Pre Christmas Mini Vacation

[Turk10mm]

so the wife and I headed to the cabin for a few days of R&R before Christmas. The temperature was supposed to be cold but it just doesnt matter when you get to be out in the country. As much as I like my job, I just can't imagine not having a place like this to retreat to. Relaxation, communing with nature, and privacy makes for some amazing memories.

I only got to smoke 1 cigar, the wind was just too high in the evenings to make it enjoyable. Most evening the temp dipped into the upper 20's but with a 30mph wind on the top of the hill it felt a hell of a lot colder.

I didn't go to take any animals this time around, but I ended up taking a gobbler. All 4 days we were there I heard the gobblers and hens. I even saw them in a clearing for a few seconds before they ran off when I only had my camera. I've wanted to take a gobbler for a couple of years but just never get a chance to see them. Turkey's, believe it or not, are pretty dang smart.

So anyways, I was rolling up the hose and preparing to depart yesterday morning when I heard the gobblers. I'd already taken a wild hog that morning after the turkeys were a no show in the creek bottom I was sitting in. I ran in got my 308 and found a rest between two tree limbs to give me some kind of a rest. Next thing I knew 4 gobblers were moving at a pretty good trot from right to left around 140ish yards out and moving further away. I picked the biggest gobbler of the group and laid my crosshairs in front of him. When he got there I took the shot. Amazingly it was perfect. Pierced his spinal column roughly an inch up his neck. I lazed the distance after the shot and it averaged out to be 156 yards. I was pumped.

Anyways, here's just a sampling of the pictures I took this weekend of the ranch, lots of game, and my gobbler. Sorry if some of the pictures are a smidge blurry, many were taken in extremely low light with high magnification. I selected a handful of the best to upload.

This truly is God's country. I know he made it personally and I get to enjoy it and help it flourish.

View from the next ridgeline to the cabin

The gobbler.. I figure he's about a 10lb cleaned bird.

The three stooges. These boys are lookin good! Maybe not like up north good, but for Texas they are in excellent shape.

This guys is gonna be awesome in a few years!

This guy is a Sika. He wasn't sure what was makin the noise, but he knew i was there

Another Sika.. Lots of zoom on this one and it was pretty close to begin with

 

[Turk10mm]

Here's a whole troop of Aoudad.. Unfortunately this shot was taken in ultra low light and the focus was a bit out..

The whitetail were very sketchy this time of year. Most shots were just before they bolted.

The cliff were teh Aoudad live

The creek bottom. Hopefully once all the cedar get cleared out this stream will run with water all the time. damn cedar suck the land dry

Pretty little fallow. he's probably 2 at the most

Enjoy

 

[Bsneed51]

Now I know what I want for Christmas. That's a beautiful place you have there.

 

[Turk10mm]

mmm mm.. the gobbler was pretty good. Unfortunately the dark meat on wild birds isn't as fatty as a grocery store bird, and the breast meat is a little drier as well, but we injected him with some seasonings and deep fried him this evening. It makes it taste that much better when you know he was killed yesterday, by you, and you cleaned and cooked him. There's a sense of satisfaction in it.

Turkey hunting with a rifle is about as hard as it gets, unless you use a bow. You can't just shoot the body, or you'll tear up all the meat. The shot takes precision and a little luck. And its VERY hard to get close to them. They have great vision and hearing. typically the only thing you get to see is a turkey's rear end as he's running/flying away from you. You have to get lucky and have them come to you. I didn't call these guys in, they just happend to cross my path when I had a good shooting gun laying around.

I hope others got to eat some wild game with their Christmas dinner. Merry Christmas folks.

 

[souldog]

Beautiful pictures Turk-man! Merry Christmas!