Turkeys & Trout

By Will Leschper

Spring means turkey hunting season in Texas. It’s also synonymous with prime time for trout fishing along the coast.

South Texas remains the top location, far and away, to find the biggest whitetail bucks in the state. That’s true, regardless if you’re hunting under a high fence, low fence, or even no fence at all. This diverse ecosystem also harbors one of the most unique cast-and-blast experiences in the Lower 48: the opportunity to call in a boss tom turkey and catch a lunker speckled trout in the same day. And even if you don’t do it in the same day, it’s still about as unique a combo hunt that you may ever enjoy.

The general spring gobbler season again will kick off two weeks earlier in South Texas counties than in the northern zone, an interesting aspect of turkey hunting that biologists chalk up to the birds farther south hitting peak gobbling activity sooner due to the climate and typical conditions in the spring. What’s funny is that I’ve also seen the complete opposite, with birds up in the Panhandle hitting their peak strutting behavior much earlier and some birds much farther south not getting revved up until

Above: Calling in a gobbler isn’t always easy, but when you do, your hard-earned time and effort will be rewarded.

Left: impacted by the winter storm of February 2021 and regulation changes were enacted along coast, reducing the bag limit and size limit. This trout was caught and released roughly a month after the event, which was a good sign for the future of the fishery.

Author photos almost the end of the framework in the same spring season.

Either way, if you put your time in in the field, your efforts will be rewarded more often than not, though it should be noted that overall turkey hunter success rests at about 40%, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department studies and hunter data.

In terms of turkey hunting in South Texas—and really the entire state— there’s good news and bad news. The good is we continue to have the highest population of the Rio Grande subspecies —roughly half a million birds when range conditions are good. The bad news is our state is roughly 95% privately owned and “Texas gobbler hunting” has become a known quantity. That being said, there are ways to find a relatively inexpensive turkey hunt, if you have the time.

First and foremost, it’s word of mouth, and simply asking around through friends and family who know folks with land that may harbor birds can be beneficial. You also can apply for drawn hunts through TPWD, though the competition also continues to increase. The other option is to simply bite the bullet and book a hunt with an outfitter, which will cost more but also will provide a much higher success rate.

If you’re thinking about doing a castand-blast excursion, I also would pitch another networking idea: find a reputable speckled trout fishing guide on the coast who may have the contacts to hook you up on the turkey angle. I have yet to find a saltwater fishing guide in the Lone Star state who wasn’t either an avid hunter or didn’t have boatloads of contacts who were. Many guides and outfitters in the business of putting clients on game and fish are always willing to help each other out, and simply put, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

That quote especially applies to folks who help to keep others booked throughout the year, knowing that hunting and fishing seasons don’t always overlap, and having regular clients will always be better than getting a “real job” to pay the bills.

If you had to pick a few areas in South Texas that seemingly always have good forage and roost habitat, you’re best served checking out Bee, Live Oak and Refugio counties.

In terms of speckled trout fishing,

Spring Turkey Hunting Dates

The spring Rio Grande turkey framework in “northern” counties runs from April 1 to May 14, 2023, while the season in southern counties is from March 18 to April 30, 2023. The north zone youth-only season is March 2526 and May 20-21, 2023. The youth-only dates in the south zone are March 11-12 and May 6-7, 2023. There also is a one-turkey bag limit season than runs April 1-30, 2023, in the following counties: Bastrop, Caldwell, Colorado, Fayette, Jackson, Lavaca, Lee, Matagorda, Milam and Wharton. Birds killed in those counties must be reported to TPWD under mandatory requirements.

The Eastern turkey season in East Texas will run April 22 to May 14, 2023. Hunters are required to report harvest of eastern turkeys electronically to TPWD within 24 hours of harvest. Reports in mandatory counties can be made through the TPWD My Texas Hunt Harvest App or online from the TPWD website.

In addition to a Texas hunting license, an upland game bird endorsement is required to hunt turkeys.

the overall fishery as a whole took a hit with the extreme hard freeze event that took place in February 2021. TPWD noted fewer than 200,000 trout died as a result of conditions that saw 10-degree temperatures in the Laguna Madre for multiple days. Biologists have noted that estimate was on the low end, which I can believe after seeing big fish stacked up like cordwood on shorelines in hot spots like Baffin Bay.

That being said, the regulation changes from Corpus Christi all the way to the Mexican border have and will help the population continue to bounce back. The previous framework was a 15- to 25-inch slot with a five-fish bag, including one oversize trout. Now it’s a 17- to 23-inch slot with a three-fish bag and no oversize specimens can be kept.

