end of season
Last Call in NY
Best wishes to my fellow turkey hunting brethren still in the chase to fill a tag- As you can see, Our Viking Diva is warming up on my shoulder. 11:59:59 AM, the reigning queen of the opera sings the last act tomorrow.
No pressure… hunt smart, and you’ll send her packing.
Gobblers here in CNY are far fewer in number than most of us old timers remember. With longbeards being of the strong and silent type, the best or worst among us hunters can’t buy a gobble in many anecdotal reports.
Run and gunning may leave you eating a tag this late in the season. Play it old school. Confidence calling, feeding purrs, whips, and whistles, light clucks, and very soft yelping. If one stomps your call with a voracious gobble, get ready as they’ll likely not gobble again and come in swift but silent. Exceptions duly noted. With four weeks of renewed education, errors on our part in the turkey woods during the final hours will not be forgiven with second chances.
With an abundant but unfortunate supply of wet, cool weather, many hens have come off the nests and we have a dating/mating reset with the clock running out. If a hen challenges you, then you have to answer her appropriately. Girlfriend gets the boyfriend in trouble every time, and you may find one not on her first nest yet if you had a very late second or third hatch from last year. Too young to mate, but he’ll follow her anyway.
If you go in loud, you’ll likely leave empty handed. They’ve been chased all season, and any mistake you make will be an exit stage left with an alarm putt if you get any indication at all that you messed up. The foliage is thick as ever, and when a gobbler is pursued by a variety of predators, there is no tolerance for a clumsy two-legged one either. However far you may think he gobbled from, it might be better to halve that estimation in the woods now.
As they are not talking much now, any sightings are key tactical data. If you can get out and roost tonight, it may be the final clue to the last day. Bring your binoculars and glass as much as you can. With the foliage fully out, you can get in close, but you’ll have to be there very early tomorrow morning. The forecast is for more rain tomorrow, the last day, yet this morning is a rather nice one.
Hunt all the way to your spot, and all the way back to the truck, the entire hunt can turn around in 30 seconds, and the action can be fast and furious. On State Game Lands this past Wednesday, I filled a second tag, less than 150 yards away from my truck as I hunted back to it. It took him a full 20 minutes to show after a half gobble/half yelp.
Stay sharp, safe, and alert.
Best of luck in the final remaining hours of the season. Now if we can get this lady off our damn shoulders…
© 2025 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
Final Week Of CNY 2025 Spring Turkey season
Those with turkey tags still in their wallets may have a tall order to fill in the Central New York area. Being one of the wettest and coolest months of May I can remember makes it much more difficult. News reports indicate temperatures 20-degree degrees lower than average norms, and so far, the rainiest in the past 20 years. In the past week around Cortland County, it appears that hens have come off their nests and are looking to re-nest again. The lack of gobbling is another indicator. There will be exceptions, and like many things, it’s all about location, location, and location. Like many of you, I see the smiling pics with gobblers with the obvious results of a great hunt on social media, texts, and emails, and there are hot spots to be had. Should you wake up to a bird that is gobbling his fool head off, you are a fortunate person in our area. I cover a lot of ground, so far I can’t buy a gobble.
The first nesting is thought to be the most successful for brooding, and has the best chances for poult survival. I believe we are looking at a second and possibly a third attempt at it. The cool, wet weather makes it easier for predators to find the eggs and will also increase the chances of nabbing a hen that may be trying to protect the nest. Second and third time around, the predators have figured out what to look for. Gobblers with well-stocked harems and hens out and about early and late in the day are not what you want to see in the last week of the season. If your areas, honey holes, are way down in turkey sightings, it might be good to let it rest, or hunt more fruitful hunting grounds. My scouting from last fall to the present so far has me checking all my spots to keep track, but declining to hunt them there. My personal choice is not to be that one hunter who takes the last gobbler left in an area. I have always thought it best to leave plenty for the next season and not overhunt great parcels of turkey woods.
Having started turkey hunting in 1993, I have memories of many spots I hunted with dozens upon dozens of gobblers targeted to hunt and pursue. Fast forward 33 seasons, I foresee a one-tag only in the spring coming or possibly a temporary hold for several seasons to improve and protect the populations, but that, of course, is decided on much more than my single anecdotal data point by the wildlife biologists and managers at NYSDEC. With much more research underway, the results and determinations are highly anticipated for what comes next in the great Empire State.
