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You will never, EVER, find ammunition for a 6.5 Creedmore....

A big group of my hunting buddies and I drove up to the San Carlos Reservation on Friday morning to chase turkeys for the weekend. We got to our campsite around 2:30pm and got the wall tent and kitchen set up. After consulting OnX, we figured out where each group was going and hit the road for a little evening scouting. It was the first weekend of the first season on the San Carlos, so we couldn’t actually hunt until Saturday morning. My hunting partner and I opted for a spot close to camp, hoping to minimize the drive time the next morning. We drove our road from about 4pm until just before sundown, without locating any birds (about 10 miles out-and-back with no gobbles). We had the windows down, heading back towards camp when I thought I heard a gobble. We stopped the car and listened for 5 minutes… nothing. I was sure I heard a tom! My hunting partner climbed back in the rig, probably thinking I was pulling his chain. He shut the door and BOOM - gobbles. Perfect. We had at least two toms roosted and were even able to see one of them roosted halfway up a ponderosa. We dropped a waypoint on OnX and made our way back to camp. After a good night’s sleep, we were up and at ‘em at 4:15am with coffee and premade breakfast burritos on the wood stove. While we were packing the truck, it started to snow (NOT IN THE FORECAST!). We made the short drive to our spot, parking 600 yards from where we had roosted the birds the night before, and heard the gobblers going off! That made it easier to pick a good spot to set up in the dark. The snow was really starting to come down as we made it into our spot and set up our decoys. I only started hunting turkeys in the past few years, so I was unsure how the weather would affect the birds. But I was convinced our toms would just hangout on the roost all day because I sure as heck wanted to be back in the warm truck! We made a few quiet yelps to let the gobblers know where we were and sat back. They gobbled for the next 30 minutes, without us prompting them. We felt like we were in a good position and made another quiet yelp sequence to keep them intrigued. 15 minutes before sunrise we heard some gobbles 100 yards to the north of where our birds were roosted. It was either another set of toms that we hadn’t known about OR our birds had gotten down out of the roost without us hearing them. It ended up being the latter! The next 5 minutes was chaos, with the gobbles getting closer and closer. Each time they gobbled, I could feel it more and more in my chest. I understand the thunder chicken moniker now! I began seeing movement 75 yards out, which was a feat with the snow coming down in droves. I didn’t know it in the moment, but I think the snow covered up our decoys making it harder for the three incoming toms to know where we were. They missed the “X” and were moving to my left. In doing so, they forced me to rotate my sitting position and turn my shotgun towards the birds who were in the open at 25 yards. Aiming at the middle tom, I squeezed the trigger and CLICK. While trying to be quiet at the truck earlier that morning, I guess I hadn’t let the bolt slam all the way closed on my 3.5” shell and had a misfire. Trying to not the let moment pass me up, I cycled the bolt on my shotgun and got another round in the chamber. With all that noise, the turkeys knew something was up. They were confused and fixin to leave, but not before I got a shot off! What a cool morning! I had my first tom on the ground after an exciting hunt and the pictures in the snow will remind of this weekend forever. Side note: we filled my buddies tag in a similar fashion on Sunday morning, after it had warmed up a bunch. I’m hooked - and we will be back in the turkey woods next spring. CHEERS and thanks for reading! -MM

ISO of 7.6 Creedmoor, have four pound of H1000 and two pounds of Retumbo in trade.....just need a single box.

My buddy in Texas can help you. Not sure if he has any but give him a call. 602-696-6969

Sweet car! Everytime I see a Maserati, I sing it...."My Maserati does 185, I lost my license, now I don't drive."

Good to see you back! We’ve got too dam many people in this country and world and it’s boiling down to a supply and demand. The demand is up and the supply is going down. Unfortunately it won’t get any better ever again. We literally have just lived through “the good old days” of hunting in our country and I’m guessing most of us (myself included) were too busy thinking about the earlier “good old days” to notice it.

Neither the brown or the rainbow are native. The only AZ native trout are the Gila & the Apache.

Major Changes/Proposed Changes/Recommended Closers It’s been happening to us hunters for some time now. Slowly but surely we are losing more and more hunt opportunities and just not archery deer hunts. There are many reasons I’m not aware of but I’m leaning towards anti hunting pressure rather than (Hard Data/Facts) from AZGFD. Just my humble opinion! TJ

I wonder if 2 man buns are required to shoot this?

My handies are exceptional....worked for my last two. Hoping it works for this one.

Reminds me of the eradication of the northerns in other lakes. Who wants to catch 20lb northerns when you can catch 10” rainbows

I'm sure I'm missing something (esp being a newbie and all)- but wouldn't it be easier to simply ignore new posters vs setting some rules? Seems like administrative burden to deal with something common sense can solve.

Hit me up on FB Messenger...Keith Idso. I had that tag last year. It was such a fabulous experience with five scouting trips leading up to hunt camp.

Good to hear from you TJ. Curious, is your elk tag streak still alive?

Finally set eyes on my Arizona Gould's from 2018 and my San Carlos Apache Merriam's from 2019. Gould's mounted strutting from the roost. I asked if the Merriam's could be mounted taking flight from the ground. I've actually seen a bird do that. Well, they both turned out awesome beyond expectation. Can't wait to get them home soon.

Awesome! Aint nothing like that feeling when you hear that gobbler getting closer and closer. Hunting them in the snow makes for a unique experience.

Man bun and a flat brim

Thanks. It’ll do 188 😆

You might regret coming back. 🤣

Really? So how would you suggest they do their annual surveys?

 Roy Grace has been bowhunting his entire life and has hunted every species the west has to offer. Roy is also the records chairman for the Pope and Young club. In this episode we talk about why the record book is important and why we should all consider entering a trophy if it qualifies […] The post Ep 20: Roy Grace appeared first on Western Hunter. View the full article

Hunting is a primal instinct. It is something a lot of us do to get away from the world, enjoy the wilderness, and fill the freezers. It used to be a big feat to film these adventures with lots of heavy, expensive equipment, but it is becoming more popular and a lot easier. These days, […] The post Filming Your Own Hunts appeared first on Western Hunter. View the full article

Message from Chris Denham about this story. When Greg Krogh first told me the story about Chad, Jake, and their father I knew I wanted to publish their story. I could only imagine how emotional the situation was and I did not feel comfortable asking them to put this story together. But Greg was confident […] The post A Father’s Last Gift appeared first on Western Hunter. View the full article

Had a blast. Didn't pull a trigger until about 10:00-10:30 when the fog finally lifted. All we could see was the 100 yard zero target. Once the fog burned off, the steel started ringing, from 431 to 1068. Even with the wind, the hits just kept coming. Good spotters and wind calls helped keep hit percentages high. Lots of glass and guns out there. I only got a few photos, was too busy spotting and shooting.