07-06-2006, 10:01 PM
Son and father Mark and Robert Thornton took these Rio Grande gobblers on a hunt in Texas.
![[Image: turkeys.jpg]](http://advertisergleam.com/images/turkeys.jpg)
Robert Thornton of Guntersville has hunted all kinds of game all over the country, but his recent turkey hunting trip to Texas will always rank as one of his favorites.
He was part of a group of 4 hunters that in-cluded his son Mark and his lifelong friend Bert Jones and Bert’s son Kev-in.
The 4 limited out on turkeys, taking 8 gobblers in a little more than 2 days.
They were hunting a 9,000 acre ranch that only allows 18 turkey hunters every spring.
“The team before us killed 9 rattlesnakes, but we didn’t see any while we were hunting,” Robert said. “We saw 3 on a dirt road we had to drive down.”
The temperature got up to 103 at one point. The wind was strong too, but not so bad that they couldn’t hear turkeys gobbling.
“It will really spoil you when you hear 5 or 6 different turkeys gobbling,” Robert said. “You won’t want to hunt Alabama again once you’ve been to Texas.”
The ranch was in Breckenridge, about 150 miles west of Ft. Worth. The turkeys there are the Rio Grande subspecies, different from the Easterns that live in Alabama.
“The only drawback to hunting in Texas is that everything wants to scratch or bite you,” he said. There are lots of thorns on the vegetation.
The time was a little different out there, Robert said. It got daylight about 7:00 in the morning, but it didn’t get dark until about 8:30 at night.
It made for some long days of turkey hunting.
“We’d hunt from about 7:30 to 9:00 in the morning, then all meet back for a cold drink and a beenie-weenie,” Robert said. “Then we’d go back and hunt until about 1:00 or 1:30 before going to the motel for a nap and a shower. Then we’d hunt in the afternoon from about 4:00 to 8:30.”
Robert got both of his turkeys in the afternoons. His first one turned out to be the biggest of the trip for any of the hunters.
It weighed about 20 pounds with a 10-inch beard.
“A funny thing happened out there,” Robert said. “Bert is probably the best turkey hunter in the group. He taught me how to turkey hunt. But all 3 of the other hunters had killed turkeys on this trip before he did.”
Bert soon made up for it, recording a rare double. A pair of gobblers came in to his set-up and he got both of them.
Robert and Mark had a different kind of double. They were hunting separate, but on the same piece of property, and each got a gobbler within 15 minutes of the other.
“I heard him shoot, but he was upwind from me and he didn’t hear me shoot,” Robert said. “We came walking back to the truck at about the same time with each of us carrying a turkey.”
He said he’d had some fun turkey hunts in the past, but this one was the most fun he’s had. They’ve already rebooked to go back next year.
“I like to hunt all the other game, but I love to hunt turkeys,” Robert said. “There’s nothing to me that is as exciting. The calling and the interaction with the turkeys is the thing. There’s just nothing like it. When you get a wild turkey, that’s as good as it gets on my list.”
.....nu OGSÅ ejer af en 243win :-)
Favourite Quote: Vi løser ikke vore problemer ved at tænke på samme måde, som da vi skabte dem.....(Albert Einstein)
Robert Thornton of Guntersville has hunted all kinds of game all over the country, but his recent turkey hunting trip to Texas will always rank as one of his favorites.
He was part of a group of 4 hunters that in-cluded his son Mark and his lifelong friend Bert Jones and Bert’s son Kev-in.
The 4 limited out on turkeys, taking 8 gobblers in a little more than 2 days.
They were hunting a 9,000 acre ranch that only allows 18 turkey hunters every spring.
“The team before us killed 9 rattlesnakes, but we didn’t see any while we were hunting,” Robert said. “We saw 3 on a dirt road we had to drive down.”
The temperature got up to 103 at one point. The wind was strong too, but not so bad that they couldn’t hear turkeys gobbling.
“It will really spoil you when you hear 5 or 6 different turkeys gobbling,” Robert said. “You won’t want to hunt Alabama again once you’ve been to Texas.”
The ranch was in Breckenridge, about 150 miles west of Ft. Worth. The turkeys there are the Rio Grande subspecies, different from the Easterns that live in Alabama.
“The only drawback to hunting in Texas is that everything wants to scratch or bite you,” he said. There are lots of thorns on the vegetation.
The time was a little different out there, Robert said. It got daylight about 7:00 in the morning, but it didn’t get dark until about 8:30 at night.
It made for some long days of turkey hunting.
“We’d hunt from about 7:30 to 9:00 in the morning, then all meet back for a cold drink and a beenie-weenie,” Robert said. “Then we’d go back and hunt until about 1:00 or 1:30 before going to the motel for a nap and a shower. Then we’d hunt in the afternoon from about 4:00 to 8:30.”
Robert got both of his turkeys in the afternoons. His first one turned out to be the biggest of the trip for any of the hunters.
It weighed about 20 pounds with a 10-inch beard.
“A funny thing happened out there,” Robert said. “Bert is probably the best turkey hunter in the group. He taught me how to turkey hunt. But all 3 of the other hunters had killed turkeys on this trip before he did.”
Bert soon made up for it, recording a rare double. A pair of gobblers came in to his set-up and he got both of them.
Robert and Mark had a different kind of double. They were hunting separate, but on the same piece of property, and each got a gobbler within 15 minutes of the other.
“I heard him shoot, but he was upwind from me and he didn’t hear me shoot,” Robert said. “We came walking back to the truck at about the same time with each of us carrying a turkey.”
He said he’d had some fun turkey hunts in the past, but this one was the most fun he’s had. They’ve already rebooked to go back next year.
“I like to hunt all the other game, but I love to hunt turkeys,” Robert said. “There’s nothing to me that is as exciting. The calling and the interaction with the turkeys is the thing. There’s just nothing like it. When you get a wild turkey, that’s as good as it gets on my list.”
.....nu OGSÅ ejer af en 243win :-)
Favourite Quote: Vi løser ikke vore problemer ved at tænke på samme måde, som da vi skabte dem.....(Albert Einstein)
.....ualmindelig velinformeret i forhold til min alder ... :-)
Favourite Quote: En humlebi ved ikke, at den ikke kan flyve......Gå ud på terrassen og vift med armene...hvis du letter må du være uvidende ;-)
Favourite Quote: En humlebi ved ikke, at den ikke kan flyve......Gå ud på terrassen og vift med armene...hvis du letter må du være uvidende ;-)