I was debating on whether or not to share this story but i decided I should.
Sunday May 2nd I was turkey hunting at my buddy's house and there were birds all over. Of course none would come in range and also on camera. the one that came in was all the way to the right side of the blind where the camera couldn't see him, so I passed on him. He ended up about 80yds away for over 3 hours strutting and gobbling on a small knoll. I had stuff to do but didn't want him to see me leave the blind and break down all my stuff. I decide the best thing to do was sneak out of the back of the blind and circle around him. I brought my bow and one arrow in case I got close enough for a shot but was more figuring I'd just spook him, but at least he would just be me walking, hopefully not putting the dekes, calling and blind together with me.
I circled wide and soon realized that from where he was looking at my setup he couldn't see me until i crested the knoll from behind him. There was a huge oak tree just on the knolls edge. i got low and put that between us. when i got to it I stood up and readied myself for a shot. I peeked around and saw him strutting, facing away from me. In one fluid motion I drew and leaned out, just as he was coming out of his strut. He was quartering away and slightly uphill from me. I aimed at his thigh, angling up into his chest. The shot looked great and he went tumbling in a fury of beating wings......until he hit the edge of the knoll and was able to take flight. I watched where he landed, maybe 100yds away in some thick stuff. I waited 30minutes or so and went to go retrieve him. as I neared where he landed i looked over and at 5yds he was curled up but very much alive with my arrow still in him. I had no other arrows with me at the moment and tried to back out, but as soon I I changed direction, he ran/hopped to the edge again and again took flight. I watched where he landed and went back to pack my suff up and bring it to the truck. Now 30 minutes had passed since I jumped him and I snuck back in with a full quiver and arrow nocked. I walked the open areas peering into the tall grass and brush for over an hour before starting to grid search the real heavy stuff. After about 30 minutes I heard something behind me and saw him run off, no longer with my arrow. i tried to shoot but it was too thick and the arrow never made it that far. I kept searching in the direction he ran for over an hour and finally had to give up. It was eating me up so bad that I didn't hunt monday.
I decide to try the same spot today in hopes of seeing him or even following the crows to him. just to get some closure. I was running late and my head was not really in it. I parked in the front driveway and walked around the house heading past where my buddy parks his equipment about 100yds from the house. I heard a bird flush from very close....it was roosted on the to of his tree truck. I paused and waited a minute to see if I could hear anything else. I didn't but slowly headed towards the woods, which happened to be in the direction the bird went. I got the the grassy trail and looked over, i could see the outline of what looked like a bird looking at me hunkered in the grass at 15yds. I froze and waited, slowly getting an arrow, never taking my blind or pack off my back. I had to wait a bit longer for it to be light enough to know it was in fact at least a turkey and a tom at that, even if it wasn't the bird I had shot. As it grew lighter I could clearly see it was in fact a tom. I focused on his chest, hit anchor and released, rolling him over! Sure enough it was the bird I had hit on sunday! It turns out the arrow had broken the hip, went through the abdominal cavity and lodged on the bottom of the sternum (breast bone?) with just a small hole from the tip of me head for an exit.
1/2 and inch and he never would have made it out of sight on sunday, it just didn't hit the vitals and somehow did little damage to the guts...although he would not have made it much longer.
I'm not happy how this went down, but I wanted closure and there couldn't have been a better way given the circumstances. This just shows how tough turkeys really are. I figure with his broken hip, he couldn't perch on a limb so the top of the truck gave him all the footing he needed.
Topic: NY Tom-long recovery (Read 530 times)
