• FREE Video Tip: How to make initial contact

    Sign up now to watch this Scott Ellis video tip plus receive our newsletter full of news, offers, & more.

Riding Off to the Rio Roundup

When the baggage carousel finally stopped, I had to face the obvious.

“I’m not getting my luggage and gun, am I?”

Nope.

No matter. They’d be there the next day, according to the friendly airline representative, so I’d still get to hunt. It would just have to be in blue jeans and a polo shirt the first evening.

Well, not exactly. I had joined several friends from Mossy Oak and Under Armour for the 2010 Rio Roundup near Eldorado, Texas, and they had plenty of gear to spare. After arriving in camp, I threw on some borrowed camo and boots, bummed a couple of calls, grabbed a loaner gun and headed out.

Maybe the new duds were lucky. Before my guide and I had walked 100 yards up a ranch road into a pasture, we spotted the fan of a strutter 75 steps away. We quickly ducked into a small oak grove and set up shop.

Soon, several more turkeys appeared behind the gobbler, and within seconds, only three jakes were visible. Apparently, the youngsters had run off the longbeard and felt like strutting for the hen they’d heard.

After an hour-long stalemate, the jakes finally walked away, and we slipped out of the area, hoping to find a gobbler. We never did, but that was OK, because we had two more days in camp.

And maybe, I’d get to hunt in my own clothes at some point.

Related Posts