Liv4Rut
Active Member
Well everyone we had a pretty good ending to a long season this past weekend. It all started on Thursday night when I had shot my first bird with the shotgun and had roosted one for Friday morning. Friday morning I got all settled in and at first light the gobbler I roosted was going nuts. I felt I was in a pretty good postion and as soon as he flew down I thought for sure he was mine. The old boy gobbled his head off the whole way and in less than a few minutes he was standing 30 yards out in the field at full strut slowing coming into my decoys. He was almost in my shooting window when all the sudden he stopped and just stood there for 5 minutes. I couldn't figure what in the heck was going on until a hen came running by my blind at mach 9 right to his side. I knew this wasn't good and he started to walk away with her. I decided to drop down that side of the blind and enforce a shot. All was going well, I pulled back put my 30 yard pin on him and shot. Feathers went every where and he just kind of hopped and went back to feeding. I had missed and he then ran off with the hen when I was reaching for another arrow. For some reason I just can't concentrate on the shot as well when shooting thru the mesh of the windows in the blind. OH well there was always this weekend.
Friday night I got home to my parents about 6 oclock and my ole man thought we ought to go sit in his blind in our back foodplot. It seemed kinda silly since there is very few birds in the area, but what the heck. We got settled in and right away I was cussing the ameristep blind, I could only shoot to the decoy and that was it due to the low windows. It felt kind of wierd because we both had our work clothes on and were kind of dressed up for this turkey hunt. Anyways after about 15 minutes of calling my ole man sees a boss coming across the food plot. He started to go away until I hit him with some hard purrs. The bird gobbled back and went into strut. He stayed out of range for awhile but I kept purring at him getting him to gobble. He was finally coming down the 4-wheeler trail towards the decoy, but I knew there was no way I was going to pull off the shot with the bow out of that blind, so I told my old man to shoot him. I started purring hard and he raised up his head and my ole man leveled him at 30 yards. We both couldn't believe it, we actually got a bird on our farm. He was pretty good sized, weighed 25 lbs, 1 inch hooks and a 10 inch beard. We loaded him up and drove around the other side of the block to try to roost another one. Just like clock work we had a bird roosted on the edge of the timber for the morning. I was pumped because I thought he would be an easy one to get with my bow.
Saturday morning rolls around and when I wake up it is 8 oclock in the morning. I couldn't believe it I slept in. I was so pissed at myself but I couldn't figure out how I slept in because I set my alarm clock. Then I realized that my buddy had called me at 1:30 in the morning and I had thought it was my alarm clock and I had shut it off. Let me tell you, he heard a few words about that one in the morning.
Now it's Sunday morning and I was going to go back to that same spot the bird was roosted at with my cousin for back up with the shotgun. Right away in the morning the bird thundered in the darkness. Everything I threw at him he would double and triple gobble at. We thought for sure he was ours, but instead he flew out of the roost to what we thought was the neighboring pasture. We quickly pulled the double bull and ran over there and set up. I got him fired up again but he was now down in the bottom cornfield. After about 5 minutes I knew he wasn't coming, so I told my cousin we would go down there and shoot him with the shotgun. I peered over the edge to see where he was and he was out there strutting with 2 hens and another gobbler. They were heading towards our farm so we took off on a sprint to the other edge of the field. I had my cousin sit on the treeline of the field and not even a minute went by and the two hens came in. The gobbler was not far behind gobbling every minute or so. The hens caught wind of something they didn't like and flew away. I thought we were doomed, but the old boy kept gobbling and coming for us. Another 30 seconds go by and he is standing less than 30 yards away out in the open. My cousin Doug, One Slug Doug on Iowawhitetail, dropped the hammer on him. He weighed 23 lbs with a 9.5 inch beard and 1 inch spurs.
Now what were we going to do, I figured since it was only 6:30 in the morning that we would drive over to our other farm about an hour away and give it a shot. We parked the truck and walked in the woods and crossed the creek and peaked out in a small field and I immediately saw red heads about the time they saw us. The famous putting sound echoed thru the woods and I dropped to my knees and gave them a few quick purrs and clucks. We ran back about 40 yards and were going to try to get above them and set up when all the sudden I could tell they had ran right up to the fenceline and were coming hard. Crap, Crap, Crap I told my cousin to lay down on the ground, and I threw off the badlands and put on my leafy suit, tried to find my release, where the hell is my release at, couldn't find my facemask, where in the heck did my striker go. It was a total disaster and I could hear them just clucking and purring only 50 yards away. Somehow I get everything in order and could only find my spare release in my pocket and threw it on. I just sat there and listened to where they were at and gave them a few calls. They wouldn't budge but I knew they were just up over the rise out in the field. I told my cousin to stay there and the stalk was on. I slowly crept up to the burm in front of the field and peaked over and I saw 3 birds about 20 yards out in the field. I crawled up and behind a multiflora rose bush and figured this was as close as I was going to get. I pulled back and stood up and they were behind some brush but were working down the field line towards a very small shooting lane through the fence. That is when I noticed they were only jakes and I was at full draw so I said screw it, if I get a shot I am taking it. The first jake came into the lane about 30 yards out, and put the pin on him and let go. SMACK, I drilled him. He took about 15 steps and piled up. The hammerhead did its job. I was pumped, there is something about stalking a turkey with a bow and scoring that gets me excited. What a weekend and a great way to end the season hunting with my ole man and cousin. Here are the pics of my ole man's bird, Doug's bird, and mine. Sorry the story is so long.
