Not only my very first turkey but I did it with a bow! First blood on my new Hoyt Carbon Element! I'd like to thank several HW members who put up with my newbie questions, gladly offering great advice and encouragement! Thank you all so much!
As some of you may know, our family went on a camping, fishing, turkey hunting trip for a few days, getting home today. We were camped on a lake where we camp as often as possible, even during fall hunting. Early Friday morning, I did some dock fishing, listening to at least a dozen turkeys gobbling around the lake. Friday afternoon, I caught two 12" Rainbows...while my 8 year old daughter caught two 16"-18" Rainbows...isn't that how it always seems to work out!?
Saturday morning, I woke up at 4:30 and sat outside drinking coffee. About 5 am I heard the first gobble, sounding like it was coming from a hillside about half mile away. I tried waking my daughter but she wasn't having any of it. So, I grabbed my blind, bow, hen decoy, Tom archery target as an extra decoy, a box call and a pot call and headed out of camp. I set up about 50 yards from the campgrounds, on a power line easement. I set the hen up on the edge of the power line cut, with the tom sitting right behind her, and set my blind about 10 yards the other side of the power line cut, climbed in it and let out a couple clucks and yelps. Immediately, the hillside gobbler responded. Within 20 minutes he'd closed a lot of distance and was about 10 yards from my blind, popping his wings against his chest, strutting around in circles and challenging the tom decoy. The 10 yards between us was thick brush. About that time, a hen walked in and stood directly behind the tom decoy. The gobbler left the power line cut and entered the woods, strutting behind the decoys for about 10 minutes. Then the hen started towards him and I knew my time was limited. I'd previously ranged my decoys at 10 yards, a standing tree at 20 and a downed tree at 25. As soon as the gobbler hopped the downed tree, moving away from me, I drew back and put my 30 yard pin on him. I let out a yelp and he turned and puffed back up. A second later, a 100 grain Muzzy 3 blade found it's mark! The hen walked back into the power line cut, as I exited the blind, clucked at me a few times and walked off. I was back in camp, with my dead tom, at 6:15, drinking hot coffee!
About an hour later, my daughter decided to wake up. Still hearing gobblers, I decided to take her back out to the blind and let her have some fun. She started calling and a gobbler answered. Over a period of about 15 minutes, he was quickly getting closer. Then, he stopped answering for awhile. When he did answer, he had moved further away. My guess is that he found a hen, on his way to us.
Saturday night, it rained all night, so hard I was considering building an ark. Sunday morning greeted us with thick fog. This time my daughter was a little more agreeable and decided to join me. We decided to set up in the same location, and were set at about 6. Didn't hear a single gobble all morning. I can only guess that the rain storm had them hunkered up in their roosts.
9" beard, spurs were about 7/8" and before I dressed him, he weighed 19 pounds. Never having killed a turkey, I have nothing to compare this to, but I'm pretty darned thrilled!
In this first photo, taken from the blind, you can see the downed tree to the to the left of the frame.
