Archery Success

[tgomez]

Opening Day:
    I climb in the blind with high anticipation of getting a gobbler with a bow for the first time. It's about 5:40am and my decoy is set out about 11 yards in front of my blind.  I let out my first tree yelps about 5 minutes later with no response. 5 minutes later I let out another soft tree yelp and GOBBLE, GOBBLE,  GOBBLE! I wait and listen to about 5 different birds gobble, one about 250 yards from my blind and the others about 375 yards away to my Northwest. I waited until I knew the closest one was on the ground and started to play him. I see him strutting about 115 yards down the ridge. I kept playing him but he moved away from me and eventually went to the other birds that were Northwest of me, and went quiet. I stayed their all day and heard a few birds but never saw anymore.

Monday:
    It's early again, raining and very windy. I get to my blind and set in. I call and call for about 2 hours with no response and unable to hear much. I took a nap and woke up about 9:30 and started to call again. I was calling for about 5 min when I heard  PUTT PUTT just to my right. A hen walks up and starts feeding about 2 yards to my right, just outside of my blind. I let her feed around for 10 minutes until she decided to move along. I called for another 45 minutes and got no responses or saw any other birds. I decided to go walk around and call in the high wind. About 2pm I walked into a nice Tom coming right to me about 45 yards away. He was looking directly at me and I slowly dropped to my knees and started to mouth call. He let out a faint gobble and his tail feathers went up. He slowly worked into the thick jack pines and out of sight. I believe he saw me about the same time I saw him and was a little uneasy about coming in,  so he went the other way. I returned to camp and ate a good meal. About 7:45 pm I heard a gobble from camp and went towards the bird. He was in his roost and gobbling several times,  enough for me to locate exactly where he was. I went back to camp about 10 minutes before dark knowing I was going to have a good opportunity to kill him in the morning.

Tuesday:
    I wake up at 0500 hours and got dressed, chalked up the box call,  and scratched up the slate. I headed out about 0520 and got to my spot at 0530. I let out a few tree yelps at 0545 and he immediately went crazy. About 5 minutes later I heard him fly down and I started to work him. I had him going crazy with a few yelps and many many soft/long purrs on my slate. He got about what I figured to be 65-70 yards from me and went quiet. I heard hens to my Southeast about 130 yards away.  I heard him gobble toward their direction. About 7 more minutes of silence and I turned my head to scan behind me. On the point of the CRP field I see 2 hens,  8 jakes, and 1 strutting tom coming my way. I let out a few yelps on my box call,  followed by a few cuts. Here they come. They worked their way to me and I figured them to be about 45 yards. I drew back my Hoyt Powermax and settled in my pin. I squeezed my release trigger and the arrow goes right under him. All of the birds move away and fed over the top of the CRP field. I took out my range finder and ranged where he was standing. It was 53 yards and I thought, no wonder I was low. I went back to camp and then to my other spot to tear down my blind. After tearing down my blind I tore down my camp and put all my items in my truck. I ate lunch and headed out along the edge of the timber/CRP field to get to the other side where all the birds headed earlier in the day. Along the other side there is steep ridges,  lots of little fingers and pockets of water. I get over their and run off the 8 jakes down in one of the finger ridges that saw me move. I decided to slowly work around the next two ridges and try to get in front of them to call them in. I set-up and called for about an hour. I got bored and fell asleep for 30 minutes. I woke up and started calling again and here comes the 8 jakes. I picked one out and took a shot at 40 yards. I missed and shot just in front of the Jake. They ran down into the canyon and back toward the finger ridges I left earlier. I work back around the two ridges to get in front, and I heard a faint couple of gobbles just below me to my Northeast. I started calling and I could here them clucking and moving around just below me. About 5 minutes later I see them slowly moving across the point of the next ridge. I slowly moved and got over the next rise. I scanned with my eyes and slowly moved step by step. I heard a faint gobble to my North and started to move that way. I see a red head about 100 yards away. I let it walk behind the brush and in cover. I slowly moved that direction and at 41 yards I see all 8 jakes right by one another. I settled in my pin after drawing back and smoked a double bearded jake at 41 yards. It was a challenging and fun hunt full of highs and lows. Now it's time to fill tag #2 on a big old Tom!


Here is my late pictures. Sorry they wouldn't load earlier.

[Skyvalhunter]

Nice story thanks for sharing

[E35alex]

Great story! sounds like you have one heck of a time. Congrats on your bird. Also, no picture then its not true 

[DOUBLELUNG]

Nicely done!

[fjp971]

Great story and great hunt! 

[bowhunterforever]

Great story and great hunt!

Pics didn't load though

[E35alex]

Great story and great hunt!

Pics didn't load though

 

[tgomez]

Let's try this again.

[Rainier10]

Nice bird. Thanks for reposting. There was an issue with the forum when you were posting the pics. Issue is fixed now.

[jasnt]

Way to stick with it bud