I have a few spots in the county and several invites in other areas of the state that I may still hunt before our Viking Diva makes a curtain call. With decent-sized flocks at hunting grounds that I do spend time at, it might be a very quiet and patient style of hunting. With another week of rain predicted, I’m not at all concerned about having a tag left in my pocket. Not my first rodeo.
As difficult as it may appear, where you hunt, all is not lost. Time for old school tactics. Without much gobbling, patience, and scouting are your tools. Roosting in our area has not produced much this season, but a chance sighting or a shock gobble jerked out of a gobbler at the last slivers of daylight may be the key to putting you on a long beard the following morning. After three weeks of being hunted, the birds are going to be coy and very cautious. More so than normal. The foliage and cover are thick and as green as we have ever had. With the grass in the fields getting very tall, plowed fields and open ridge tops are likely spots to find them.
Not likely you will get second chances on sloppy hunting. This means quiet walking, no unnatural noises or lids of box calls squeaking, etc. You may get a bird to gobble or only cluck at you one time. It may take an hour before they appear. Spit and drumming while they strut may be the only thing you hear. Again, you need to be focused and ready. When it does happen, it will likely be fast, with the gobbler departing if he does not see what he came for. You will likely have better success by toning down the calling or at least testing the waters before getting aggressive with your calls. Remember, by now they have heard it all, and will be suspect of a mouthy ‘hen’ that doesn’t shut up. Even the jakes will be three weeks wiser, and be just as hard to call to the gun. Soft clucks, whines, and purrs will get the job done.
Like many of you, I got into turkey hunting for the heart-pounding action and thundering gobbles. Not much of that this year. This season, I experienced mornings of hard gobbling in Texas and Maine, but not the case here in my spots in NY. So far, I have not had those periods of three and four days of excited gobbling that we usually get. Weather, reduced populations, and hen availability have a big role in that. I filled my first tag on a morning with a single gobble by revisiting a known roost and good positioning of the gobbler with five hens in tow. He was a good bird, and glad to have got him, but I do love to hear them gobble.
From here until the last day, you may only hear a cluck, a fly down, or a fly up, and that may be as much as you will hear. The rewards for sticking it out and being patient may be a big old gobbler. Some of the oldest and most difficult gobblers are tagged near the very end of May, and are well worth the effort.
BTW, much of this is repeated from a post made in 2011, and bits of commentary from other wet cool springs in Central New York.
Good luck on the final days of the season!
© 2025 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
Turkey Hunters’ Tall Tales?
Hmmm, heard this somewhere before. When it comes to measuring trophy aspects of our quarry, we might be outdone by fishermen, but there are doubts…
A prefix to this commentary: The subject of records, trophy aspects is one of a novelty, and excellent fodder for the diner, tailgate discussions, hunt clubs, and debate at hunt camps. The experience of the hunt itself, time spent with others, is most important in my view. Like antlers, spurs, and beards, they don’t eat well, unsuitable for soup stock.
As of late, the embellishments (or bending of the truth) appear to be heightened to a comical observation, although this commentary might ruffle some feathers and deflate a few claims. It is a foolhardy, harmless embellishment, unless someone’s forcefully claiming a record bird. In the end, your birthdays will remain unchanged, death and taxes will still prevail…
Noticeably increased observation of social media since the May 1st opener in New York reveals truly great gobblers, smiling hunters, which are the happy outcomes of a great day in the turkey woods. As an author and one who tracks records in the great Empire State, there are norms observed and expected, and it captures my interest when a gobbler exceeds in exceptional characteristics, as claimed.
Those of us with many seasons tucked away as fond memories will have more than a few gobblers encountered as hefty carries back to the truck. We’ll be able to eyeball rather quickly as to being of nominal expected size/weight, and lengths of beards and spurs, akin to deer hunters who can gauge racks and weights of whitetail bucks to within close to measured results. In the social media space, with a little lack of civility, opinions may vary.
