My son and I are flying down to Texas tomorrow morning for a few days of Rio and Javelina hunting. Will be hunting a ranch outside Pearsall. This will be our first hunting experience in Texas. Looking forward to the third leg of grand slam. Africa will just have to wait until Sept. Leopard and Dugga Boy.

Jagter

Sorry For the question what are rio & Javelina ?


"opie-knoppe"

Rio Grande turkey and a Javelina is a pig like animal that is found in the southwest.

Bwana1

OK those are those big-ass turkey's we see them hunting on ESPN ! We dont have turkeys in the wild here in SA.

"opie-knoppe"

I assume "SA" means - South Alabama or South Atlanta.

Have fun. You will enjoy the Javelina's.

quote:

Originally posted by schmidie:
OK those are those big-ass turkey's we see them hunting on ESPN ! We dont have turkeys in the wild here in SA.

Probably not. Most of the hunts that show up on TV are for the Eastern Turkey.

Species of turkey found in north america:
Eastern Subspecies
Osceola (Florida) Subspecies
Rio Grande Subspecies
Merriam's Subspecies
Gould's Subspecies
Ocellated Wild Turkey

http://www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/

Turkey has been a huge success here in the states. Just 20 years, almost no one hunted them. Their range was tiny. However, like the pheasant in the 1920's, they have become a favorite of the various state DNR programs. Ben Franklin argued that the turkey not the eagle should be the national bird for the USA.

The javelina or collared peccary is not a true pig, pigs are members of the Suidae family. Javelina are members of the Tayassuidae family. However, they do bear a resemblance to pig. They range in weight from 30 to 60 lbs. There are no native pigs in north or south america.



Die Ou Jagter,

Good luck on the hunt with your son.

Here is a turkey taken in south Texas two weeks ago by hunter/photographer David Sams (publisher of http://www.lonestaroutdoornews.com). My son, Gus, did learn all about setting up the blind to get the turkeys and got his picture taken.



(I have a hard time getting pictures to show up so here is a link if it doesn't work www.pbase.com/cjw/image/42405337)

Great picture, I hope we are so sucessful.

Any luck?

We each got nice Rios - twin 3 yr old. App 20 lb and 8-9 in beards and 1 1/8 spurs. Son also got a feral hog. I held out for a Javelina but no luck. Had a great time.

Congratulations. Sounds like it was a lot of fun.

Congrats on the great bird. Those Rio's are sooo much bigger than Easterns it really blew me away the first time I saw some big Toms there. I love Texas.

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckWagon:
Congrats on the great bird. Those Rio's are sooo much bigger than Easterns it really blew me away the first time I saw some big Toms there. I love Texas.

How do you figure a 20 lb bird is bigger than an eastern??? Most jakes around here (Massachusetts) run 18-20 lbs. The big birds run 28 lbs and up!!! One of my hunting buds got one 2 years ago with 5 beards and it weighed 31 lbs.
That being said, I also love Texas !!!!