THE TOUGHEST OF ALL TURKEYS

John Gets His Gould's

Editor's Note: I've written four books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles about turkeys and turkey hunting. Two years in a row, I double grand-slammed on North American wild turkeys. I took two eastern's, two Merriam's, two Oceola's, and two Rio Grande's each of those years. Every year I travel the United States during the spring hunting wild turkeys. I believe there is such an illness as a "turkey addiction" because I have it. There's no other hunting sport I enjoy more than turkey hunting, and my dream always has been to take the Gould's turkey of Mexico and last year, I accomplished that dream. If you plan to take a Gould, I've found the place to go, the man to hunt with, and how to make your turkey-hunting dreams come true.

Even though I had a Gould's gobbler less than 30 yards from me, when I saw those four cotton-white tipped-turkey tails coming over the lip of the bench I was sitting on, I decided to wait and see the show before I squeezed the trigger on my Remington ? and delivered the No. 5 HEVI-SHOT load to the Gould's head. I was so excited I could hear my heart thumping in my ears. All my life I had wanted to take a Gould's gobbler, and I had five of them in my face.

All four gobblers came over the lip of the bench and began to strut and drum with the fifth gobbler that I had spooked earlier. My mouth was open and I tried to open my mind to be able to soak up every drop of the view in front of me. The Gould's is called the white turkey because he has white feathers on his back and on his tail. The Gould's is a beautiful, magnificent gobbler, the kind of turkey that dreams are made of, and I was watching five mature males put on the show of a lifetime. This turkey hunt was better than I had ever dreamed a turkey hunt could be. I almost didn't want to shot, because I didn't want the dream to end. Even if I didn't take one of these gobblers I knew that I'd never forget this day, this place and these birds. I started just to spook the turkeys so I could continue to hunt. But then reason replaced insanity. I had wanted one of these gobblers all my life and now I had the chance to take any one of the five of these birds.

One gobbler came straight at me and when he stepped out behind a bush not 8 feet from me, I knew I would have to take the shot. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime had passed, the longbeard stepped out from behind the bush, looked straight at me, putted and met the HEVI-SHOT. When I looked through my Kahles scope, all I could see was turkey heads and waddles. I put the cross hairs on the last waddle I could see and fired. The other gobblers didn't fly, but they ran. Immediately, I began to cut and cackle and the gobblers answered. My turkey hadn't even moved. I continued to call for 20 minutes and finally brought three of the longbeards back in to within gun range. After I'd watched them until they became bored and walked off, I collected my trophy and with my guide went back to the truck with a gobbler in my vest.

When we got back to the ranch house, we learned that all four of us had bagged our bird before 8:00 a.m. The rest of the hunt, I photographed vaqueros, and tried to photograph live turkeys. Although we had fun calling the turkeys in, I never had a gobbler come close enough to get a really good, clear picture. I have to admit when the hunt was over, I didn't want to leave El Cajoncito Adventures. I could have stayed in those mountains and called those gobblers in, even if I didn't take a shot for a month or more. I just enjoyed watching the white turkeys of the Mexican mountains and at night when I go to sleep, I can still see them in my dreams.

If you want to have the dream of a Gould come true for you, you can e-mail: jmoralescamou@hotmail.com. A Gould's hunt with Morales costs $1800 for three days of one-on-one guided turkey hunting. The hunt includes all food, transportation, license and lodging. On this ranch you can also hunt Coues deer during the winter and wild buffalo.