Bow didn't sell/dog didn't die/ turkey did/UPDATE page 4

[Don Batten]

Yesterday afternoon was good but this morning was even better.

[OBXarcher]

With a title like that the story has to be good.

[Phrogdrvr]

Let's hear it, Don.

Tom

[Shinken]

 

Shoot straight, Shinken

   

[Guru]

Thanx for the text bud...congrats again!!

Now I wanna hear the story  

[monsterbuck]

Congrats, but we need a story.       God bless.

[Don Batten]

Yesterday I got home kinda early and decided to run up to the farm where we had the st judes hunt last weekend. I was throwing stuff in the truck (Blind, chair, pack etc) .
I picked up this recurve that was laying on my decoy bag. It was a psaV that I actually had on the classifieds this past week.

I'm not all that attached to bows, I figure they are just tools like a hammer that I used way too much the first 45 years of my life. I had put this widow up with two sets of limbs at what I thought was a killer price. I was kinda thinking of using the cash for something else i'd been thinking about. Short story is , I got a few pms about the limbs and bow and such and one guy who said he would buy it and then backed out. No worries about any of these folks. I had  marked the bow sold and had not had a chance to edit the post that it was for sale.

Any way when I moved it off my decoy bag, I looked at it and kinda smiled. I thought, I'll take this old hoss and kill a turkey with it today. I had some 400 axis and 300 gn vpa 3 blades that I knew shot good out of this bow. three practice shots im my shop told me they were good but I shot just a tad high on every shot. I'll confess that turkeys  have it in for me with trad gear out of a blind. I  came in 3rd in recurve at the IBO worlds one year and missed 7 turkeys under 15 yards.  Ive killed some with trad gear and have come to realize that I need to shoot out of the blind on my knees with no hood. the Ninja mask messes with my anchor so back in Nebraska , 3 years agoe, I went hoodless and net up and
 had good results out there . Most of the time though, I take my OTHER bow. But today it was gonna be the old widow. I drove up and set my blind right beside the dirt pile that you can see in this video. I filmed this last friday from across the field.
 
I texted Cory and Michael and told them where I was and that I expected to be up to my butt in turkeys shortly. Here is the pic I sent them.
 

Ooh, there has got to be more!

Waiting    

Bisch

[pdk25]

What a great title. Can't wait for the rest.

[Big Ed]

Very nice!!

[Don Batten]

Well my expectations didn't pan out. I had a hen come over and visit my dsd hen early and then almost no activity. finally the birds started coming in the field but, they were going the wrong way, feeding out towards the hwy. They will sometimes roost out that way but not usually this early in the season. Any way I was just hanging out and looking. My phone buzzed and I looked and it was a message from Joebuck. All it said was " He stopped lovin her today".  I had hear that George had passed away and knew where he was coming from. I was gonna send back a reply but when I looked up there were 3 jakes about 75 yards out and they were checking out the decoy. I dropped the phone and picked up the binos and confirmed that they were all 3 jakes. any bearded turkey is legal in NC and I figured if one of them came close enough I was gonna try him. Well they looked for a moment and then headed up front just like the rest of the birds had done. Now I don't consider myself a turkey caller at all. I've always had better luck just being quiet. But, with nothing to loose and daylight fading , I decided to try and get their attention. I reached for my slate but saw my  wooden hen scratch box that Joey had made and sent me a few years ago. I can do a pretty good cluck and purr on that thing so I grabbed it up and went to it. Just a soft cluck and then some purring. I about fell over when all three Jakes turned and started toward my decoy.

