This summer has been weird regarding our usual sightings and interactions with the local turkeys. A couple of early broods and just in the past week two females showed up with poults that couldn't be more than a month old. Very strange...and not gobblers sighted all summer.
That all changed a few days ago. About 50 or so showed up but they were all females with this years young ones. Big enough to shoot but too early in the season to feel serious about it. Then our Spring group of adult males, 5 in all, showed up 3 days ago. They were here and then gone. Yesterday afternoon as I was out hunting Laura was home and had her gear to do some practice shooting. There were the 5 big males about 10 yards from her target. She got some broadheads but they went in wrong direction before she could get to one of the two blinds I had set up.
At 7 this morning as I was sipping my coffee and checking emails Laura says, " The big male turkeys are in the front yard"! I took a look and there were 7. I decided to get my bow and head for the blind in the orchard, mostly because they I would not be seen. They apparently had come from the direction of the blind by the stone wall across the brook and I didn't think they would head that way. Typically they would work across the yard and make their way to the orchard. Out the back door I went, black shirt, black face mask and black gloves. I asked Laura to walk out the back door as well in 5 minutes and walk out to the garden. That, I thought, might get them moving in my direction, or they would head straight for the woods in the opposite direction.
As I settled in the blind and was getting my face mask and gear together I could see them across the yard. They appeared to be headed for the wrong field on the other side of the driveway. After a while I noticed them at the far end of the orchard on my side of the driveway...it's 120' long. They were undisturbed and feeding on bugs and grass seed heads. They also appeared to be moving in my direction although there was one spot that most turkeys entered the woods...a bit of a long shot. I did my best impression of a turkey and the lead tom looked my way. He stared a bit but decided that he would feed in my direction. They were milling around and it became clear that everything that the did was random. I decided that since all of them were adult males if one gave me a shot I would take it.
Four of them worked closer to me. One headed for the woods but for some reason headed back to the other three. He kind of circled towards my blind on his return and he would pass about 15 yards if he continued his current path. He obliged and the picture tells the story. I shot him with my DAS bow with Winex limbs, 58#, Axis Nfused 400 shaft and a two hundred grain Razorcap. The arrow was "experimental". I typically shoot 340's with four four inch feathers. This arrow was a 400 spine with four 3.5" turkey feathers. They had been shooting very well for me all summer and today they didn't let me down. The shot was perfect, took out the wing butts and he piled up on the edge of the woods about 40 yards from where I hit him.
He weighed in at 20#'s and had a modest 6.5" beard.
Topic: Turkey time (Read 225 times)
