Post by: BGhunter on May 13, 2012, 10:47:42 AM
These birds have been giving me the slip this year but I finally got one! For one reason or another, my past few hunts have come up unsuccessful, either because I did something wrong, the birds didn’t want to work or they just didn’t present a good enough shot. But when you finally connect on one, it really makes in worth all the trouble.
Late last week I found out that I was going to have some time off this week and I figured what better way to spend it then go hunting. I was fortunate enough to draw a spring bear permit up in the north east corner of the state so that was my primary focus but the nice thing about bear hunting that part of the state is that if the bear aren’t around, there are plenty of turkey around to keep you busy. Now since I was taking off during the work week, I wasn’t able to find anyone to come along so I made the six hour drive on my own. Have you ever noticed when you are driving by yourself, your singing voice sounds so much better then when someone is sitting next to you.
After almost hitting a bear on the way there, I thought it was a good omen but a few days later with no other bear sightings and as much sign, I decided to try and see if I couldn’t find a bird. Now there are a lot of birds where I bear hunt but they all had lock jaw and were not talking. I did manage to call in a couple birds but I wasn’t able to pull back on them.
I had a day left to hunt so I decided to give up on the bear hunt for the week and move south toward Spokane and hit some turkey spots I know of. The morning found me surrounded by quite a few birds talking. I think at one point I had a Tom on each side of me sounding off. The only problem is, I was hunting about three hundred acres of DNR land surrounded by farm land and those birds wouldn’t be pulled off the private property. So around noon I decided to try one last spot before heading home. This spot is usually a hit or miss spot. When the snow level is low the birds usually aren’t in there but if you wait till later in the season like now, the action can be pretty good. This gave me some hope and I was certain I was going to get into some birds. Well after about two hours of walking around and not seeing any sign what so ever, I decided to call it quits and head home. Driving down the dirt road on my way out I spotted movement on top of a grassy hill about four hundred yards in front of me, I quickly grabbed my binoculars and saw it was a Tom in full strut. I pulled the car over out of sight, got my gear and ran up the opposite side of the hill as quickly as my out of shape body would carry me. When peaked over the hill I was stunned to see him only seventy yards away. I set up the decoys and ran down the hill about twenty yards to set up behind a tree. It took only a half of a second of calling to get a response. Within a minute the bird had cleared the distance and was only twenty yards away but instead of going to the decoys he was zeroed in on my calls and was coming right at me. I was pinned down and was waiting for him to turn and head toward to decoys but he never did. He came in full strut and was now only five yard away on the other side of the tree. I slowly pulled back and was ready for him to step out when out of the corner of my eye I see his head pop out on the other side of the tree at about two yards. I quickly swing my bow around and he starts to take off, so I have no time to use my sight and I just let the arrow fly. The bird ends up only going about fifteen yards and falls over.
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on May 13, 2012, 10:56:24 AM
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