I had the opportunity to hunt Rio turkey in Oklahoma this past season with two of my best friends, and boy was it an adventure! Growing up in the Midwest, my primary focus was always big-game. I was raised in the outdoors, but one thing I never really got into was turkey hunting. Fast forward 20 years and now I’m addicted to it. What a great excuse to get out in the wild during a season most deer hunters overlook. My Oklahoma hunt was the first big trip I’ve ever taken to chase these elusive birds.
The scenery in Oklahoma is a little different than the upper-midwest. North-Central Oklahoma is diverse in terrain, with rolling hills, jip-rock cliffs, river bottoms and a LOT of agriculture. With that in mind, we needed to be prepared to cover a lot of ground. Loaded down with enough hunting gear, camera equipment and of course our Rambo bikes, we set off to conquer the challenge of locating and targeting the Rio turkey. Our hunt started mid-morning on the particular property we were on, and almost immediately we had birds gobbling. Minutes turned into hours, feet turned into miles. As the day wore on, the birds got quieter. Ever-increasing difficulty locating turkeys meant more distance traveled trying to get on a good tom. After covering over 13 miles on the Rambo bikes, we decided it may have to wait another day as we turned around to head back to the truck. As we came around the corner of the trail that cuts through the property, my buddy who was leading the way started frantically pointing to our left. I continued to round the corner, and looked at where he was pointing only to be amazed at the two toms sparring on the edge of the trail not even 30 yards away. All three of us continued down the trail, not saying a word, but the look on all of our faces was the same: amazement. We slipped down the hill and behind some trees, parked the bikes and grabbed our weapons. A 60-yard walk hunched over to get into position was ahead, but no one was thinking about how our backs may feel afterwards. We snuck into position, started calling, and within 5 minutes, one of the toms was on his way to us. I let an arrow fly, and successfully harvested my first archery turkey, and my first Rio.
Later that evening, we were reflecting on the day’s adventure, and we all came to the same conclusion: without the Rambo bikes, there was no chance we would have found success. The silent movement through the countryside, the ability to cover miles without wearing yourself out, the load capacity for hauling gear… all of this was possible because of the Rambo bikes we were on. Had we been in a truck, those two toms would have heard us coming and definitely spooked. Had we been on foot, we wouldn’t have been able to get past the birds and plan our approach, we would have crested the hill and been busted. Rambo bikes have changed our approach to the woods, opened up new possibilities and allowed us to push ourselves to learn the land better. Go further, hunt harder, Rambo will take you there.