[Don Batten]

Well I dropped the call and picked up the old no sale bow and got ready. It took about 2 min for them to get in range. As I came to anchor, I thought about the high shots before I left. I lowered my bow arm just a tad and pulled till the string slipped out of my fingers. I was looking just above the beard and the bird was facing me straight on. The bright fletching, hubbed up right under the beard.  Dang it , a low shot. The bird turned and just walked back the way he came and disappeared into the woods from where he came with his buddies going along with him. Grabbing my binos, I could see about half of my fletching sticking out of him just below the beard. I replayed the shot over and over and figured this bird would need some time and I would need some luck. A look , out where I shot and over where he went in the woods showed no clues. No blood, no feathers , no nothing.  
I headed to the truck and thought, Man it's getting cool . My next thought was , I'll bring my dog back in the morning.  Supper time. I'll try and finish up before I go to bed tonight. s

[T-Bowhunter]

Congrats on the turkey!  

[maineac]

Great story so far, Congrats!!!

[Knawbone]

You're tell'n a good'n Don  

[Don Batten]

Kinda thought about that shot all night. I felt like the turkey was dead but with no blood to trail, it would be a crap shoot at best.

Now My old Lab Chip is getting long in the tooth. I think he's about 12 years old. He's been a great companion and found quiet a few deer and even a few turkeys before today. I think he sneaks out and puts twist in my string or other stuff to make me shoot just bad enough to need him. About a week ago he went missing one afternoon. I ask my wife if she'd seen him and she said not since you left for work this morning. It aint like him to get gone . I had rode the subdivision looking and no dog. the next morning I had about decided that he had just wondered out in the woods and died. I told my wife that If he had indeed died, I'd just like to know it so I could make plans to get another dog. Well when I went out to go to work, he was laying in my garage. He must have been in there and gotten shut up by mistake. He and I were both happy campers.
When I put the kennel in the truck he knows it's time to go hunting. this morning was no different . He ran around the truck and put his front feet up on the tail gate. He can't jump up by himself anymore. Kinda sad but he's ready in mind if not body. I helped him up and loaded my son's wirehaired pointer too. He's just a two year old but a good dog as well.

I had left my blind up over night and just left all my stuff in it to. I put the dogs on the ground at 7:15 this morning. It was 50 degrees. they milled around and I walked to the spot where I saw the bird go in the woods. Neither dog acted like they had any real trail to follow. when I got into the woods good I just looked around and my heart sank a little deeper. The storm, Irene, had took its toll on alot of big trees in this track of timber. big trees down and tops everywhere. I thought of all the places a turkey could hide and my spirit wasn't very high. I knew about where I usually hear gobbling on the roost and headed on down that way. Probably 75 yards into the woods I noticed Chip run up on this big root ball of a tree that was almost blown over. I went over to him and when I got down on my knees and looked up under the roots I saw this.
 

[Guru]

yeah boy!!

[Shinken]

           FOR CHIP!!!

That's a nice recovery for an ol' dog!

I've got a 15 yr old yellow Lab that still has an awesome nose on him, but along with A LOT of fatty tumor tissue he has some type of dementia and some days he just takes off like he's a 1 yr old pup runnin' as hard as he can.  If you're not right there when he takes off, you usually end up pickin' him up from someone who has found him and called in a lost dog....

Enjoy the feast Batman!

Shoot straight, Shinken

   

[Don Batten]

turkey down. I was happy as could be as well as the dogs. I got hold of the broadhead and pulled it on out of the bird. I'd have never found this bird with out the dog. I may have never found him 99 out of 100 times with the dog. I guess the good Lord wanted me to recover this bird.

Thanks for hanging in there for the tale. here's a few pictures I took.
 
The spoils of war. Chip is letting Wyatt know that He found this bird and not to get too close.

 
Since all my stuff was here already , I couldn't resist a pic of the equipment.

[Don Batten]

My dsd hen, longbox and swamp rooter ball cap by joebuck.
 
Kinda lame hero pic. I was by myself and had to wing it with the old Ipone.  Yes I shaved my face this week.

Thanks for coming along. In closing , I think I'll keep the bow and dog and eat the turkey tomorrow ala Marty McMahon's method of cooking one. May post some pics of the meal.

Good night all and good hunting. Don