Critter
Life Member
Well, let me first start off by saying that I am far from what most folks would call a “good” turkey hunter. I’m not very experienced in decoy set-up or blind placement, and for the most part my hen yelps sound like my cat trying to hurl up a hairball. Between Kansas and Iowa in the past week I’ve got somewhere around 36 hours in the blind without tagging a turkey. That being said, I’ll throw in the old adage “I’d rather be lucky than good anyday.”
This morning as I tinkered around on my computer wondering when the rain was going to finally let up, I happen to catch a little bit of movement out my home office window. Well what do you know…..two gobblers walking the edge of my timber headed for an ag field down behind my house. Now, most generally I would have just watched them for as long as I could and chalk it up to another chance that I missed by not being out in a blind. However, this morning was a little different. The rain and thunder had passed for the most part, and only a light drizzle was falling. After the plan flashed through my mind I immediately threw on my rain gear, grabbed my boots, hat, bow and one arrow and headed out the opposite side of my house as quietly as I could. I knew exactly where these birds would end up going, but I wasn’t exactly sure which path they would take. I ran into the timber edge and split the difference between the two paths they would most likely take. As I sat in the rain behind a large oak tree I began to question what I was doing, figuring the birds might have seen me by the time I made it into the woods. Well, this was my lucky day……..here they come. I stood behind the tree and waited for the birds to emerge from the side, and as they were walking directly away from me I drew and let loose for what I thought was 25 yards. I was actually aiming for the back of the neck area, but my arrow hit low and the bird flew straight up into the air with my arrow in tow. I knew the bird was hurt because he landed and ran over a hill side 50 or 60 yards from where I had been hiding. After a moment or two I quietly walked back to the house and grabbed another arrow just in case. As I made my way back to the timber I slowly started scanning the brush piles and downed tree hoping to find a dead bird under one of them. I made it to where I thought the bird should have been, but didn’t see him. A few more yards and I heard something over to my right. There he was, out in the open flopping around. I ran up within ten yards or so figuring I was going to have to shoot him again, but as I neared the flopping stopped and I realized he had expired.
Walking up to him I thanked him for a great adventure, even though it wasn’t as “text book” as most hunts are. I would have much rather killed him from a blind around a set of decoys, but I’ll take what is offered to me this time around, especially since drawing on a turkey without a blind is somewhat of a feat itself.
After hauling him back up to the house I realized the bird had a double beard. Wanting to get a half-way decent harvest photo I decided to hang him in the basement in front of a fan for a while. After he was somewhat dried out I took him back behind the house and made my best attempt at a “self” photo shoot. The pictures aren’t all that great, but condisdering the circumstances they’ll have to do. After the photos I grabbed a tape measurer and measured the main beard. 10 ½ inches…….pretty nice. After grabbing the second beard imagine my amazement when I realized that there were actually two beards instead of one. The bird was so wet earlier that I hadn’t realized there actually two. So…….one of Iowa’s worst turkey hunters managed to bag a great triple bearded bird without a blind in the rain with a bow. I’ll refer back to the old adage again…”I’d rather be lucky than good anyday”, and that’s exactly what I was.
Not so great harvest photo
The goods (24 lbs, 1 1/4 hooks, Beards: 10 1/2, 9 1/4, 8)
This morning as I tinkered around on my computer wondering when the rain was going to finally let up, I happen to catch a little bit of movement out my home office window. Well what do you know…..two gobblers walking the edge of my timber headed for an ag field down behind my house. Now, most generally I would have just watched them for as long as I could and chalk it up to another chance that I missed by not being out in a blind. However, this morning was a little different. The rain and thunder had passed for the most part, and only a light drizzle was falling. After the plan flashed through my mind I immediately threw on my rain gear, grabbed my boots, hat, bow and one arrow and headed out the opposite side of my house as quietly as I could. I knew exactly where these birds would end up going, but I wasn’t exactly sure which path they would take. I ran into the timber edge and split the difference between the two paths they would most likely take. As I sat in the rain behind a large oak tree I began to question what I was doing, figuring the birds might have seen me by the time I made it into the woods. Well, this was my lucky day……..here they come. I stood behind the tree and waited for the birds to emerge from the side, and as they were walking directly away from me I drew and let loose for what I thought was 25 yards. I was actually aiming for the back of the neck area, but my arrow hit low and the bird flew straight up into the air with my arrow in tow. I knew the bird was hurt because he landed and ran over a hill side 50 or 60 yards from where I had been hiding. After a moment or two I quietly walked back to the house and grabbed another arrow just in case. As I made my way back to the timber I slowly started scanning the brush piles and downed tree hoping to find a dead bird under one of them. I made it to where I thought the bird should have been, but didn’t see him. A few more yards and I heard something over to my right. There he was, out in the open flopping around. I ran up within ten yards or so figuring I was going to have to shoot him again, but as I neared the flopping stopped and I realized he had expired.
Walking up to him I thanked him for a great adventure, even though it wasn’t as “text book” as most hunts are. I would have much rather killed him from a blind around a set of decoys, but I’ll take what is offered to me this time around, especially since drawing on a turkey without a blind is somewhat of a feat itself.
After hauling him back up to the house I realized the bird had a double beard. Wanting to get a half-way decent harvest photo I decided to hang him in the basement in front of a fan for a while. After he was somewhat dried out I took him back behind the house and made my best attempt at a “self” photo shoot. The pictures aren’t all that great, but condisdering the circumstances they’ll have to do. After the photos I grabbed a tape measurer and measured the main beard. 10 ½ inches…….pretty nice. After grabbing the second beard imagine my amazement when I realized that there were actually two beards instead of one. The bird was so wet earlier that I hadn’t realized there actually two. So…….one of Iowa’s worst turkey hunters managed to bag a great triple bearded bird without a blind in the rain with a bow. I’ll refer back to the old adage again…”I’d rather be lucky than good anyday”, and that’s exactly what I was.
Not so great harvest photo
The goods (24 lbs, 1 1/4 hooks, Beards: 10 1/2, 9 1/4, 8)
