Well folks it's turning out to be a helluva season for Smart and his turkeys......and no not Ground Threat.. 
Decided last night after a change of plans with the wife (her doing
), I was going to go to the lease and hunt till noon with my bow and come back home and relax. Since I hadn't been there in a week, I started out early sittin' in a blind next to a feeder listening for hot gobblers since its in a good area......nothing.....nada...zilch.
I tried calling to no avail...no answers. Headed out across the lease stopping at various points to shock call and same result. Disappointed....I am about beat working on 3 hours of sleep and am loading everything up. I run into the landowner who asks me how I did and after my report he goes on to tell me how he jumped 6 gobblers right where we stood earlier in the day. I had also grabbed my trail cameras because of all the surveying going on and hadn't viewed the chips yet and since my camera was close to this I checked it out before I left. What do you know....4 large toms, a few 2 year old birds and a handfull of jakes
Most of them in the mid to late afternoon. So since my wife is with her Dad, I take an hour/half powernap in my truck and am in the woods by 3.
Self-admittedly, I cheated a bit because I was using a bow and did not have a mobile popup. I set up between where the birds spend the day and the feeder where the trail cams pics took place. I'm about 125-150 yards from the feeder and about the same from where we see the birds. I put out the she turkey and step back in the cedars to wait them out. Hear a few gobbles about an hour and a half in and get an answer after callin'....repeat the same sequence twice and get answered. This goes on a bit and sure enough out steps two gobblers. They end up being two smaller turkeys with 6-7"" beards. Bigger than jakes but not big enough. They strutted around without any drumming and spitting for awhile and finally decide the she turkey is not interested. 15 minutes later two jakes come through without a peep and acted scared of the woman...they'd try to break into a strut but would immediately pop out of it running like they were expecting to get whacked. They move on as well.
So time goes by and that finds me admiring the subtle beauty of the fake she turkey, feeling my lack of sleep starting to catch up with me thinking I can't wait to get home and sleep when I hear a gobble....I play call and answer several times but the wind is so bad by now I can't really tell if they are coming or not. I continue calling and the answering continues but finally subsides. Next thing I hear is drummmmmm spittttttt.... Sum beeach....two large toms in full strut trying to side hump my decoy....
They are almost mirror twins of each other...I judged the largest to be another double digit beard and decide to try to draw. Trying to keep my bow down since they surprised me and I wasn;t ready for them, I draw canted like a dumbarse and my arrow falls off the rest even with a Kazaway. Krap...they both come out of strut meanwhile I'm trying to take my short fingers and push it back on the rest which is an act in itself. Luckily the she turkey was too much to bear as they dropped back into strut and I got my arrow right. I was at full draw, comfortable, excited as hail and took a deep breath telling myself, they are at 15 yards and the only one that can jack this up is you. Lord please forgive me for what I am about to do to your turkey....release the deep breath....settle pin.......zip...another corn buzzard down. I sent the Slick Trick through his side and took out the leg and boiler room. The blood on the arrow was amazingly red as you can see. He wobbled immediately and fell over dead at 40 yards. His "brother" started the dominant peck/butt whoopin' and I would have run an arrow through my final turkey of the year just to double but didn't feel comfortable at that distance. I tried to call him closer and he answered my clucks, yelps and cuts for almost 40 minutes in plain view but wouldn't come closer than the dead bird. Went to claim my prize and walked the distance to the feeder to hang him up while I went to get the Ranger another 400 yards away. Thought the **** bird had come alive when the feeder went off while I was hanging the bird from the varmint cage. summ beech...what are the chances..
Any how...the turkey ended up having a 9.5" beard and 3/4" spurs. Forgot to look at the spurs in the heat of the battle. He was a smaller bird and I'm guessing that is why I thought his beard was easily longer than 10. He carried a nice beard for what seemed like a 2-3 year old bird. Either way though, I'm pretty happy with the results and the way it played out...espcially with a bow.. If you would have told me I'd have a 10.75, 10.5 and 9.5 in a single year I'd have said you were nuts....it's no doubt been a good year on the corn buzzards..
Sorry for the longwindedness....here's the "by yourself" pic ...tried to stay away from the truck tailgate. (hello TXKevin) This was the best I could do with the wind and only one set of hands.
Note the "covered" arrow shaft ....PEACE.....