Turkey hunters often exaggerate the weight of their gobblers due to a mix of tradition, pride, and some genuine confusion in measurement. Here’s why it happens:
1. Field Dressing Confusion: Turkeys are often weighed after being field-dressed (internal organs removed), but some hunters report the weight before. This can cause significant weight differences—up to a couple of pounds, depending on live weight. An 18-pound gobbler carries up to a pound and a half of entrails. These delta anecdotal differences are observed from involvement with spring and fall turkey contests for many years, in which rules dictated field-dressed for weight measure, and to cool the meat and mitigate spoilage, hopefully shortly after being tagged in the field.
2. Lack of Accurate Scales: Many hunters use inaccurate spring scales, cheap electronic scales of questionable accuracy and affected by battery strength, or just guess based on feel. In a turkey contest, you might be surprised how many soaking wet birds are brought in to measure/score on a perfectly sunny day. Sometimes hunters use a coveted measuring device: “SEF Weight Scale.” Surprisingly, the “Shoulder-Elbow-Forearm” weight measuring triangle is the ultimate weight scale device among some turkey hunters. One simple lift of the bird will result in a 25-pound estimate in an eager and optimistic view. Asking for a weight coupon or placing the bird on a verified, accurate scale will not gain you many friends in such situations. All humor aside, it is an observation of casual conversations.
3. Bragging Rights & Storytelling Culture: Hunting, especially turkey hunting, has a strong oral tradition. Telling stories of the “25-pounder” is part of the culture, even if that bird was the typical norm of 18-19 pounds.
4. Misjudging Size: Wild turkeys, in their appearance, look deceptively large due to their feathers. A 20-pound bird feels massive after carrying it through the woods, especially early in the morning.
5. True Big Birds Are Rare: A wild gobbler in New York over 25 pounds is genuinely rare. The average reported weight for an adult gobbler in New York runs 18-19 pounds. So when someone thinks they got a record book bird, they might lean into that claim, whether or not it’s verified. It’s all part of the mystique and fun of turkey hunting, though the conscientious, more serious hunters do strive for accurate records. A 22-pound or heavier gobbler coming at you in the turkey woods will appear as Gobzilla, and a world apart from the size of an 18-pound bird.
Turkey hunters often exaggerate the length of beards and spurs for similar reasons they exaggerate weight, but with a few unique twists tied to measurement error, ego, and tradition. Here’s why it happens:
1. Improper Measuring Technique: Beards should be measured from the skin (base) to the longest strand, pulled straight, not curved or fluffed. Spurs should be measured along the outside curve to the tip, not in a straight line from the middle to the tip. Some hunters measure around the spur or include feathers in beard length, which inflates the numbers.
2. No Standardization in the Field: Some hunters are using a tape measure incorrectly or, worse, eyeballing it. That leads to inconsistency and overestimation.
3. Ego and Bragging Rights: Long spurs and beards are often seen as signs of a mature, trophy gobbler. Hunters may stretch the truth—“That gobbler had a 12” beard!”—because it makes for a better story. We all know that 6” is sometimes expressed as 12”. We’ll stop there and keep it clean.
4. Beard Clumping Illusion: Some gobblers have multiple beards or thick, ropey beards that look longer than they are. Broken strands that haven’t dislodged. Been fooled a few times with that.
5. Curved Spurs or Fat Spurs Create Optical Illusions: Spurs with tight curves can look shorter than they measure along the curve. Wide or fat spurs can appear shorter compared to narrow, needle-like spurs.
© 2025 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
. #turkeyhunting #nywildturkeyrecords #wildturkey #nyturkeyrecords #recordbookgobblers
Opening Day New York Spring 2025
From all of us at Joyner Outdoor Media, we wish hunters heading out into the great Turkey Woods of New York for the 2025 Spring Turkey Season Opener a safe and most memorable morning and season afield in our great forests.
Be diligent in firearm safety and identify your quarry 100%. Do your part to ensure each of us turkey hunters makes it back safely to hunt again another day. If someone beats you to a spot, give them room to work the gobbler, move on to another spot, and check it later in the morning. If someone comes in on you, do not turkey call or wave. Speak in a firm voice- “I’m a hunter.” Courtesy and ethical behavior makes for plenty of respect and positive experiences.
We hope that you are inspired while spending time in the places that feathered monarchs thunder gobbles from the many old and ancient roost trees well known to the prepared, and set your hearts racing in anticipation.
© 2025 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
Take the Time
To my turkey-hunting brethren, for that matter, deer hunting buddies, upland game hunting friends, and the hordes of fishermen I know: Take the time to capture a memory.
