The
2000 turkey hunting season was certainly a fruitful
one for Joe Hall Jr. As Vice President of Hally Caller Wildlife
Calls and Accessories of Doylestown Pennsylvania, it is
part of his job, along with his father who is President
of the company, Joe Hall Sr., to develop, manufacture and
test new calls they have designed. Little did Joe Jr. realize
that this season's testing would be an outstanding and memorable
one, as he was about to embark on a rare accomplishment
in the hunting world.
Joe
Jr. and Sr. travel all over the United States to hunt wild
turkeys. How passionate are they about turkey? Well, they
have both been successful in taking the Grand Slam of turkey
hunting a couple of times over. To Team Realtree, that's
passion!
Grand Slams are awesome feats for sure. But the Hall
family has its sights set on a World Slam!
photo
courtesy www.hallycaller.com
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WHAT
IS A ROYAL SLAM?
Now,
just getting one Grand Slam is considered by most to be
a formidable task. In order to earn your Grand Slam, your
trophies must include the Eastern, Merriam's, Rio, and Osceola
turkeys. While it is not required that all four of the sub-species
be taken in the same year, you must take one of each. Sometimes
it will take a hunter many years to get all four birds.
Fortunately for Joe and his Dad, they have always been invited
to hunt great places, and so they have easily hit their
Slams, many of which were caught on video!
While
most hunters would be happy accomplishing one Grand Slam,
Joe and his Dad would not settle. They craved shots at the
two remaining sub-species of wild turkey, which would give
them their Royal and their World Slams, respectively.
In order to do this, they would first have to get their
Gould's and Osceola birds which are both found in Old Mexico.
When
considering an outfitter to hunt with for the Gould's turkey,
Hally Caller Pro-Staff member Ron Brothers said he could
suggest just the right person. Ron had already hunted in
Old Mexico and was familiar with one of the best in the
business---Manuel Enriquez.
The Hally Caller Company pro staff.
photo
courtesy www.hallycaller.com
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ON
TO MEXICO!
Manuel
Enriquez owns and operates El Halcon Lodge and Outfitters,
one of Mexico's premier hunting destinations. The Gould's
turkey hunting there is amazing but there is also trophy
Coues deer, Mule deer, and world-class waterfowl hunting
available.
Upon
his arrival, a feeling came over Joe Jr that this hunt might
be special. This feeling was enhanced being that he knew
there were so many birds in the area. Feeling confident
that there would be no problem with everyone getting a Gould's,
he decided to make his hunt a little more difficult by trying
to take his trophy with his bow and arrow.
On
the first morning of the hunt, Joe Jr. did some calling
and videotaping for a fellow staff member. That hunt offered
a missed opportunity, but they did enjoy plenty of action.
Based on the huge number of birds everyone reported seeing
and hearing, it quickly became apparent that Manuel did,
in fact, have some of the finest Gould's turkey habitat
in the world.
Having
seen so many birds that first morning, Joe Jr. was anxious
to try for his gobbler later that afternoon. While enjoying
lunch and some of Manuel's excellent hospitality, a strategy
was discussed that would get Joe Jr. into the best possible
location for a bow shot.
That
morning several birds had been spotted near a cattle watering
hole. There were three little valleys that filtered down
into the area of the water hole and there were plenty of
good roosting trees on the hillsides.
Joe Hall's waterhole setup worked to near perfection.
He tagged his 22-pound Gould's using a compound bow.
photo
by joe hall sr.
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TO
THE WATERING HOLE
In
observing the sign around the water, it appeared the turkeys
were probably drinking just before going to roost. First
thing in the morning, they would likely be getting another
drink before strutting onto a nice flat area near the water.
Manuel confirmed that he had seen gobblers strutting in
that exact spot on several different occasions, and agreed
that this would be an excellent place to set up a small
blind for the afternoon hunt.
With
his father on the video camera, Joe Jr. found a nice spot
to sit near the watering hole as had been previously discussed
at lunch, and he began to call. He continued calling lightly
over the next couple of hours until he called in a big group
of jakes to his decoys. The young gobblers milled around
the area for almost an hour until just before dark. Just
then, a good long beard and a hen came down one of the valleys
to the water hole for their evening's drink. Joe Jr. watched
as one by one, the jakes, followed by the hen and long beard
flew up to roost just above the watering hole.