Friday night I got home to my parents about 6 oclock and my ole man thought we ought to go sit in his blind in our back foodplot. It seemed kinda silly since there is very few birds in the area, but what the heck. We got settled in and right away I was cussing the ameristep blind, I could only shoot to the decoy and that was it due to the low windows. It felt kind of wierd because we both had our work clothes on and were kind of dressed up for this turkey hunt. Anyways after about 15 minutes of calling my ole man sees a boss coming across the food plot. He started to go away until I hit him with some hard purrs. The bird gobbled back and went into strut. He stayed out of range for awhile but I kept purring at him getting him to gobble. He was finally coming down the 4-wheeler trail towards the decoy, but I knew there was no way I was going to pull off the shot with the bow out of that blind, so I told my old man to shoot him. I started purring hard and he raised up his head and my ole man leveled him at 30 yards. We both couldn't believe it, we actually got a bird on our farm. He was pretty good sized, weighed 25 lbs, 1 inch hooks and a 10 inch beard. We loaded him up and drove around the other side of the block to try to roost another one. Just like clock work we had a bird roosted on the edge of the timber for the morning. I was pumped because I thought he would be an easy one to get with my bow.
Saturday morning rolls around and when I wake up it is 8 oclock in the morning. I couldn't believe it I slept in. I was so pissed at myself but I couldn't figure out how I slept in because I set my alarm clock. Then I realized that my buddy had called me at 1:30 in the morning and I had thought it was my alarm clock and I had shut it off. Let me tell you, he heard a few words about that one in the morning.
Now it's Sunday morning and I was going to go back to that same spot the bird was roosted at with my cousin for back up with the shotgun. Right away in the morning the bird thundered in the darkness. Everything I threw at him he would double and triple gobble at. We thought for sure he was ours, but instead he flew out of the roost to what we thought was the neighboring pasture. We quickly pulled the double bull and ran over there and set up. I got him fired up again but he was now down in the bottom cornfield. After about 5 minutes I knew he wasn't coming, so I told my cousin we would go down there and shoot him with the shotgun. I peered over the edge to see where he was and he was out there strutting with 2 hens and another gobbler. They were heading towards our farm so we took off on a sprint to the other edge of the field. I had my cousin sit on the treeline of the field and not even a minute went by and the two hens came in. The gobbler was not far behind gobbling every minute or so. The hens caught wind of something they didn't like and flew away. I thought we were doomed, but the old boy kept gobbling and coming for us. Another 30 seconds go by and he is standing less than 30 yards away out in the open. My cousin Doug, One Slug Doug on Iowawhitetail, dropped the hammer on him. He weighed 23 lbs with a 9.5 inch beard and 1 inch spurs.
Now what were we going to do, I figured since it was only 6:30 in the morning that we would drive over to our other farm about an hour away and give it a shot. We parked the truck and walked in the woods and crossed the creek and peaked out in a small field and I immediately saw red heads about the time they saw us. The famous putting sound echoed thru the woods and I dropped to my knees and gave them a few quick purrs and clucks. We ran back about 40 yards and were going to try to get above them and set up when all the sudden I could tell they had ran right up to the fenceline and were coming hard. Crap, Crap, Crap I told my cousin to lay down on the ground, and I threw off the badlands and put on my leafy suit, tried to find my release, where the hell is my release at, couldn't find my facemask, where in the heck did my striker go. It was a total disaster and I could hear them just clucking and purring only 50 yards away. Somehow I get everything in order and could only find my spare release in my pocket and threw it on. I just sat there and listened to where they were at and gave them a few calls. They wouldn't budge but I knew they were just up over the rise out in the field. I told my cousin to stay there and the stalk was on. I slowly crept up to the burm in front of the field and peaked over and I saw 3 birds about 20 yards out in the field. I crawled up and behind a multiflora rose bush and figured this was as close as I was going to get. I pulled back and stood up and they were behind some brush but were working down the field line towards a very small shooting lane through the fence. That is when I noticed they were only jakes and I was at full draw so I said screw it, if I get a shot I am taking it. The first jake came into the lane about 30 yards out, and put the pin on him and let go. SMACK, I drilled him. He took about 15 steps and piled up. The hammerhead did its job. I was pumped, there is something about stalking a turkey with a bow and scoring that gets me excited. What a weekend and a great way to end the season hunting with my ole man and cousin. Here are the pics of my ole man's bird, Doug's bird, and mine. Sorry the story is so long.