It is not the goal of incessant social media posting or creating shrines to one’s self.
Take the time to write in a daily journal, take the time to set up your camera to capture your hunt, and take the time to capture anything that attracts your eye. Sure, it might take ten to twenty minutes. Sit back down and write in your smartphone if you have to. Sometimes, it is a productive habit to write out your thoughts while waiting for the sunrise and the birds to gobble. Don’t like to write? Make a voice memo. The eggs and coffee at the diner will be there when you get there. Trust me, they’ll make more.
Attend to the trophy parts, ensure a clean harvest of the meat, and cool it properly, and ready to cook or put away in the freezer. The collections of beards, tail fans and spurs, along with the enjoyment of a hunter’s bounty, are all part of the hunt and your memory of it.
The emphasis here is to have the captures available years from now, as decades later, and if you put enough days afield, the stories and recollections merge, bits and pieces become one until you think long and hard and sort it all out. I can assure you from real-world experience. I started chasing gobblers in 1993. Since then, between spring and fall seasons in New York and add in out of state hunts both spring and fall it is fair to say that I’ve been afield somewhere north of a thousand mornings, and a lion’s share of all day hunting or combined with scouting and roosting over three decades. I can kick myself for not burning through rolls of film before digital cameras were cheap enough and all the rage. Had I not written out my story books as I have, starting in 2005, I would have much of it now as distant memories and so glad I captured them.
You’ll thank me many years from now should you adopt this as part of your hunt. It has never been easier with smartphones to quickly capture your thoughts, your story, and photos. You may not fancy yourself as a writer or photographer, but I can guarantee you that over time, you will find your skills, voice, and style, and it improves greatly with practice. I can tell you that as I age, officially entering the retirement years with no signs of actually retiring, that without the photos from my good cameras or smartphone, the note taking, and the story captures I incrementally do with each hunt, I would have far more difficulty in separating each hunt, as I have been blessed with so many fantastic days in the turkey woods. I know so many of you that are afield as I am, and there are hundreds of stories to tell. It would be my goal to encourage more of you to keep a journal. Turkey hunters as storytellers do not play second fiddle to any fisherman, and I encourage you to share those stories.
What I hope to strongly impart with each of you is that having these captures is instrumental to having vivid recall of each of these hunts. As time passes, this becomes an essential habit to enjoying these memories. Think of this arm-twisting as my gift of hard-earned wisdom. As we are soon to embark on the 2025 Spring Turkey Season in New York, I wish you all the best in your days afield.
© 2025 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
NY NWTF $100K Commitment to Forests and Flocks Initiative
State Chapter President Eric Davis, on behalf of the New York NWTF Chapter, announced and presented a check to the Forests and Flocks Initiative, supporting future projects in New York in mid January 2025. The $50,000 commitment for New York to the Forests and Flocks Initiative will match other state commitments that cover a 13 Northeast state region.
The other $50,000 committed over a five-year period will go to the creation of an endowed professorship in the Northeast. The endowed professorships are an important goal for the new Forests and Flocks Initiative.
The donation/commitments celebrate the state chapter’s 50th anniversary, and a commitment to wild turkey conservation research. A check was presented at the 50th annual awards dinner this past January.
For source press releases:
https://www.nwtf.org/programs/forests-and-flocks
© 2025 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
River Boating for Fall Turkeys
With a bit of back-and-forth scheduling changes with work contracts during the summer, a fall turkey hunt trip back to the great state of Maine would follow the annual NYSOWA Fall Safari at Peck Lake.
As always, every trip to Maine to hunt with Dan Daman would be somehow different if not unusual, and a new experience. For several weeks leading up to the trip, Dan would inform me, that we might be doing a boat trip for fall turkeys and they were using a favored roost consistently. Music to my ears and added to the anticipation. With all the corn still up and unharvested in the many places we scout, this was a tactical improvement in the odds of working a fall flock of turkeys.
The drive from Peck Lake to Maine was a scenic one as I chose to take the northern route to enjoy a beautiful drive. Leaving just as the sky began to change I enjoyed an inspiring sunrise as I headed towards Rutland, Vermont to cross over the mountain passes toward Route 2 in New Hampshire. Well worth the extra drive time versus taking the major highways. I would scout more intently as I crossed into Somerset County, Maine. No feathered sightings were made until I drove over to meet Dan for a bit of scouting for turkeys. I did find a flock of gobblers on the way over, but not on a property we had access to.
