RARE is the best way I can describe the hunt I had this morning. Extremely rare and LUCKY! I sat in one of my old Double Bull blinds beginning at 5am waiting semi-patiently for a heavy fog to lift. The temperatures read 41 when I left my house but it had to be colder where I sat, a damp creek bottom with a heavy fog pushing in on me.
The morning was slow, not a single gobble heard, and only one hen seen before 9 o'clock . . . par for the course. The early spring had turned things upset down, including the breeding period for turkeys. With nothing to listen to I sat and glassed the field before me until HE appeared on the opposite side of the field, a good 300 yards.
The gobbler was showing off relentlessly. He would walk, fan, spin, and repeat . . . this ritual repeated itself for a nearly two hours. He had hens, and they apparently weren't interested in joining me on my side of the field.
Around noon they FINALLY began working toward me. All I could think of was the little opening in the fence 10 yards to my left where turkeys routinely passed between two fields. I had a plan. The lead hen worked her way toward me but the other one held back, and so did the gobbler. The first bird walked within 12 yards of me and through the fence while his TRUE girlfriend turned around and slowly headed back to the spot where I first saw them! They stayed there for another hour which prompted me to plot something really stupid, or so it seemed at the time. I decided to go after them. HOW DUMB!
After pushing my bow and side quiver though the front window, I crawled through myself and slid to the ground. Using the ditch behind me I made like a reptile and slithered my way 50 yards to the right to where the ditch drained into a water filled creek. The plan was to slip along the muddy creek bank while remaining BELOW the field level and hopefully out of sight for as long as possible. Occasionally the creek bank would get so steep and muddy that I had to crawl into the field edge for a few yards using the stands of river cane along it's banks as cover.
This farm has cattle, and over the years they have worn a network of paths throughout the tall cane. I really took advantage of that. I had a landmark picked out on the railroad track that ran along the opposite side of the bottom so I would know where to stop and setup in the hope that the hen would drag him through the sweet spot one more time. At some point they had to come to me.
When I got to me stopping point I took a peek from the cane into the field. THERE SHE WAS, 30 yards and closing!! My heart started to race. Throughout the stalk I kept reminding myself that you can't stalk a wild turkey, much less TWO and with a bow! I kept hearing the word "idiot" each time I forgot that this was nothing more than a doomed exercise brought on by frustration and boredom.
Continuing to pretend that I really had something going I withdrew about 10 yards into the stand of cane and knelt in front of the widest tree trunk I could find, arrow knocked and bow propped on it's lower limb tip.. I still had my black gloves and pullover face mask on - standard "blind camo". With a wool jacket up top and a solid green pair of pants, well, I didn't exactly look like one of the camo clad guys on those turkey videos.
First I saw brown and just a hint of movement through the cane. When I could finally make her out I saw something dark dangling in front of her; a bearded hen! Miss Unique walked 12 yards from me, quietly feeding as she strolled into my one shooting lane, a narrow opening less than 2 feet wide. I FROZE, nearly closing my eyes, fearful that I would be picked off. She was so close that I saw her blink . . . twice.
After what seemed like an eternity she passed to my left and out of sight. YES!! Now, where was HE?? For hours he hadn't allowed more than 10-15 yards of space between the two of them so he HAD to be close, really close. Luck was still with me. Someone on the neighboring farm (who I must thank later) cranked up their chainsaw. When they did the longbeard shock gobbled! While I still couldn't see him I KNEW where he was, and he was CLOSE. Within seconds he stepped into my "lane", and on que, fanned and began to turn in a circle exactly like he had been doing all morning.
I don't remember drawing or releasing, much less picking a spot . . . but after the blur there he was, flopping back and forth with my arrow impaled in his rear where it had stuck home as he turn his fan to me - a "Texas Heart Shout"!! After a mad dash and introduction to my size 14 boots it was over. As I type this I am still shaking my head in disbelief . . . what an incredible morning. Everything that needed to go perfectly DID. How RARE is that?
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Topic: RARE Wild Turkey Taken in KY! (Read 2036 times)
