Richard Moore Outdoor Report: Rio Grande Gobblers

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The morning march of wild turkeys emerging from the woods of deep South Texas is a magnificient sight.

The spirited gobbling of wild turkeys echoes through oak mottes and mesquite thickets as Rio Grande gobblers herald dawn.

With hens in the vanguard and gaudy gobblers strutting behind, turkeys stroll a sunlit sendero, and for a moment a pair of young bucks playfully lock antlers in the distance over the tails of displaying gobblers.

The first golden rays of day burnish a shimmering flock as they meander across the morning meadow.

Texas boasts the nation’s largest wild turkey population, with more than half a million Rio Grande turkeys residing in the Lone Star State. Their stronghold is the ranch country north of Raymondville.

As the sun burns off the cloaking vapor of cool morning, a flock appears in a secluded sendero bathed in brilliant morning light. They pause in the sunshine soaking up the warmth.

The morning stillness is broken only by bird song and the occasional cluck of a hen that blows smoke when she calls.

The turkeys are in no hurry this morning and linger in the clearing. They seem almost to be smoldering as steam drifts from their bodies while savoring the sun's rays. The gobblers are content to leisurely fan their tails and not even bother to gobble, but rather let hens do the talking.

Gobbler’s tails are backlit by early morning sun, highlighting rich golden browns in their magnificent feathering.

As they slowly pace and pirouette in the sunlit glade, razor-sharp spurs on gobbler’s legs glisten in the damp grass.

Sometimes, you are just in the right place at the right time, and it all comes together…a crisp, cool dawn, morning’s magical backlighting, striking stillness, and being accepted in the intimate presence of wild creatures.