Opening morning of Indiana's turkey season found me and my recurve on a familiar ridge overlooking a deep holler awaiting the first tom to sound off. I had taken the time to do some scouting, and after striking out two weekends in KY, I had high hopes my luck would change.
This was a small patch of public ground which I knew held 3 longbeards. At first light, the first tom revealed his location with a thunderous call. I wasted no time, and slipped in quietly to set up my decoy and blind. A short while later, I realized he wasn't alone. I clearly heard 2 other toms roosted around him.
I made a few calls and was immediately answered. These birds were hot. Everything I threw at them was met with a very quick response. I didn't call a lot, but I made sure they knew I was there. Around 7:00am, I heard the he first bird fly down, and by 7:10, I had 3 tom's strutting around me at about 18 yards. I watched as the last bird, a big wide bearded tom, chased the others away. He was definitely the dominant bird, and he didn't want them near my decoy. After a few minutes of putting on a show, he finally got within 15 yards. I came to anchor and let loose. The arrow sailed right over the turkeys back! I quickly nocked another arrow, but in the excitement, I didn't notice a small limb in my shots path and my arrow was deflected and the turkey decided it was time to exit.
Since this was a small patch of timber, I didn't push the birds. I backed out and tried my luck else where with no luck. That night we had thunder storms, so I had mixed feelings about what to expect on the second mornings hunt. I slipped in early to the same spot. Daylight came and there were no birds to be heard. I decided to slip in a little closer to the birds location from the previous morning and try my luck. I set up my blind be and decoy and settled inside. I called softly a few times and after about 15 minutes, I thought I heard something. I looked to my right,and I could see a tail fan coming my way. As he got closer, I could see it was the same wide bearded bird from the previous morning.
This time he came in silently and never made a peep. He strutted back and forth for a bit and finally I took a shot at 10 yards. He went 10 yards and fell over dead. I was ecstatic, this was my first archery turkey. I must say it was quite the hunt.
Topic: Take two...!! (Read 1285 times)
