Gobble - Gobble - Goulds

[SunDevil]

Well it is not a buffalo but still a pretty cool hunt.

 

After wearing a different shirt for the first two days, I was able to take this tom last weekend after I switched to my lucky CWT.COM shirt. It was a great hunt (other than getting up at 4:00 am every morning).

 

I took this bird at 10:15 am on Sunday morning. It was not your typical turkey hunt as this bird was not called in but rather spot and stalked. He was spotted near the top of a ridge in front of us and I proceeded to hike up, around and behind where he was. I came over the top of the ridge and fortunately he was in full strut facing away from me and could not see me due to his tail fan. After a few anxious minutes he finally turned, came out of strut and took a few steps forward (which cleared him of the tree and limbs that were partially in the way). I gave him a load of 4 shot at probably 8 - 12 yards and that was it.

 

As you can see he is a beuatiful bird with a 10.5 inch beard. Do not know how much he weighed and he did not have any spurs (which is a common genetic trait of Goulds).

 

I went scouting the weekend before my hunt and saw 37 turkeys. I drove up on most of these birds (including a flock of 16) and they were not wary and did not run away. These birds where not around though when my hunt rolled around.

 

Friday morning we heard a couple of gobbles, called in and passed on a jake. On our way back to camp we ran into someone from the Game and Fish who told us about a spot I had never been to that had a lot of turkeys in it. A border patrol officer was also there and said he saw a gobbler in a spot that I knew of. Friday afternoon was uneventful with no birds roosted that evening for the next morning.

 

Saturday morning we went after the border patrolman's bird. We called from the mouth of the canyon but did not get any responses. We drove up the road and just around the corner (50 yards) from where we had called from was a gobbler strutting in the middle of the road. He was with a hen and would not come to our calls. The canyon was pretty steep and there was no way to circle around in front of them. We followed them up the road for awhile until they turned and went up the hill.

 

Saturday afternoon we headed out to see if we could find the G&F person's spot. We drove right to it and got out to immediately hear gobbles. We took off down the road, across the wash and could see 5 turkeys at the base of the hill across a field. A couple of hen yelps had them heading right to us. Three jakes and a couple of 2.5 year old toms passed about 15 yards in front of us. I decided to let these younger birds walk. We hunted around this area for the rest of the afternoon and saw several other turkeys and heard some more gobbles. Right before dark we heard some gobbles and took off to try and get on them. They were heading to roost and we had them pin pointed for the next morning.

 

Sunday morning had us set up right out in front of the roost trees but when the birds flew down they headed the other way. In fact all the gobbles were heading away from us. It must have been part of their daily routine. We took off to try and get in front of them and eventually found a few more birds to call to and chase before spotting the bird on the hill that I shot.

 

I felt very fortunate to have been able to go on this turkey hunt because the AZ G&F department only issued 20 tags for Goulds turkeys this year. This was after having been fortunate enough to take a Merriams last month on the San Carlos Indian Reservation. After several years of unsuccessful turkey hunts, I was fortunate to get two in two months. Hopefully I will be so lucky next year.

 

Thanks to Scout'm and Black Dog for spending the weekend with me.

 

 

 

 

[Hunterdan]

Wow. Good Job. Congrats on a Great Gobbler and drawing the tag. I hope to draw one of those some day.

[Kilimanjaro]

A huge congrats on successfully filling that coveted Gould's tag!!!

[cramerhunts]

Very nice Chris, congrats on a beautiful bird!

 

Phil

[CouesWhitetail]

Awesome!! Great looking gobbler and I am glad that once again that CouesWhitetail.com tshirt served you faithfully!!

 

Amanda

 

[scoutm]

I had a great time on the hunt. It's really fun hunting turkey when you're not freezing your butt off.

 

Congrats on a great spot and stalk bird.

 

Blackdog said he was closer to 25lbs than he was to 20lbs. Great Bird!

 

 

[Lance]

Dude, Goulds are sweet and it sounds like you found alot of them! Gotta love that pure white, Goulds are so pretty and you took a beautiful one! Cant wait tell I draw one of those tags! Congrats on a great hunt!

 

Lance

[Red Rabbit]

Chris,

I didn't know the Mearns grew that big down in that country.

 

Really is a pretty feathered bird and congrats on a nice specimen.

I have seen turkey tracks while Mearns hunting down there, but no actual Goulds.

 

Doug

[standman]

Congrats on a beautiful goulds gobbler!!!!

[Coues Archer]

Nice Gobbler.

[tjhunt2]

What a beautifull bird. Congratlatrions and thanks for sharing your story. I can only hope I will draw one of those few tags someday.

 

TJ