Hey Guys,
Lisa (my gal of 14 years), shot her first archery turkey on Saturday.
It was a really nice morning, if you could discount the mosquitoes. Beautiful sunrise, pleasant breeze, the fragrance of the moldy smelling blind (guess it was damp when I last put it away...oops).
We heard birds all morning, but only saw hens. About 10:00 I realized my blood gravy level was dangerously low, so we went into town for a late breakfast. It was close, but after we ate I was infused with energy, vitality and pork fat.
As we walked back in to the blind, I thought I heard a gobble. I responded with a terminally lonely hen call and was rewarded with a double, and then a triple gobble before the echo of my yelps faded. We sprinted to the blind.
We arrived at the blind after a brief dash. She climbed in and got her bow ready as I fought to get my nerves (and the huge meal I just ate) under control. We were both in the blind only seconds when the tom came out into the field at full strut. I did my best to sound alone and needy, with the turkey call of course.
He traveled the 100 yards in what seemed like fractions of a second, and stood facing the decoy spitting and drumming.
Lisa, drew, anchored and loosed the arrow at 15 yards. It was a near complete pass through. When the bird leapt into the air, the arrow fell free and the turkey splatted to the ground 30 yards or so away.
The bird weighed 23lbs, had a 10 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. A pretty good bird for our part of the country.
The photo was taken with my phone, so is poor quality. I will post others when we get them out of the camera.
OkKeith