Duck Hunting Forum banner

Who bagged a gobbler?

2K views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  Dirt 
#1 ·
I didnt go for turks this year, havent been in almost ten years.
Been goin fishin quite a bit. Just now starting to get really good.
Just like last year seems like every weekend there is some kind of
front pushing through. This weekend is lookin good and I'll be
gettin after it. After working twelve days straight I'm jonesin to catch or kill something. Who's been catching some fish?
 
#2 ·
Here ya go
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k22/g ... C_0014.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k22/g ... C_0009.jpg

brought this twenty bounder home from the sangres on opening day. been out looking for #2 a coyple times without much luck.

as for fishin, hit up the east fork of the jemez two weeks ago. it was fairly clear and fishin great. the pecos is in full runoff right now. fished it last week and could barely wade the river. had to work real hard for three fish. here's a couple nice ones from last summer

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k22/g ... G_0482.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k22/g ... G_0497.jpg
 
#5 ·
Thanks guys,
It was an amazing day and an unforgettable hunt. The weather was perfect and birds were gobblin all over the place. I spent the first couple hours trying to get closer to the birds and farther from other hunters. Finally while walking a ridge i gave a few calls and heard a gooble from the canyon below me. Hiked halfway down, got set up in a little clearing and got busy. Turned out there were actually two toms gobbling down at the bottom of this little canyon but try as i might i couldn't get them to come in. Then i hear a hen call behind me and up the ridge. At first I though i had competition from another hunter. After a few minutes i heard the call again, too perfect for anything but a real hen. She circled around me and headed down to the gobblers. I took advantage of the distraction to move a bit closer and set up again almost at the bottom of the canyon and just on top of a little rise. I played it cool, only giving a little purr every 10 mins or so and could here this gobbler going crazy at the bottom of the little hill but couldn't see him. Eventually i see his head poke up over the hill, about 10 yds from where i expected him to come up! He saw the decoy, gave another gobble, but i couldn't move to use my box or slate and didn't want to risk scary him off with my crappy diaphram calling. When he didn't get a response from the decoy he turned around and started walking away. He went about 5 ft before he was behind a tree and couldn't see me. This gave me time to swing over 90 degrees to my left and as soon as he popped out from behind the tree i let him have it, knocked him right over at 15-20 yds with my 20 ga. Hiked back to the truck, had some lunch, rigged up my fly rod and spent the afternoon catching brown trout. It was a heck of a day, the best cast and blast I've had so far. That bird is soaking in brine right now and going on the smoker tommorow with some applewood.

As for the trout, the first is a Rio Grande Cutthroat, by far my favorite to catch. The second is a brookie from high in the Pecos Wilderness. I can't tell you how surprised i was to pull a brookie out of that stream cause none of the books i read mentioned them being there. It was quite a treat and completed my grand slam of new mexico trout (not counting the gila, but I might head down after them later this summer) Although I'm not sure i want to support fishing for gila trout since i think they made a big mistake downlisting them. Sorry for the long post, hope you enjoyed the story.

Go catch some fish! I'll probably head up to the Cimmaron this weekend. I'll keep ya'll posted.
 
#7 ·
Thanks Randi,
I haven't forgotten bout the ducks either. I'm getting ready to start repainting some old mallard decoys into divers this summer. Just can't decide what to paint them as, probably go with Cans as it's a fairly easy paint scheme.

Didn't make it up to the Cimmaron but I did go fish the east fork of the Jemez. The stream flow is fairly modewrate and I'd say the fishing is fairly good as long as you stick to the calmer/clearer waters. I didn't exactly keep close track but I'd say I caught 15 fish or so in a few hours. Definitely a good day on the river.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top