I got a used Silvertip a relatively short while back from a good guy named Bill Webster, and even though I have been more of a r/d longbow guy I really took to this bow. I took it with me on my elk trip in September but didn't get to drop the string, but still figured I would hunt with it during deer season.
I haven't had as much time to hunt as I would like this season and haven't had any shot opportunities that I wanted to take thus far, but I wanted to hit the woods this morning with the rut kicking in and a relatively cool night. I headed out to a spot overlooking a field that I planted the perimeter with some oats in early October. The oats germinated, but haven't grown as much as one would like due to a lack of rain.
Shortly after dawn, I saw two doe in the field working their way toward me and feeding on oats. It wasn't long before a decent buck came into the field. Once he saw the ladies, he lowered his head and picked up his pace, and he ran the doe out of the field to the south. It wasn't too much longer until a flock of 14-15 hens and jakes flew down into the field. They were pretty close, and I texted a pic to a good friend who basically asked why I wasn't shooting. I really hadn't even considered it, and I texted him back that they were bait for spring season.
The turkeys milled around the field feeding further away from me, and I decided to get on my smartphone to make sure that they were in season. Check. Did I have a license. Check. Well, wouldn't you know. They started feeding a little closer.
They kept gradually feeding toward me, and when the closest was 10 yards away I picked up my bow, came to full draw, held on the bird and waited for it to give me a broadside shot. When it did, I dropped the string.
I should mention that I was sitting in a plastic dome blind that I bought from a friend and had not shot out of it yet. My friend had hunted out of it, and he was using a crossbow and had the seat set up for that. Turns out that the seat was too high and too close to the window. ON the release, my top limb hit the top of the blind. Inside the blind, it was chaos. My bow came out of my hand, the arrows fell out of the quiver, blind windows fell open, enough noise to wake the dead, and all the while my arrow took an upward trajectory toward the next county.
Outside the blind was another story. The turkey started yelping and skittered off around 20 yards, but didn't head for Arkansas, like I expected them to. They just moved away farther into the field and out of my sight again. After readjusting my seat, I continued the hunt, thinking that a deer might show up. It was the rut, after all.
Nothing much was happening, and I heard my phone vibrate. I was expecting an important email, so picked up the phone and started reviewing my messages. Not much later I looked up, and to my surprise, the turkey were back! Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I grabbed another arrow from my quiver, nocked it, and waited for the shot opportunity. I picked the largest bird in the group, and fortunately it gave me a nearly broadside shot at 8-10 yards. I took the shot, and as is often the case on close shots, really didn't see the arrow flight, but knew it felt good. The turkey jumped a few inches, started walking away from me on jittery legs, and dropped to the ground in around 5 yards. I could see this from my blind.
I don't really know why the birds do what they do, but they were doing their best to tenderize the bird for me. I waited for them to head off, and quietly got out of the blind. Found my arrow just behind were the turkey had been standing, a clean pass through with 175 grain 1 1/4" VPA 3 blade broadhead. Not sure how to describe the head, except it was the short fat one.
Not a trophy for some of those experienced turkey hunters out there, but I have only been turkey hunting for a few years, and this is only my second bird. It was a young Jake and should be tasty come Thanksgiving. I want to thank Bill Webster for selling me this fine bow. It is 60" long with canebrake skins and antler tips, and should be around 62# AT 29", although I haven't put it on a scale.
The arrow entered at the bottom of one wing, cut the top of the heart, and exited through the offside leg, breaking the leg bone in half on the way.
Topic: Not a deer, but bloodied my tip. (Read 668 times)
