Well I'm back from a very memorable trip to hunt the Ocellated turkey in Mexico.
I flew into Merida, Mexico in the Yucatan area. I want to say now that at no point did I ever feel unsafe during my trip. The people were generally warm and English speaking individuals were very easy to find. We overnighted in Merida before a 3+ hour trip to the town of Carlos Cano Cruz in the state of Campeche, Mexico. The hunt was conducted there.
In that area of the world the turkey is known as "pavo". The equivalent of our dominant boss tom is the "cantador" or "singer". The singer has a unique song that he sings on the roost and when he hits the ground to attract females. The social order for the Ocellated turkey is a bit different than our American birds. There is and will only be one singer in each group of turkeys. He rules the roost and he and he alone breeds the hen. There will never be another singer among his harem. The singers are very territorial and some hunting strategies have been developed to exploit this trait. For all intents and purposes there are no real hen vocalizations so emulating a hen is not an effective hunting strategy. Historically, most all Ocellated turkeys have been killed in the traditional Mayan way which is sneaking into a roost and shooting a bird off the limb.
The guides are Mexican locals who know the area and until recently were subsistence hunters. They are phenomenal guides and our turkeys should be very glad they are not hunting here. I named them the Ocellated Mercenaries as they have killed hundreds of turkeys among them. A byproduct of this is that the Ocellateds are very sensitive to human pressure in the area. The mere sight of a human or vehicle and they are hauling tail. On several occasions I saw turkeys sprint for cover after hearing a gunshot that was hundreds of yards away. Another note, the Ocellated is much smaller than our turkey and typically flies away when threatened. They get airborn as fast as any quail or pheasant I've ever seen. Pretty remarkable..
The hunts are held where the forest meets some agricultural fields owned by a local Mennonite group. The forest is extremely dense and requires a machete to negotiate and to build blinds on the fields. Most all hunts are conducted in these blinds constructed of recently cut native vegetation.
The first hunt I decided to use an electronic Ocellated caller I read about in Lovett Williams book. In short, he found that using the song of the dominant "cantador" brings in neighboring singers looking for a fight. So I downloaded some MP3 files of the Ocellated into a iPod and connected it to a battery operated speaker. I played a series of the songs and within a few moments a "cantador" answered from a hundred yards away. A few minutes later I played the songs again and he answered again from far closer. I quickly played the song again and two minutes later he was flopping.
11 lbs, spurs 1 9/16" and 1 11/16"
The second morning of the hunt we returned to the same field and moved to another location on the opposite side. A singer came in but swept in from behind the blind and sang at only 15 yards from us. The forest is so dense you couldnt see him at all. So we set up on him again in the afternoon and he started singing back to the caller around 5 o'clock. He hung up at 200 yards away and this kept up for over an hour. My guide was named Marcos and we decided to make a move on the bird. Using a machete we slowly and methodically worked our way toward the "cantador". To my surprise, this spot and stalk worked. As dusk settled in the singer worked toward the field edge and I shot him at 25 yards.
11.5 lbs, spurs 1 12/16" and 1 14/16"
For my third bird I was given a choice. I could hunt the blinds again or try to shoot a bird off the roost that had been located the night before. I thought it over and really didnt want to shoot one off the roost. There was an experienced Ocellated hunter in camp with 40+ pavos under his belt and he came up and told me I should do it. He reminded me that this is one of the only places you can do it legally and that cutting your way into the forest in the cover of nightfall and working your way to a roosted singer was a real gas. He also explained that half the time it doesnt work anyway as you get busted coming in or the vegetation doesnt allow for a shot.
I took him at his word and off my guide and I went. The singer was about 100-150 yards deep in a thicket. We arrived around 4:30 and slowly worked our way to where the bird was last spotted. The leaves on the forest floor were dry and the briars and bramble were thick. It took nearly a half hour to arrive at the area we thought the bird was at. My guide and I sat there silently waiting for light. Around 6:00 we could begin to make out the trees, some time later the nests of birds and coati's(a relative of the racoon). The trees were full of vegetation and the bird wasnt singing. Marcos tapped me on the shoulder and said there he is... I looked over his shoulder and to my surprise the singer was asleep on the limb only 15 yards in front of us. We had been under him for over an hour. I watched as the "cantador" woke to meet the morning sun and then gave him a face full of shot. The experienced hunter was right, it was an absolute gas!
10.5 lbs, spurs 1 13/16" and 1 15/16"
A couple of reflections on the hunt... It is expensive no matter how you cut it. There are other animals you can hunt as well. A few Brockett Deer were taken and several SCI Gold Medal bucks were seen over the week. The outfitter I used was very good and I'll be happy to give leads to anyone interested in pursuing the Ocellated. The camp was clean and very rustic, it may not be for everyone. Water was provided from rainwater cisterns heated by solar power and there wasnt any air conditioning. The food was freaking outstanding and I must have put on 5 lbs over the week. Fresh made salsas, tortillas, beans, rice, and vegetables at every meal. Local favorites of chicken, beef, fish, shrimp, and pork were served in traditional Mayan recipes. I could go on for hours raving about the cuisine. The guns were serviceable Remington automatics but the ammo left a bit to be desired. The only ammo they had was 2 3/4" unbuffered lead #2 Express loads. We had a few misses over the week including my own and I attribute many of them to this. Between the smaller size of the Ocellated making it tough to judge distance and the small shot volumes some slam dunk opportunities were blown. In all 10 trophies were taken among 4 hunters in a 5 day hunt... Not too shabby!
I'll try to post some pics of other birds, the camp, guides, and local Mayan ruin we visited in another thread.
