting, so I went to a local sporting goods store to load up on turkey hunting stuff. Both of us rookies, we had never hunted for turkey. I remember buying some camo stuff and a VHS video about hunting for spring turkey. I studied that video many many times. Back then, my cousin was in the U.S. Army and I worked on weekdays, so we had to wait for the weekend. I, being a very impatient person, waited anxiously for the day to get here as I was ready to practice what I had learned on the video. The weekend finally got here and I took off for Rocksprings, about a six hour trip. First, I had to stop in San Antonio to pick up my cousin. He was ready and excited! He too was loaded for bear…. I mean. turkey. We took off after stopping at the grocery store to pick up our usual beef, pork and ribs plus the trimmings. We always, to this day, buy pinto beans for me to cook. I make a mean pot of beans, no brag, just fact (kidding). Anyway, back to my story. We got to Rocksprings late on Friday evening and woke up late the next morning, it was already after 7:00 A.M. I asked my cousin if he was getting up to go get a turkey. I told him I was almost ready and he saw that I had all my camo stuff on me. I had even wrapped my shotgun with cammo tape. He looked at me and kind of half-laughed and said, “I’m not going right now, anyway, it’s almost eight and there ain’t gonna be nothing moving.” He stayed in bed and I left without him.
The terrain at the ranch is very rocky, hilly with scrub oak and pinon pine trees. It’s not what you would call thick brush. We have some nice hills in the place. (see attached photo). I walked about 200 yards from camp and found a nice open area and plopped myself against a tree. I covered my face and hands with cammo net and was ready to use what I had learned in the video. I got my box turkey call out and started scratching. Kwak kwak kwak kwak kwak kwak. Nothing. Again, another six times, Kwak kwak kwak kwak kwak kwak. Nothing again and I could just see my cousin smirking, cause I was close to camp and I knew he could hear me. I had been gone about 10 minutes at that time. Again, Kwak, kwak, kwak, kwak, kwak, kwak. GOBBLE GOBBLE! I almost crapped in my pants, I got a response! Man, I started thinking, what else after I got a response? What did the video say? I know, keep calling! I kept calling and I kept getting responses, closer and closer. When I heard the gobble get real close, I quit calling and grabbed my shotgun. I waited, waited, waited and lo and behold, there he was! A nice bearded male walked out of the bushes and stopped. Pow! Down he went! Couldnt believe it. I had been gone less then 30 minutes, about 200 yards from camp and I already bagged a turkey. Man, was I excited! I couldn’t wait to show it to my cousin. I tagged the turkey and walked out of the brush with it hanging across my shoulder. I was ready to start bragging when my cousin came out of our quarters and said, “don’t bother to tell me, I heard it all”. He said he had heard me calling and couldn’t believe it when he heard a turkey gobble back. He heard the shot and knew I had put it down. He was really happy for me. It was not a huge animal, however, It was huge for me! If you never hunted turkey before, get you a “How to bag a gobbler” video tape. It worked for me. I wish I could remember the author so I could give him credit. By the way, My cousin didn’t get a turkey that weekend……….. And that’s how it was, one day in the Texas hill country.