Ok. I've been meaning to get to this but been busy as hell. I finally have a turkey story to tell. Hope this is not too long and boring, but I wanna tell the whole thing.
Turkey hunting is getting to be very addictive to me. At first it was hard for me to take it too seriously. I mean the season is pretty short for one thing and I don't hunt with guns. And since I normally reserve vacation time for deer season, that normally means I do not get very many days to turkey hunt each spring.
Anyway, the first time I ever hunted turkeys was my last year in college in Southern Illinois. My native Iroquois county did not have any turkeys before this point. In fact, since I majored in wildlife biology/biology, I was actually part of a program where the DNR was catching wild turkeys from Southern Illinois to transport them to Iroquois county. Pretty cool! The turkeys have taken off here, but still are located in isolated populations on land I cannot hunt. So anyway, in the meantime, I gained permission for an excellent turkey place in Pike County. Hearing 10 birds a day is the norm in this place!
So the last few years, I have been successful in calling them into gun range every year, but never close enough for an arrow. I figured alot of it was my calling was not too good. The few times I did get them in bow range, something always went wrong! But each year I was getting more and more into it.
Last winter I did a lot of research and alot of practicing on my calling. My other hobbie aside from bowhunting is music, and I can learn most instruments by ear, so learning to call better was something that kinda came to me.
Over the years I have learned something about turkeys. Decoys DO make a difference. In all the years that I called them in gun range, I never had a bird come in and brush up against my jake decoy, or attack it or anything like that. I was using cheap decoys and they always seemed to realize they were fake before closing the last precious few yards I needed.
I read all of Joey Buchanans posts, and noticed that he likes Dave Smith decoys. I asked him for advice and he gave it too me. Thanks Joey! So I bought some better decoys. Armed with new decoys, lots of shooting practice, and better calling I felt much more confident this season. Illinois seasons are split up, so I had to sit the bench in the early season, and just call for buddies. It was working. The birds were coming in and normally walking right up and attacking my decoy. My buddies kept messing up the shots!
Finally it was my turn to hunt so I went to Pike county. I setup on a point extending into a field. The birds were gobbling hot and heavy, but were with hens. I stayed put since I see birds in this spot often. Finally, I noticed a bearded hen in the field. A few seconds later I saw a big gobbler behind her. The hen was clucking an purring, so I attempted to call her in hoping he would follow.
I was cutting off the hen with her purrs clucks and occasional yelps. Eventually the gobbler got to where he could see my decoys, and forgot all about his girlfriend. He was gonna kill this jake! He came right in and began attacking the jake decoy. He was jumping on top of the decoy going nuts when I shot. I could not believe it but even at close range all I got was feathers! Im used to deer hunting and you normally do not get much time to shoot. I rushed the shot. He did not even know what happend. He jumped back up on top of the decoy with his eyes full of rage. I took my time and put the arrow right where I wanted it and watched him run across the narrow field and into the woods with my arrow sticking out of both sides. I waited an hour to look for him but it was not necessary. He was done.
I shot him with a new Habu Vyperkhan and one of the big treeshark heads. The two inch wide one. I am a dedicated woodsman fan, but I gotta say I am really impressed with this head. I could put 4 fingers in the exit hole and blood was profuse! It took me awhile but I finally got it done. I wannna thank Joey for all of his advice. I did not weigh him but he had a 10.5 inch beard and 1 1/8 inch spurs. Can't wait for the next one! Please excuse the big wad of dip in the last picture!
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Topic: Its just a bird......but I got one! (Read 560 times)