Speckled trout, like redfish and flounder, can be caught using a variety of means and methods. While a boat allows anglers almost unlimited access, don’t overlook the numerous locales that offer drive-up access for wade fishing and kayak launching. Investing a little bit of time in looking at maps such as through Google will show you almost unlimited spots for this much more frugal way of pursuing trout.

Most big trout aficionados correlate the winter months with being the best time to catch a true gator trout, but in all reality, they can be found all year. The current record—a 15.6-pound, 37-inch gargantuan fish—was caught on a spring outing by Bud Rowland in the Lower Laguna Madre in 2002. What’s even more impressive is he landed it on a fly rod!

The day started like any other Saturday on the second weekend of the Texas deer season, at my son Weston’s 4U soccer game. Due to the heavy rains we had in the fall, the soccer season was pushed backed into the November rifle season. Nonetheless, my dad and I enjoyed the game that chilly morning, not sure who won the epic soccer battle.

As soon as the game was over and the treats were dished out, Weston and I headed home to pack the truck to go to the lease. We got to the lease a little after noon, got the four-wheelers out, started a fire, and got dressed for the deer stand. For this particular hunt I decided to take Weston to a stand called “4 Corners.” 4 Corners is a treestand that sits on top of a hill, has a great vantage point, and a lot of space to cover. With a light wind out of the north and the temperatures in the 60s, I thought it would be the best stand for the afternoon hunt.

It was the first year I took Weston hunting. He loves looking at my old deer heads and hearing stories about hunting in the stand, so I knew it was the year to bring him hunting. He had been to the lease before to help us fill the feeders and do lease work, but not hunting. Weston loves to be outside and has a ton of fun at the lease, but the shock of trying to sit still and being quiet while looking for deer was hard for him to grasp.

Weston’s idea of hunting was coming up to the lease riding around and playing with his cousins at camp. He wasn’t a fan of the actual hunting that’s required to hopefully shoot a big buck. Books, cars, and a lot of old hunting stories were needed to keep him busy and entertained in the deer stand.

Weston was actually doing pretty good for the first hour playing semi-quietly with his toy car, but then his patience ran out. It then turned into, as all parents can attest to, a 3-yearold’s meltdown. He was upset, he was crying, and in the last place Weston wanted to be—that deer stand.

I called Dad who was hunting in a treestand not too far away. I told him I might have to head back to camp because of Weston’s tantrum. Shortly after I got off the phone, Weston regained his composure and calmed down. The next thing that happened was part of God’s plan to make this hunt so special for me, my dad, and my son.

I heard the rumble of my father’s four-wheeler and assumed he was heading back to camp to help me with Weston. As the four-wheeler grew closer, it eventually stopped and then Dad walked to our stand, not seeing us until he was a couple yards away. Now the reason Dad did this is because 4 Corners is his favorite stand on the lease. So he figured if we were back at camp he would jump in and try his luck.

My father said, “Oh. I thought you were going back to camp.” I then told him the whole story and how Weston calmed down and was ready to hunt again. He said, “I’ll go back to the other treestand,” but that’s when Weston piped up and said he wanted Pops to stay and hunt with us. So, there we were, Weston, his Pops, and me, all situated in the blind and finally looking for some deer and enjoying a perfect moment together, doing what we all love.

As the sun fell, we were down to the last 30 minutes of hunting with no signs of movement. Weston started to get a little antsy again, so I showed him some pictures on my phone to pass the time until we got down. As I scrolled through the pictures, Dad whispered, “Chris, there’s a big buck. Get your rifle up.” As I shouldered my DPMS Gen 2 Recon rifle, I told Dad to cover Weston’s ears. BANG!

The 165-grain Federal Fusion MSR sent the thick buck’s body into the cedars. Feeling confident in my shot, we waited until dark to get down. I knew I had placed a perfect shot. We got on the four-wheelers and then on foot and found the blood trail, trying to teach Weston how we follow the blood trail to find the deer.

About 50 yards into the tree line, we found him under a cedar tree. The shot happened very quickly. Dad and I did not realize how big bodied and thick antlered this buck was.

Weston was ecstatic. I was elated to show him why we stay quiet, still, and hunt hard in order to get a big-time buck. The buck was so big, Dad and I had a hard time getting the buck onto the back of the four-wheeler. Overall, he was the biggest and most heavily antlered buck I have ever taken on our lease. The big 10-point buck had dark antlers and put a lot of venison in the freezer, mostly summer sausage and jerky.

The buck was very nice, but I think Dad and I will always cherish the memory of getting to hunt together with three generations of Stanleys: grandpa—father—and son. I will never forget the excitement Weston had seeing his first big buck and being in the deer stand with his dad and his Pops. My big buck will always hold a special memory as one of my greatest hunts. I hope one day I will be helping my son deal with his son’s tantrum in the deer stand and teaching him the important values we gain from hunting.