Okay. This is going to sound like one of those unbelievable tales, but at the risk of being labeled " one of those guys," I will tell ya what happened, so here it goes:
I went out to a spot my son had killed a youth turkey last year. The two previous day were uneventful. It was raining, but I had a tent set up and decoys, so I decided to go anyway. I had hunted for three hours and had heard a gobble several hundred yards north of my location, but couldn't get the birds to respond. After some time, I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained. I packed up my tent, decoys and gear and moved north toward the last place I heard the birds gobble.
After setting up, I made a couple calls. I immediately got a response. After 15-20 minutes, I had four gobblers in front of my blind. I had a nice broadside shot at a jake at 14 yards, so I pulled back, anchored and sent the arrow. Call it beginners Trad luck, but I hit him in the 12 ring. He went straight down. I was aiming for his right wing and center punched him right at the top of the right wing- Down he went!
To make matters more unbelievable, this was the first bird I have shot at with my new Dwyer Defiant longbow. Prior to this, I had shot a lot of targets ( a lot for me, but not a lot of arrows for you Trad Ganger Studs! )
I did miss a nice White-tail buck this past fall ( sadly at about 8 steps ) with my Browning Spartan bow, so it was nice actually connect with my new longbow!
Good Luck to all.
Dennis