Well I finally got a chance on an NC longbeard this past Friday. It has been an incredibly difficult season. It seems like there just aren't the bird numbers there used to be. Hopefully it will get back to normal in the next couple of years!
Friday morning my buddy, his father, and I set up on top of a knoll on a mountain. After hearing nothing on the roost, we were getting pretty disappointed when a gobble rang out a long ways off in the holler next to us. I slipped over there in hope that he could hear me, and by that I mean the biscuit and coffee I had eaten that morning had come back to haunt me
Sure enough he answered me several times and before long had cut some serious distance. I slipped back to the blind and told my friends that it shouldn't take too long for him to blow our ears out, I wasn't wrong. About 3 minutes later he gobbled on his own, maybe 100 yards off.
He came up behind us and circled the decoy, I was hyperventilating, but enjoying the show he was putting on. When he saw that my DSD decoy was a jake, it all changed. He dropped his fan and started running in. I got ready to shoot and Aaron was my spotter. He said "hes running, 20 yards, 10, draw now.."
If I would have waited any time I'm sure he would have beat the daylights out of that decoy as he was making all kinds of those fighting noises, but it had been a long year and I wasn't taking any chances, by that i mean i had left my stupid camera in the truck at Aarons and i didnt need to get the extra preroll
. As he came into view I thumped him at about 5 yards. Perfect shot, but my strong tracker was exploding and he was pulling off some serious line.
In all he made it around 200 yards. I was very thankful I had the string tracker hooked up. Upon inspection of the shot I still have no idea how in the world the bird made it out of the field. He was hammered, arrow went through the near side wing butt, through the ribs and out the far side wing. I guess they are just some crazy tough animals.
Very thankful to punch a tag and cant wait to find another one before the season ends! They seem to be breaking from the hens and playing the game so i cant wait to get back out.
Equipment notes: #40 Omega Native, Black Eagle Vintage arrows, Grizzly Broadhead.
Topic: Finally...A Tarheel Turkey! (Read 1544 times)