Now,
under cover of darkness, and knowing exactly where the big
long beard was roosted, they decided to move their setup
for the next morning's hunt. Once again, they made a small
blind from natural brush, which would allow Joe Jr. a better
chance of getting his bow drawn with out being seen when
the time came. As they left the flat that night, Joe Jr.
was already mentally preparing himself for what he hoped
would be his first shot at a Mexican Gould's turkey and
completion of his first Royal Slam.
Back
at the hacienda enjoying a hearty meal, Manuel was given
the details of the afternoon's events and plans for the
next morning. Manuel agreed that the plan and setup sounded
as if it would work, and wished them luck before everyone
turned in for a restless night's sleep in anticipation of
first light.
As
always, when turkey hunting, it seemed that just as Joe
Jr. had finally fallen off to sleep the alarm clock wnet
off and the smell of fresh coffee filled the air. After
a light breakfast, they were off to the watering hole where
Joe hoped he would get his first Gould's.
Joe Sr. was not to be outdone by his son. He too nailed
his Royal Slam in Mexico.
photo
by joe hall jr.
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They
arrived at the watering hole well before light and quietly
got everything set. As first light began to break, Joe Jr.
began to tree call very softly. From the tall pine trees
about 75 yards directly in front of them, several jakes
began their raspy yelping, and much to Joe's surprise a
few were even kee-keeing. This was the first time Joe could
recall gobblers kee-keeing in the spring time, which taught
him that he had a few things to learn about these Gould's
turkeys and their habits.
As
morning light began to grow stronger, several more turkeys
began gobbling behind their setup. In a short time, birds
began flying down from several directions towards the watering
hole for their first drink of the day. A large group of
jakes went to drink first. Soon they were joined by the
big longbeard they had seen fly up to roost the night before.
Using his Hally Caller Split Double Hot Hen mouth call and
his Deluxe box call, Joe Jr. was able to entice the group
of jakes over to the strutting area and up to his decoys.
Before
long, the boss gobbler headed in the direction of
the decoys to join the jakes. The decoys were a
scant 20 yards from the blind, and Joe Jr. felt confident
that the boss was going to walk right up to the jake decoy.
As Joe Sr. began to record the action on videotape, the
entire scene unfolded with the gobbler walking straight
to the deke, as if the scene had been rehearsed. When the
bird reached the jake decoy, he assumed a typical aggressive
stance.
"Upon the sound of the release, the big bird
immediately reacted by ducking slightly..."
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As
the huge bird focussed his attention on the decoys, Joe
Jr. saw an opportunity to draw his bow and acted on it.
He settled his first sight pin on the longbeard's wing bone
and released his XX75 Easton arrow. Upon the sound of the
release, the big bird immediately reacted by ducking slightly,
but it was simply not enough as Joe's arrow passed through
the gobbler's lower neck severing the juggler vein. In a
matter of seconds and a few steps, the magnificent bird
fell over and Joe had his first Royal Slam.
Hit the Halley Caller site by clicking
here. Once there, you'll find a huge variety
of calls and hunting accessories.
photo
courtesy www.hallycaller.com
|
As
they admired the gobbler, they knew that he was a big old
bird. He was 22-pounds, with an 11-inch beard and
sported 1 1/8-inch spurs. What they did not know
at the time, and after having later been officially scored
by the National Wild Turkey Federation, Joe Jr. was informed
that he had taken the new World record Gould's turkey with
a bow and arrow. Joe and his dad had indeed accomplished
something very rare in the hunting world.
Editor's
Note: After much celebrating the father and son duo
went on to take care of Joe Senior's Royal Slam. All in
all, the two should be very proud of their accomplishments.
Team Realtree thanks them all for sharing their successes
and wishes them lots of luck in the future.
For
information on Manuel Enriquez' El Halcon Lodge & Outfitters
write 1650 Sioux Dr., El Paso TX 77925 or call (888) 603-4322.
Manuel can also be reached via email at mxhunter@hotmail.com
