- Joined
- Oct 12, 2018
- Messages
- 638
- Reaction score
- 532
I went out a couple days after the opener, promptly called in a couple Toms and 6 hens, and then also promptly missed one of the Toms. My hat has a drop down face screen sewn into it and it is meant to be tied behind your neck, but the birds came in fast so I didn't bother to tie it. This resulted in my string catching it when I released and the arrow shot wide right and was a clean miss. I'd shot with it tied many times, but hadn't ever tried without it tied. Lesson learned.
I finally went out again last Friday. I again got on a Tom right at daylight and called him in, but the set up was poor. I don't use a blind and depend on trees/cover to get drawn or the bird strutting around the decoy so I can draw when his tail fan blocks his view. There was little cover and the Tom just didn't strut. He came to about 5 yards from the decoy and then just stood there for about 30 seconds. He then decided something wasn't quite right and wandered off to my right. A right handed archer has little range to swing to the right for a shot and I ended up having to just let him walk away. A decent bird with around an 8" beard.
I could faintly hear some more birds gobbling and headed their way. After getting closer I could hear that there was a dominant Tom with some hens and 3 more Toms around them, harassing them a lot like satellite bulls do during the elk rut. One of the "satellite" Toms was being very vocal and I moved in closer to him. There was a lot of trees and cover to work with so I was able to get within about 100 yards from him, couldn't see him so judging only by sound. I found a great set up spot, a small clearing to put the decoy in the middle of and a nice comfy stump for me to sit on with good cover behind it. There was a thick/close together amount of trees in the direction of the Tom, so I'd be able to catch glimpses of him coming but still have cover to draw. My first yelps resulted in all of the Tom's answering. Mr. Vocal would gobble every time before I could get the third yelp completed after that. A few minutes later I caught movement in the thick trees and saw him coming. When he went behind the last good cover I drew back. He popped out into the opening, saw the decoy, and puffed up right away. He was maybe 15 yards from me so I settled my top pin on his vitals and gave the wrist release trigger a squeeze. My old back up Alpine bow (current bow is set up for 3d shooting) sent the Goldtip carbon arrow tipped with a 3 blade fixed original Muzzy with an adder point added behind it (to help slow the arrow and add a bit of shock) through the bird. He somersaulted and started flopping, game over.
It had registered in my brain briefly that it was a jake, but I'm not very picky when trying for one with a bow without a blind. He'll taste great after going through the smoker. He had about 5/8" spurs (dull ones) and ZERO beard. There was a bare patch where a beard normally is, got it torn off somehow...probably fightin. Hope everyone else's season is open and going well. One of these days I'm going to get a smoothbore to play with for these fun to hunt birds.
I finally went out again last Friday. I again got on a Tom right at daylight and called him in, but the set up was poor. I don't use a blind and depend on trees/cover to get drawn or the bird strutting around the decoy so I can draw when his tail fan blocks his view. There was little cover and the Tom just didn't strut. He came to about 5 yards from the decoy and then just stood there for about 30 seconds. He then decided something wasn't quite right and wandered off to my right. A right handed archer has little range to swing to the right for a shot and I ended up having to just let him walk away. A decent bird with around an 8" beard.
I could faintly hear some more birds gobbling and headed their way. After getting closer I could hear that there was a dominant Tom with some hens and 3 more Toms around them, harassing them a lot like satellite bulls do during the elk rut. One of the "satellite" Toms was being very vocal and I moved in closer to him. There was a lot of trees and cover to work with so I was able to get within about 100 yards from him, couldn't see him so judging only by sound. I found a great set up spot, a small clearing to put the decoy in the middle of and a nice comfy stump for me to sit on with good cover behind it. There was a thick/close together amount of trees in the direction of the Tom, so I'd be able to catch glimpses of him coming but still have cover to draw. My first yelps resulted in all of the Tom's answering. Mr. Vocal would gobble every time before I could get the third yelp completed after that. A few minutes later I caught movement in the thick trees and saw him coming. When he went behind the last good cover I drew back. He popped out into the opening, saw the decoy, and puffed up right away. He was maybe 15 yards from me so I settled my top pin on his vitals and gave the wrist release trigger a squeeze. My old back up Alpine bow (current bow is set up for 3d shooting) sent the Goldtip carbon arrow tipped with a 3 blade fixed original Muzzy with an adder point added behind it (to help slow the arrow and add a bit of shock) through the bird. He somersaulted and started flopping, game over.
It had registered in my brain briefly that it was a jake, but I'm not very picky when trying for one with a bow without a blind. He'll taste great after going through the smoker. He had about 5/8" spurs (dull ones) and ZERO beard. There was a bare patch where a beard normally is, got it torn off somehow...probably fightin. Hope everyone else's season is open and going well. One of these days I'm going to get a smoothbore to play with for these fun to hunt birds.