I am about to get a little long winded with my story... so if all you want to see are the pics, they are at the bottom :D
What a fantastic morning! It was opening morning of Michigan's Turkey season. A nearly full moon shone in the sky when I pulled up to my hunting grounds... the 10 acres behind my dad's place. The night before I had him set up his Double Bull blind at the back of his property. I stopped in to say Hi and thank him for setting up the blind and then began the rather short walk back to the blind.
About half way to the blind, with just the slightest predawn light breaking the horizon, I heard the first gobble. I knew that the Turkeys roosted in those woods but was not expecting them to be so close to my setup... I guess I'll take luck over skill any day!! As I continued the rest of the way to the blind the Toms continued to gobble on the roost... this could be a good morning :D When I reached the blind I set up 2 hen decoys placing them on the North side of the blind... the Turkeys were roosting just to the south of me and I wanted to them to pass by me to get to the decoys.
I got settled in the blind... still listening to the constant gobbling, grinning from ear to ear. I pulled out the slate call and popped a diaphragm call in my mouth. I began to make a few soft tree yelps to let the birds know that I was there. When it got light out I flapped my hand on the leaves below me to try to simulate a hen flying down from the roost. Some clucks, purrs, and yelping after that had a Tom gobbling hard and getting closer with each gobble!
I grabbed my bow, a 1957 Bear Kodiak Special tipped with a Wensel Woodsman Broadhead, and got ready. I did not have to wait long before I saw a bright white, blue, and crimson red head top a rise 20 yards to my south. He broke into full strut and proceeded to make himself look like king of the forest for the next couple of minutes! I kept waiting, I wanted him to be really close and knew that he should continue towards the decoys if not spooked. He kept breaking out of strut and staring at the decoys and then popping right back into full strut again... each time getting a little closer to the decoys, and me.
When he finally hit the opening I was waiting for, at all of 8 yards, I slowly came to full draw. I bore down on a feather at the base of his wing and the string slipped from my fingers.
The hit was solid but he took off running. I grabbed the bow and nearly jumped out the window of the blind! Now the fun was about to begin...
Behind my set up to the East drops down a steep hill to a swamp. The Turkey angled down the hill with me hot on his tail. He ducked into the far side of a blow down right at the base of the swamp. I swung around the north side looking for an opening to sneak another arrow through, he ran to the south so I ran south, then he ran north so I ran north, then south, then north again! (That had to be a sight, a 200 lb grown man playing pickle with a turkey, LOL!!) He finally had enough and crashed through the water and brush out into the swamp, I let an arrow fly but shot right over his back. Not wanting to lose sight of the bird I took off after him... my first running steps into the swamp brought me over my thighs in water and muck... and I lost site of the bird when I dropped that low. Forcing my way out I sloshed farther into the swamp, running as fast as one can in water, brush, and muck!
Now I had no idea where he was and this swamp is thick. I got to a little higher ground hoping to see something... and saw nothing. I was starting to feel really hopeless. I had a meeting for work at 9:30 AM that I could not miss so I reluctantly sloshed my way back to the blind. I packed up all my gear and headed home.
I was back to the swamp by 11:00 AM... wearing chest waders this time. I knew that I would be looking for a needle in a haystack. I started slowly walking through the shoulder high brush scanning left and right, looking for anything out of the ordinary and picking apart every really thick area. After about 30 minutes of searching I looked to my right and saw the fletching of my arrow through the brush from about 5 yards away... I prayed, Lord please let there be a Turkey still attached to that arrow... I slowly made my way to the arrow and found that it was indeed still attached to my Turkey!!!
I found the Turkey about 30 yards past the last point that I saw him when I sank in the swamp. When I ran across the swamp hoping to see him earlier I must have run right past him at no more that 5-10 yards and did not even see him in all that thick brush. He had crawled up under some thick stuff in about a foot of water! If that arrow were not still attached to him I don't think that I would have ever found him unless I stepped right on him.
The Tom ended up having an 11 inch beard, 1 inch spurs, and tipped the scales at 25 lbs... I could not be happier for my first bow killed turkey!!
I feel so blessed to have taken such a beautiful animal on such a beautiful morning, God's creation never ceases to amaze me. I do feel a little bad though, my turkey hunting season ended way to soon!
Topic: My first Turkey with a bow! (Read 6316 times)