Decided last night after a change of plans with the wife (her doing
), I was going to go to the lease and hunt till noon with my bow and come back home and relax. Since I hadn't been there in a week, I started out early sittin' in a blind next to a feeder listening for hot gobblers since its in a good area......nothing.....nada...zilch. I tried calling to no avail...no answers. Headed out across the lease stopping at various points to shock call and same result. Disappointed....I am about beat working on 3 hours of sleep and am loading everything up. I run into the landowner who asks me how I did and after my report he goes on to tell me how he jumped 6 gobblers right where we stood earlier in the day. I had also grabbed my trail cameras because of all the surveying going on and hadn't viewed the chips yet and since my camera was close to this I checked it out before I left. What do you know....4 large toms, a few 2 year old birds and a handfull of jakes
Most of them in the mid to late afternoon. So since my wife is with her Dad, I take an hour/half powernap in my truck and am in the woods by 3. Self-admittedly, I cheated a bit because I was using a bow and did not have a mobile popup. I set up between where the birds spend the day and the feeder where the trail cams pics took place. I'm about 125-150 yards from the feeder and about the same from where we see the birds. I put out the she turkey and step back in the cedars to wait them out. Hear a few gobbles about an hour and a half in and get an answer after callin'....repeat the same sequence twice and get answered. This goes on a bit and sure enough out steps two gobblers. They end up being two smaller turkeys with 6-7"" beards. Bigger than jakes but not big enough. They strutted around without any drumming and spitting for awhile and finally decide the she turkey is not interested. 15 minutes later two jakes come through without a peep and acted scared of the woman...they'd try to break into a strut but would immediately pop out of it running like they were expecting to get whacked. They move on as well.
So time goes by and that finds me admiring the subtle beauty of the fake she turkey, feeling my lack of sleep starting to catch up with me thinking I can't wait to get home and sleep when I hear a gobble....I play call and answer several times but the wind is so bad by now I can't really tell if they are coming or not. I continue calling and the answering continues but finally subsides. Next thing I hear is drummmmmm spittttttt....
Sum beeach....two large toms in full strut trying to side hump my decoy.... They are almost mirror twins of each other...I judged the largest to be another double digit beard and decide to try to draw. Trying to keep my bow down since they surprised me and I wasn;t ready for them, I draw canted like a dumbarse and my arrow falls off the rest even with a Kazaway. Krap...they both come out of strut meanwhile I'm trying to take my short fingers and push it back on the rest which is an act in itself. Luckily the she turkey was too much to bear as they dropped back into strut and I got my arrow right. I was at full draw, comfortable, excited as hail and took a deep breath telling myself, they are at 15 yards and the only one that can jack this up is you. Lord please forgive me for what I am about to do to your turkey....release the deep breath....settle pin.......zip...another corn buzzard down. I sent the Slick Trick through his side and took out the leg and boiler room. The blood on the arrow was amazingly red as you can see. He wobbled immediately and fell over dead at 40 yards. His "brother" started the dominant peck/butt whoopin' and I would have run an arrow through my final turkey of the year just to double but didn't feel comfortable at that distance. I tried to call him closer and he answered my clucks, yelps and cuts for almost 40 minutes in plain view but wouldn't come closer than the dead bird. Went to claim my prize and walked the distance to the feeder to hang him up while I went to get the Ranger another 400 yards away. Thought the **** bird had come alive when the feeder went off while I was hanging the bird from the varmint cage.
summ beech...what are the chances.. Any how...the turkey ended up having a 9.5" beard and 3/4" spurs. Forgot to look at the spurs in the heat of the battle. He was a smaller bird and I'm guessing that is why I thought his beard was easily longer than 10. He carried a nice beard for what seemed like a 2-3 year old bird. Either way though, I'm pretty happy with the results and the way it played out...espcially with a bow.. If you would have told me I'd have a 10.75, 10.5 and 9.5 in a single year I'd have said you were nuts....it's no doubt been a good year on the corn buzzards..
Sorry for the longwindedness....here's the "by yourself" pic ...tried to stay away from the truck tailgate. (hello TXKevin
) This was the best I could do with the wind and only one set of hands. Note the "covered" arrow shaft ....PEACE.....
maybe...... lets say..........2 years poor Lisa just MIGHT get to eat some deer steak instead of turkey legs and crow stew!
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