Easy decision to go after the river access to a flock that had revealed themselves routinely that week. We took a flat-bottom Johnboat up the river to reach them. It was eerily quiet, almost surreal with the cool dense fog and near-pin-drop quiet in the predawn darkness. An ultra-quiet electric troll motor made the trip effortless, and just as quiet as our surroundings. We secured the boat and made the short uphill climb to our first sit. Turns out we had closed within 50 yards of the boss hen. It was a late start as far as turkey talk went. Once the boss hen opened up, we had a “significant” conversation up until she pitched down in the adjoining field.
The hen gathered her flock shortly after and we could hear her give a soft cluck in response to Dan’s slate call. She happened to like that slate call a lot. It was interesting when she got fired up on the roost, she sounded more raspy like the mouth call I was using. Switching back and forth between Dan and I, got her issuing 19-20 note assembly yelps, and we would add one more in response to keep her intensity at a peak. Having gone quiet for thirty minutes since fly down, I got up and moved toward a corner to a vantage point. I never got there as the flock was slowly working their way around. In short order, I lined up and took two young jakes. Maine allows five birds per fall season in some counties, no more than two on a given day in the fall. It was my first riverboat trip hunt for me, and I enjoyed the added element to the hunt. A prior boat trip in Clayton, NY to Grindstone Island during a NYSOWA Spring Safari was to get to the dock and then transported by truck to our hunting spots on the island. We thought that was pretty cool as well.
We would load up the boat and take a tour further upstream. Awesome views from the boat. On the way back we watch the entire flock fly out across the river in full view and a spectacular sight to behold.
A fantastic experience and will be added to our repertoire of approaches in the years ahead!
-MJ
© 2024 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
The Chase- A Book Review
A new turkey hunting themed book is now out by new author Mindy Oldham, and illustrated by her husband, Timothy Oldham Jr. As her first book, it is a solid offering for those that enjoy hunting themed works, and story telling that is often encountered among friends of the turkey woods. To be blunt and forward in reviewing the book, I disclose a favored bias for writing as we might speak at camp, at a trailhead or at a local diner in April or May. Camo or not, we easily find each other, and the story telling commences.
Mindy has a warm, friendly, and inviting style of story telling. To read her book is to get to know and like her from the first chapter on. Very open in her storytelling, you come to enjoy a long glimpse into the outdoor world as she sees it. Her stories are done in a wonderful style that I truly enjoy. One can imagine being at camp with the Oldham’s, enjoying a great meal after a great hunt and telling stories well into the night.
Those of you turkey hunting diehards that are big into call making and collecting might recognize Tim from the beautiful art that he creates and handcrafted calls he also makes. His art appears throughout the book. It certainly adds to the very personalized feel of the book.
The book is offered in hardcover and available for $30 which includes free shipping in the USA. The hardcover is nicely done as is the high quality paper and printing. The book mark is especially nice and personalized. So much so, I am inclined to see about adopting the wider format and thicker card stock for my own book bling for future releases.
It was an enjoyable read and I encourage you to pick up a copy. I look forward to seeing more of her book releases in the future!
To purchase a copy email: msoldhamgardens@gmail.com or message her on facebook
© 2024 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
Girls, Girls, Girls -Late Season in New York
As the 2024 Spring Turkey Season is into its last days, our guest Viking Opera Diva is getting her wardrobe dry-cleaned and gearing up for Friday at high noon.
Unlike Mötley Crüe’s rendition of the song. These sexy feathered babes are out there with a mind of their own, and I have a unique late-season and somewhat perplexing story to tell.
After spotting a gobbler, two jakes, and two hens this past Sunday, and very near to state land I could access their core area with a little boot leather. The long walk to the first sit is far easier than the climb to return to the truck. I would be there early this Memorial Day to see what I could make happen. I sure did, but it was a far different hunt than I had in mind. We had a soaking rain last evening that tapered off right at first light this morning. It was a wet walk going in before daylight, but far more comfortable than sitting in a steady rain.
