Story of the Hunt

I took my first Rio Grande on April, 9th 2006, 9:15am in San Angelo, Texas. The two prior days were quiet with very little activity. This Sunday morning, I heard multiple birds hammering to the calls, but they were very cautious. I suspect most of the Gobblers were henned up. This bird would not come in, but he was interested by answering every call I threw at him. Therefore, I circled him around the hill, and concealed myself in a bush and gently yelped to him. To my surprise, two Boss Gobblers came in quick and quiet. I swung my 12-gauge on him and the game was over. The whole episode was very quick - no strutting, no gobbling ... but that's hunting!

The double-bearded Gobbler weighed out at 17lbs. The main beard is 9 5/8” and the second beard is 5 ½” with ¾” spurs. Using my Primos Piggyback Series mouth call, the Gobbler was shot at 37 yards with my Winchester Super X2, 3.5” 12 gauge, shooting 2.25 oz of #5s.