Kendall & I slipped into the Double Bull Blind. It had been set up for the past few weeks in a great location. Adjusting my shooting window to accommodate camera or my crossbow I settled back on my chair to let things quiet down.
It didn’t take long perhaps 1/2 hour before we could hear the approaching turkey talk of clucks and cackles.
One by one five Rio Grande Jakes wandered into the clearing and proceeded to fight, feed, and swagger all around the blind.
No sooner had I put my D200 camera down, Another flock of birds also from the from the left could be heard.
The dominant Boss Gobbler with six hens and one more Jake came into view.
More or less in single file they paraded towards our blind scratching and feeding with continuous clucking through the area. The hens continued walking right past our location barely slowing down.
With in seconds the Boss Gobbler came real close to the blind, perhaps he heard our breathing? Or maybe my Nikon clicking his photo.
I had mere seconds to pick up my crossbow as he continued to feed.
Dead in my sights I waited till he turned sideways. At about 9 yards I had my chance.
I squeezed the trigger on my Excalibur crossbow and the black feathers flew!
He didn’t go far, another 30 yards before he was down. A few flaps of his wings and that was that.
My Easton 2219 aluminum arrow was tipped with a specially made for crossbow 100 grain 1 -7/16ths X-Act mechanical broad-head, It was a complete pass through but had done the job.
In fact I recovered the arrow embedded in a log about 12 yards from where I hit the gobbler.
Afterwards Kendall & I verified my Rio Grande Gobbler weighed in at 20 1/2 pounds.
The 6 15/16 inch long beard was well worn but respectable.
The left spur was 1-1/8 th inch.
The right spur was 1-1/16th inch.
A fantastic start for my Grand Slam of Gobblers hunting with an Excalibur Crossbow.
I want to thank Kendall Kelso of K&K Outfitters who has had a 100% success rate on Rio Gobblers over the past four seasons.
Also Mark Reinert of Outdoor Connection who did a great job on planning my hunt to make it happen in a very short time frame.
Using the right equipment was essential to get it done !
My ExcaliburExocet 200 was awesome using Easton 2219 arrows tipped with 100 grain X-act mechanical broadheads .
Glassing into the darkened edges of a cottonwood forest and vast fields of grass was certainly easier with my 10-42 Vortex Optic Razor Binoculars.
While walking from vehicle to the Double Bull Blind I wore my ASAT 3D camo for complete concealment from those roving flocks of Rio’s eyes and their laser sharp vision.
Once inside our blind my ASAT camo mask kept those birds from seeing my smile!
It was awesome to have those birds so close.
As Kansas has a 2 bird limit I took a second hefty Rio gobbler an hour later from the same blind, but that’s another story!
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