Super quiet start of the morning, and that included the turkeys. One of my favorite late-season spots in Cuyler, New York, and that added to my anticipation, along with the turkeys we spotted here the day before. I had worked my way down to a small flat along one of the finger ridges I like to check on. With the wet understory, it was a stealthy approach and got to where I wanted to go without disturbing any deer. No gobbling on the roost, or at all for that matter. No tree yelping or the usual small talk you hear as the morning light emerges. I gave a few tree yelps close to the time I thought they might fly down, short and sweet with no feathered responses. The chipmunks, however, loved it.
I heard the first wingbeats close to 6:30 a.m., followed by two more. The first hen landed within gun range off to my left. The next two landed out in front, also within range. They would cluck occasionally. Fast forward an hour and I had a fourth hen come in behind me and start clucking. She came up to the tree I sat at. Other than a very elevated heart rate, no pressure at all. Once she started, she never stopped until she left five minutes later. Her clucks were low volume, soft, and varied in pitch. No whips or whistles and no yelping. None of the four hens ever yelped at all. The other three hens would cluck here and there, with no specific pattern to it. They first came to attention when the fourth hen arrived, but quickly lost interest and paid no mind to her. Best described as akin to a teachers lounge, eat a little, stretch, sit for a bit and so on.
Despite being close to a known roost area with a large facing slope, and all that sweet girl talk, it failed to produce a single gobble for the duration there. As I sat and patiently let it all play out, It had crossed my mind that this might be a common meet-up spot and that a gobbler would come in silent, and as Murphy would have it, on my off-side as well. It never happened, but I sure thought about it. Another hour passed and the three hens drifted off the flat as they fed away, down to the creek. I would head back home once they dropped out of sight.
Despite having live hens with sweet voices to entice gobblers further, I could not buy a gobble, anywhere. The climb back to the truck was so worth being front and center to that many hens for 2-1/2 hours.
It is a first for me to encounter hens like this so late in the season. Still roosting without nests to tend to, and without suitors. So content to just hang with their beasties deep in the turkey woods. I have questions as to how this fits into the overall scheme of things, not to mention, where in the hell are the gobblers, and how they would leave these lovely ladies unattended.
Best of luck to all of you in the final days!
© 2024 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
Poor Hunt Experience @ Endorsed Destination Ranch in Texas…
True to the honest opinions, and transparency that you have come to expect from me and the musings I create here on Turkey Talk Blog; In a moment, I will dive into what can be summed up as negative review of Joshua Creek Ranch as a gained opinion from my recent experience there this past April. First I will lay out what are the norms, the expected circumstances a turkey hunter expects on a turkey hunt, and not from ranch hands and operators with little association or concern with the traditional turkey hunting experience. As one might expect, the reaction to reviews I have left on review sites as a courtesy and buyer beware for my fellow turkey chasers are countered with inadequate responses, and lacking of any genuine customer service while failing to acknowledge the very real problems they have in offering turkey hunts.
It is a given, a well known fact that turkeys are hell bent on not cooperating with our intentions and what any of us as turkey hunters can reasonably expect in a outfitter offering is to be where the birds are, and have an opportunity to work them into range. No guarantee of filling a tag. When my good friend and I booked this hunt, it was impressed upon us that there were plenty of turkeys to hunt on the ranch, and we could expect plenty of opportunities to work gobblers there. Due to multiple hunting operations going on at the ranch we would be guided. Neither of us need any one to do the calling for us or anything more than set us in a direction with a description of the grounds to hunt and where birds would be expected to be roosting and what land features we should be mindful of. Never the less, guides were required at the ranch. My guide was friendly, good company but not a dedicated turkey hunter or a savvy caller. To prefix against claims made in response to my online reviews, our guides used texting to maintain status updates with the hunt manager on the property.
Positives: Wonderful Ranch, great layout, fantastic food, great accommodations and warm and friendly staff. All the necessities to earn: Beretta Two Tridents-Upland Birds, Federal Select Outfitters, Orvis Endorsed Designation, and Shooting Sportsman Endorsed Lodge recognition. Like most of you, and in my view, those types of glowing accolades paints a picture, an expectation of excellence in world class service. As I will lay out further, this may all be true unless you happen to book a turkey hunt there as we experienced
When we arrived, we were informed that no gobblers had been seen or heard for two weeks on the entire ranch, followed by, only one gobbler taken on the ranch in two years. 5 gobblers, 4 jakes and a few hens were all they had seen that spring. That was not remotely the story when booking the hunt. Arguably, a small single flock is not enough to have a sustainable hunting program by any stretch on 1400 acres with maybe half of it at best due to daily operations, suitable to hunt turkeys.
