I guess I could have typed out a story about it,,,,,,,Here it goes......
Opening morning, I had great expectations for success. The prior three evenings I had glassed 10 to 12 birds in the field with 5 of them being long beards. I pulled in early grabbed my vest and Kodiak Magnum and was headed out. I made it about 2 steps when another hunter pulled in a started giving me the third degree. After the dust settled he invited me to sit with him in his blind as he was archery hunting also, but his bow still had the training wheels attached
The birds where hammering right from the start, but they had flown down on the opposite side of the narrow tree line. He informed me where were hunting the blind until 8:30am and then calling it quits,,,,,,,,,hmmmmmm.
Mid-afternoon was un-eventful on a different property, but I was counting the hours for my own pop-up blind set-up at the early morning spot. Within 5 minutes of setting up, 4 birds when gobbling like mad and making there way to me, about the same time they hit the woodline, A car horn started blasting away, everytime it blasted the birds gobbled. a minute or so later, I hear Hey you, Hey. My first thought was anti-hunters. I exited the blind and was confronted by the landowners daughter and smoothed things over, my birds were gone, but I figured the interruptions were over and I was right. I moved my blind and decoys to the other side of the tree line and within 20 minutes of setting up, the 4 gobblers were coming back in. One of the birds ran to my decoys, turned with his rearend facing me and I let an arrow fly taking out the center-most tail feather and sending the bird on his way. At the same time a hen had entered the field with 4 more in tow and I had to sit for 2 hours watching 4 gobblers posing and showing of for the lady's at 70 plus yards. A fifth gobbler joined them eventually and I was completely entertained and amazed for the evening. They made their way to the woods and were all tucked in before I left. The following morning I was really excited for the hunt, knowing where the birds were and how into it the night before had me pumped. I set-up, hit the slate a few times and the hammering started. The closest bird too me was really going to town, I could tell when he hit the ground and could also tell he was coming in. Once he hit the field and seen my decoys, it was instant strut, 35 minutes of it before he was sitting in my lap. I let the first arrow go and sailed it over his tail feathers. He lowered his tail feathers and as quick as that happened, he was back to strutting. I remember saying to myself on the second shot, "Don't screw this up", I concentrated hard on his beard and let it go,,,,Thump,,,, and he was off. He never flew and had a half hearted attempt at running. I actually watched him run in to complete tight circles and I thought he was just going to fall over, but he made it to the edge of the woods and fell over stone dead, not even a flap, or flopping, or whatever. I will not be ashamed to admit on the recovery of the bird I had tears of absolute joy in my eyes. After selling off my compounds and starting a little collection of Grayling Bear Archery bows, Everyone doubted me for doing so, they are not now!!!!! The legacy of this Eastern wild turkey will be forever remembered and the mount will be my greatest accomplishment to date in my short time of hunting. Thanks for the kind words guys and I hope you are still awake after reading this story
Topic: Papa Bear is smiling today!!!! (Read 4225 times)
