Adventure Files: Turkey Hunting With Real Outfitters

Turkey hunting is one of my favorite ways to fill a weekend in the spring.  The interactive nature of the hunt is seductive. Something about calling in a turkey from far away and the run and gun intensity of some hunts just brings about the "spirit of the wild" that Ted Nugent likes to wax poetic about.

Photo: Real Outfitters

The lease I have hunted for the last several years does not have turkey in any abundance, and only sporadically at best.  As such, I am relegated to finding other opportunities to hunt the mighty Thunder Chicken. 

Interestingly, I love to hunt them, but I'm not a big fan of eating turkey (even on Thanksgiving).  So, this year, I got in touch with Mike Buie of Real Outfitters and he was gracious enough to let me come up and do some guiding with Real Outfitters. This was a great solution as I could hut them, and myhunters could shoot and eat them.  A quick trip to Menard County and I was in camp. I arrived late, and there was a buffet of all sorts of great food for dinner.  By the wy, Kevin, the camp chef, changed my tune on eating turkey... The best I have ever had! (sorry Mom... Laura... Cheryl)

The next day started at about 5 am. We headed to the main camp and began taking hunters out.  These hunters were all pretty self sufficient, so basically I just dropped them off where they roosted turkeys the previous night, then I headed back to camp to get some chores done.  

A few hours later, the hunters made their way back to camp.  Breakfast, which was a delicious bacon, potato and egg with cheese skillet, was served.  This was the best breakfast in recent memory. 

There were two hunters in my group, an experienced turkey hunter, and a younger guy looking to bag his first bird. They were able to call in a few birds that morning.  One gobbler started coming in and noticed the Jake decoy and took off, leaving them with the age old turkey hunting dilema... to decoy or not to decoy. As such, they decided to split up and I would guide the younger guy when we went back out.

Photo: Real Outfitters

 My hunters were ready to go as soon as they ate breakfast.  A couple more hunting parties arrived for the weekend, so we headed to a different ranch close to downtown Menard.  Having never been to this ranch before, we met Mike in Menard and followed him to the ranch we would be hunting.  This ranch had some great diversity in terrain due to it's proximity to the San Saba River.  Mike speculated that the turkey would be up on the hills during the day and would make their way to the pecan bottom land to roost in the evening.  I agreed with his assessment and began driving the property stopping every so often to listen and call. 

It was still pretty early in the day.  I figured that hens might still be laying eggs and tending their nests and that the gobblers would be wandering on their own looking for hens, so I decided to set up on a high pasture near a deer feeder and do some calling.  We parked the truck and began getting ready for the hunt.  My hunter put on his vest and I grabbed my calls.  We discussed taking a decoy and I thought it would be better not to use the decoy given the shy nature of the gobbler they encountered that morning. 

We walked in about 100 yards to the fence line of the pasture.  Once there, we set up.  Having no real MRI (most recent intel), I just took a stab at where to set up.  My hunter was set up looking in to the pasture from the north.  I sat facing the opposite direction in case we called one in from behind.  I began calling and would turn and glass the field every so often.  I switched back and forth from my glass pot call to a box call.  

Photo: Real Outfitters

About 20-30 minutes went by when I glassed the furthest (eastern) edge of the field.  About half way across, I saw at least three birds crossing the field east of us headed north. We were not in position to intercept them.  I instructed my hunter to move about 10 yards and get set up in that direction as he hadn't seen them yet. I moved to get a better vantage point and camouflage myself better.  I continued calling from both the box call and pot call. No luck.  We had a strong southeast that I think was muffling my calls.  I saw a big Tom take flight long enough to clear the fence on the east side of the pasture.  I continued to call for about 10 minutes, but we saw no further signs of turkey.

At this point, I was regretting not bringing the decoys.  Maybe those turkeys would have seen and come into a decoy spread.  Maybe not.  You just never know!

I knew there was a draw east of the pasture.  I figured it was closer than it actually was, but I was thinking they went down into that draw headed for water.  The draw emptied into a pond that was north of us. We backed out of where we were and tried to get ahead of them at the pond.  We sat at the pond and called for about an hour with no luck.   When I got home and looked at Google Earth, I figured out that the draw was much further away from that point.  We should have tried to get closer to their last position and called.  This is why it's always important to use aerial maps to pre-scout a property.

Photo: Real Outfitters

As the evening wore on, We moved down to a pasture near the pecan trees (WITH the decoys this time).  There were cattle in the field near a deer feeder, so we set up on the opposite side.  When the cows left, we moved across the pasture and closer to what seemed like great roosting trees.  No luck at all.  I was baffled.  I was pretty certain that the pecans would be great for roosting.  I had 2 wide open pastures to glass with pecan trees sprinkled between them.  I didn't see or hear a turkey.

I was looking forward to getting after them again the next morning.  As I was checking my alarms for the next morning, I found a message that came in while we were in the field (the only place I had a signal the whole time I was there).  I had to get back home for a family emergency.

I had sort of an inside out view of the operations at Real Outfitters.  From what I saw, Mike Buie has a great operation.  The food is great the wildlife is abundant, the guides were courteous and accommodating.  This ranch offers a variety of wildlife year round.  Do not hesitate to book your hunt with Real Outfitters! They do youth hunts too!