First Archery Kill!

[ti-guy]

Awesome congrats!      

[Steve O]

OK, I am excited now, our guest want to watch the Wolverines play in the Outback Bowl, so I can multi task!  Stand by...

[Longbow917]

Sweet...we are watching the Wolverines as well and playing on Trad Gang!  GO BLUE!  Awesome photos and great job.  Turkeys are my nemesis, still haven't connected.  Well done Daniel!!

[Steve O]

Originally posted by Nate Fikkert:
Awesome job Steve and Daniel.  I am very happy for you guys and how the hunt turned out.

Nathan

Nathan, we owe the whole thing to you.    You are a shining example of what makes the Professional Bowhunters Society such a great organization.  

Nathan found this great opportunity this summer and called up some of his PBS brothers to share camp.

Nathan was also the guy who said Daniel and I would be hunting side by side, so we should count as one man.  That made a Christmas week trip doable for the both of us.  The way it worked out there were a bunch of us filling slots due to things coming up and every PBS member that was part of our group welcomed our "team" generously as one when paying for the lease, cabin, food, everything.  Class guys are the norm in the PBS!

[Steve O]

We would be hunting 900 or so acres in some very famous country in western Wisconsin. This is the first time I have hunted Wisconsin.  I was very impressed and plan to do a lot more there!  They were very non resident friendly!  My deer tag was supposed to be $160.  Turns out it was half price and came with two antlerless tags in addition to my either sex tag.

Daniel really lucked out.  Until he is 17, we can get him a Jr. Patron NR license.  It covers just about everything for hunting and fishing.  The backtags that little machine spit out were a 1/2" thick!  There were over 16,000 leftover turkey tags for our zone, so we were set for anything.

I also understand that patron license goes until 3/31/13 and that will allow him to pick up a leftover spring turkey tag for $15.  We are all over   that!  

The WI boys told me the fall turkey season has just recently been extended to 12/31.  What a great opportunity for families and youth.  Either sex, Christmas break opportunities for plentiful and patternable turkeys.

How can you beat this:

 

[Steve O]

Our first morning was spent getting a lay of the land and driving around the thousands of acres of state land to see if we could find any "hot" sign.

Early afternoon found us back at the farm.  After talking it over with the rest of the guys, Daniel and I set off to an area none of us had looked at with our Lone Wolfs on our backs.  We checked a field edge, found some activity, then pressed onward and found a nice little  "hub" and decided to set up and see what we would see.

 

At 15 minutes before shooting time expired, we saw movement from the north.  Here comes a half rack 8 point with a doe and twin fawns.  The buck and doe ended up at 30 yards and the fawns ended up at 10.  None of them were in any danger...I could see the arrow on Daniel's bow dancing up and down about 3"; he was   excited!

The fawns ended up in our bootprints and  got nervous taking the whole group up the ridge.

[DamselflyFarm]

Congrat's on the turkey. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

[wooddamon1]

   

[Steve O]

Originally posted by Lin Rhea:
Congratulations! Nice shootin!

Lin, I have not ever seen a better shot      

We had a long drive out from Michigan.  There were no electronics allowed on the ride.  We were able to discuss what was possible during the week.  We played out lots of scenarios. We talked about how   THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE ENTIRE TRIP WAS COMING HOME TO MOM AND SIS SAFE!

Be careful with bows, arrows, broadheads and knives, and tree stands.  They can all kill you or you friends.

I promised my wife many, many years ago I would      NEVER    get in a tree without my safety harness.  My favorite bear stand at Ryan's is 4' off the ground...I wear my safety harness!  Daniel made the same promise and I watched him like the many Bald Eagles we saw from the stand that he was always connected.  Nothing is worth getting hurt climbing a tree to hunt, no Boone & Crockett buck, NOTHING.  If he got hurt, I would not be able to go on, much less go home, so that was priority #1 and that will never, ever change.

 

So, we discussed shot placement on both deer and turkey. I guess he actually listened because he drove the Wensel Woodsman Elite thru both wing butts!


 

[Steve O]

There was 6" of arrow sticking out the off side.  Daniel is shooting a 50# @ 28" TallTines.  I think he is drawing about 27" now; it seems to change weekly!  I do know we have things tuned for a full length 500 FMJ and 250g WW Elite for turkey and Abowyer Brown Bear for deer.

I shot my last buck with a compound the year Daniel was born.  He has never shot one and can't understand why anybody would want to    :D . He has grown up surrounded by the best bowhunters in the world from all over the country and they have all treated him like a son/grandson. Someday he will realize how blessed he is, right now he just thinks it is normal!

   

 

 

[FerretWYO]

Awesome shooting. Congrats young man.

[shedhunta]

Very nice!  Congrats

[Steve O]

Lots of great lessons on this hunt.  On our first morning of scouting we took note of lots of turkeys in a couple fields.  We set up on one of these fields and refined our setup over the week, learning something every day ultimately setting up the Double Bull for a high percentage shot.

 

[ak3blade]

Good job! Congratulations!

[Steve O]

I was certainly impressed with Daniel's dedication.  We hunted turkeys every day till noon or so.  We were back out in the tree stands right after lunch till dark.  he never wavered and was always rushing me to get ready and get going.

Temps ranged from -7 to 20F.  It was -4 when he killed the turkey!  We had a Double Bull blind, but no heater.  We used Sitka Gear Fanatic  jackets and bibs as our outer layer with Sitka Merino wool and traverse layers underneath.  We would each put a small chemical hand warmer in the built in muff of the Fanatic jacket and we were warm and cozy no matter how much the cold wind howled.

 

[Mike Vines]

Fantastic Daniel.

[huntingarcher]

Nice job little brother!Great pics and story.      It sure looks cold there!

[Mike Theis]

I was on this trip with Steve, Daniel, and Bob Daigle.

Steve is right, it was a great setup by Nathan Fikkert for a late season hunt. Made even better by the recent change in the turkey regulations to extend the season to the end of December.

This allows a terrific opportunity to get the kids out hunting during the Christmas break for deer and turkey. Some people overlook the fall/winter turkey opportunity, and they are missing out on some great hunting. The fall WI license allows one to shoot a tom, jake, or hen. This increases the shot opportunities immensely, and uncomplicates the process of bird selection. And with the snow on the ground concentrating the birds attention on food sources, it doesn't get any better for turkey hunting.

Daniel was a joy in camp, and really entertaining. When older, you forget the caloric intake necessary to fuel a 13 year old.     But once the furnace was stoked, it was "When are we going to go out??". Enthusiasm such as this is only produced by repetitive exposure to hunting opportunities. Good going Dad and Daniel!

[Steve O]

Going back to all the special people in our lives, every so often "packages" show up at our house. "Godfather" Gene and "Uncle" Barry Wensel are two contributors to this phenomenon.  This fall, Barry sent Daniel a knife and Daniel planned to gut his first deer with it.  He further decided this turkey was more than special enough to break the knife in on.

 

We eat what we kill in our house.  Turkey is a favorite even my wife will eat.  This turkey has some special use ahead of it. Daniel and I have been entering the Compton Chili contest since it started.  Daniel won it last year.  Daniel has also won the Michigan Longbow Association Chili Contest two years straight.  He has gradually taken over making the chili...it started with him watching and me making.  Lately all I have done is supplied the wild meat.  This year is the passing of the torch.  He is doing it ALL now including killing the meat.  

Makes me almost cry!

[GRINCH]