Iowabowtech
Active Member
What started out to be a quiet morning turned out to be a great hunt. Very little gobbling and what I did hear was rangy. There was one lone gobbler that felt within range and he was at about 300 yds on a ridge. My enthusiasm increased when he continued to gobble after flydown which hasn't been happening in quite awhile. I figured there could be a chance he was without hens.
Rewind to last night when I started the thread about whether or not to use Pretty Boy. Well, I was back and forth and it wasn't until this morning that I decided to go for it. So here's PB, the submissive hen and another standing hen 10 yds in front of the blind in a love triangle...now to see if I made the right call. The gobbler was working his way in my general direction but he was on a line about 200 yards off to my left so I knew some seductive calling was in order. Evidently, I pulled it off because the next thing I knew he was about 150 yds out, quartering toward me and still gobbling. I was fairly sure he'd seen my setup because he was on slightly higher ground and the PB was standing tall and proud in the picked cornfield. I finished off with a short yelp series followed by several clucks and felt confident that he was committed so I set down the slate and shut up. Sure enough he was coming in, silent for the last 100+ yards. My blind window was angled slightly away from him so I carefully stretched forward slightly to get a glimpse out of the corner of the opening and he was RIGHT THERE about 10 ft from the blind. He instantly puffed out to the size of a Volkswagon and I went to full draw waiting for him to take his last few steps into my shooting window. The shot was a gimme except for the fact that I pulled it left and shot him a little far back. He ran about 10 yds, I did my best freestyle mouth clucks and he stopped just outside of my shooting window. A tried a few purrs but he swaggered into the timber edge left of me and it was wait and hope time. I'm glad I read Blake's thread on the homepage because I think it reinforced the plan of waiting for an hour and not rushing it. Made a few calls, sipped a cup of coffee and after 45 mins I couldn't stand it anymore so I eased out and took up the search. I found him laying down about 30 yds to my left in the timber and he wasn't moving, head on the ground. I eased up on him in full draw and at a distance of 15 ft, I saw his eye blink!! What must have been .01 milliseconds later he was up and running before I could even react. Fortunately, he was struggling and stopped after about 10 yds where I laid arrow #2 into him. He proceeded to run again and stopped and in flew arrow #3. As I knocked #4 I said to myself screw this, dropped the bow and took off running ending the whole deal with a sizable stick. Wow is all I can say. I didn't weight him but he was freakin heavy. 11 1/2" beard and 1 1/8" spurs. It was a hunt to remember.
Rewind to last night when I started the thread about whether or not to use Pretty Boy. Well, I was back and forth and it wasn't until this morning that I decided to go for it. So here's PB, the submissive hen and another standing hen 10 yds in front of the blind in a love triangle...now to see if I made the right call. The gobbler was working his way in my general direction but he was on a line about 200 yards off to my left so I knew some seductive calling was in order. Evidently, I pulled it off because the next thing I knew he was about 150 yds out, quartering toward me and still gobbling. I was fairly sure he'd seen my setup because he was on slightly higher ground and the PB was standing tall and proud in the picked cornfield. I finished off with a short yelp series followed by several clucks and felt confident that he was committed so I set down the slate and shut up. Sure enough he was coming in, silent for the last 100+ yards. My blind window was angled slightly away from him so I carefully stretched forward slightly to get a glimpse out of the corner of the opening and he was RIGHT THERE about 10 ft from the blind. He instantly puffed out to the size of a Volkswagon and I went to full draw waiting for him to take his last few steps into my shooting window. The shot was a gimme except for the fact that I pulled it left and shot him a little far back. He ran about 10 yds, I did my best freestyle mouth clucks and he stopped just outside of my shooting window. A tried a few purrs but he swaggered into the timber edge left of me and it was wait and hope time. I'm glad I read Blake's thread on the homepage because I think it reinforced the plan of waiting for an hour and not rushing it. Made a few calls, sipped a cup of coffee and after 45 mins I couldn't stand it anymore so I eased out and took up the search. I found him laying down about 30 yds to my left in the timber and he wasn't moving, head on the ground. I eased up on him in full draw and at a distance of 15 ft, I saw his eye blink!! What must have been .01 milliseconds later he was up and running before I could even react. Fortunately, he was struggling and stopped after about 10 yds where I laid arrow #2 into him. He proceeded to run again and stopped and in flew arrow #3. As I knocked #4 I said to myself screw this, dropped the bow and took off running ending the whole deal with a sizable stick. Wow is all I can say. I didn't weight him but he was freakin heavy. 11 1/2" beard and 1 1/8" spurs. It was a hunt to remember.
