Shovelbuck
Active Member
This springs turkey has to go down as the ugliest hunt I've ever had. What started out to be the easiest hunt ever turned into a nightmare! Back to the beginning..........
Every spring I wonder if the birds will be back for me to hunt as they don't stay on my property year round. The numbers were very low this year but I had a bird or two I could hunt. First time out, I open the door to the blind and was greeted by a couple hundred yellow jackets that had taken up residence in the blind.
I hunted elsewhere that day but nothing came to the calls. Later, a friend and I went and sealed up the blind and tossed a wasp fogger in. The carnage the next day was awesome! Lot's of dead yellow jackets!
On to the hunt...............
About a week and a half ago, I grabbed the antique two row muzzleloader as it had been loaded for bunnies since January and I needed to empty it. Light loads but I figured if a bird came in, I'd get him very close for the shot. That was the first mistake A tom was in the field when I drove in around 10:00 am but after watching him for awhile, he slipped into the timber. I parked the truck and set out two decoys, got the camera out of the bag and opened a couple blind windows. I hadn't even called when I looked out the window and here came two toms intent on whooping up on the jake decoy. This was going to be fast and easy!!! Wrong!!! At about 10 feet I touched off a round and the bird went down but stood back up. He stood there swaying from side to side and I really expected him to tip over at any time. When he started to walk away, I shot again and missed. He stopped so I took a pic, then he laid down, After about 15 minutes I put the sneak on him and attempted to grab his neck, unfortunately, all I got was a handful of feathers as he ran into the timber where I continued to give chase. Did I mention I hadn't brought my shooting bag with me? Sure didn't so I had no way to reload. Oddly enough, I had my
Quillian longbow in the truck with a few Tusker tipped arrows. Hadn't shot it since last fall but it was now my only option.
I was ably to get in range of the stunned bird and get an arrow in him but it was not a great hit. A bit far back. He took off running to the other side of the timber so I went and drove to that side. spotted him again and tried a shot but missed in the thick timber. He now ran out into a bean field where he would run a hundred yards then walk in a clockwise circle until he would lay down. I then would try to get in range again only to have him do it all over again. We played that game 4 or 5 times. I finally said the heck with that and went back to the truck and waited him out. Took awhile but he finally expired.
Looking back, I think all the shot did was give him a severe concussion. There was no real damage to be seen anywhere from the shotgun blast. He just looked stoned standing there. Lesson learned, light bunny loads won't work on turkeys even at close range.
Photo taken after stunning him with the shotgun.....
Finally done.................
Every spring I wonder if the birds will be back for me to hunt as they don't stay on my property year round. The numbers were very low this year but I had a bird or two I could hunt. First time out, I open the door to the blind and was greeted by a couple hundred yellow jackets that had taken up residence in the blind.
I hunted elsewhere that day but nothing came to the calls. Later, a friend and I went and sealed up the blind and tossed a wasp fogger in. The carnage the next day was awesome! Lot's of dead yellow jackets!On to the hunt...............
About a week and a half ago, I grabbed the antique two row muzzleloader as it had been loaded for bunnies since January and I needed to empty it. Light loads but I figured if a bird came in, I'd get him very close for the shot. That was the first mistake
A tom was in the field when I drove in around 10:00 am but after watching him for awhile, he slipped into the timber. I parked the truck and set out two decoys, got the camera out of the bag and opened a couple blind windows. I hadn't even called when I looked out the window and here came two toms intent on whooping up on the jake decoy. This was going to be fast and easy!!! Wrong!!! At about 10 feet I touched off a round and the bird went down but stood back up. He stood there swaying from side to side and I really expected him to tip over at any time. When he started to walk away, I shot again and missed. He stopped so I took a pic, then he laid down, After about 15 minutes I put the sneak on him and attempted to grab his neck, unfortunately, all I got was a handful of feathers as he ran into the timber where I continued to give chase. Did I mention I hadn't brought my shooting bag with me? Sure didn't so I had no way to reload. Oddly enough, I had my Quillian longbow in the truck with a few Tusker tipped arrows. Hadn't shot it since last fall but it was now my only option.
I was ably to get in range of the stunned bird and get an arrow in him but it was not a great hit. A bit far back. He took off running to the other side of the timber so I went and drove to that side. spotted him again and tried a shot but missed in the thick timber. He now ran out into a bean field where he would run a hundred yards then walk in a clockwise circle until he would lay down. I then would try to get in range again only to have him do it all over again. We played that game 4 or 5 times.
I finally said the heck with that and went back to the truck and waited him out. Took awhile but he finally expired.Looking back, I think all the shot did was give him a severe concussion. There was no real damage to be seen anywhere from the shotgun blast. He just looked stoned standing there. Lesson learned, light bunny loads won't work on turkeys even at close range.
Photo taken after stunning him with the shotgun.....
Finally done.................
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