A staff member laid claim in response that 10-20-30 turkeys crossed the ranch routinely and seen while driving the property and that we could have rifled/blind hunt them. One, that doesn’t jive with what we were told or saw. Two, we were not offered a rifle hunt other than an even swap for a whitetail doe as the ranch was aware the turkey hunting there was dismal at best, and non existent at worse. I came there to enjoy a quality turkey hunt in keeping with their reputation. Had the staff had any clue what a turkey hunter might think of using rifles to take a turkey is an affront when we paid to call them in and hunt them, not snipe them. Despite all this, no 10-20-30 sized flocks of turkeys were seen the entire duration while on the ranch property. What few turkeys were seen and heard, were off the property, on the other side of the river. I saw one right along the property border, couldn’t be sure what it was.
With three hunters there, had we filled two tags each, it would have decimated the flock, and represents no professional resource management given this scenario. Sad situation in my opinion. Guides had no direct bead on where birds were at the time or their daily patterns. Truth be told, during our time there, they were roosting off the property, and the Ranch had no backup parcels to cover unforeseen circumstances, or lack of birds. Hunts conducted in blinds, no slow hunting of any kind.
Despite all this, on the last morning of my hunt, I had one gobbler cross the river onto the property and closing under 200 yards by estimation of gobbling, never showed, only to go silent and never heard from again when the ranch truck pulled in directly in front of us a little over 100 yards to release pheasants for the soon to start bird hunt over dogs. My guide told me that the hunting manager is always aware of our location, and this is unacceptable and unprofessional for allowing ranch operations of one type of hunt to directly interfere with another.
This is not my first rodeo with nearly a dozen successful hunts in the great state of Texas, and thirty-one spring and fall turkey seasons under my belt, and this was a dismal hunting experience. I had not been contacted by anyone on staff until now and was told that the incident with the hunt interrupted was communicated at the time it occurred. Staff has since responded saying they were blind sided by my reviews, and they could have done something about it at the time, I say hogwash as communication was ongoing for the duration of our hunts.
I responded to their less than world class service response: “It is impossible to not know with abundant communications with your guides that no reasonable opportunities were presented during our entire time there. There was no observation of 10-20-30 birds traveling the ranch at any time observed by all three ( a third turkey hunter was also on the ranch at the time) of us hunting. Your guides stated that five gobblers total were seen the entire spring leading up to opening day. That is not sustainable on my 138 acres. much less than your 1400. This is not a quality offering for turkey hunts, and you would be negligent not knowing how depressed your numbers were. This includes when we booked. If anything, your winter counts should have alarmed you. My criticism of your business practices is reasoned and justified. You took our money without providing a reasonable opportunity and should have canceled the bookings, You had to know or ignored the circumstances entirely. Again, in my view you do not offer turkey hunts with the same world class customer service as you do your upland game hunts. I do not believe for a NY minute that any of your staff is blindsided by the criticism and that your comment is a diversion for not making it right. Any seasoned professional would see this coming. We treated your staff and the guides in a friendly and respectful manner to make the best of it as there was little to be done to salvage such a poor hunting circumstance. I have no faith that you would do anything to make it right, not while we were there, not now. To claim you didn’t know points to only two very poor conclusions and as a professional, as they say “that dog won’t hunt.”
Given what we learned upon arriving and not given reasonable choices to hunt gobblers where they actually are, the hunt should have been canceled and refunded. It has been made clear that no effort will be made by Joshua Creek Ranch to compensate or resolve this. They are not set up in so many ways, in my opinion to offer a quality turkey hunt. In view of all the praises for other offerings at Joshua Creek Ranch, there are uncomfortable questions that are left unanswered and unaddressed.
It is my learned opinion, and a stark comparison to the multitude of great ranches/outfitters I have thoroughly enjoyed in the great state of Texas, that Word Class Service and Endorsed Destination accolades are not extended to the turkey hunting experience at Joshua Creek Ranch .
-MJ
© 2024 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
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