2020 Spring Turkey

[CLPDB]

What a great and memorable morning.  My 14 yr old son and I had been hunting for about a week.  My season started Wednesday.  We've seen and heard birds but nothing to shoot at until this morning.  Got down to land and on the way to the hunting area we must of heard 10 or more Gobbles around us.  At least 5 coming from area where we sit.  I sat down about 75 yds from where I thought they were roosting.  I could hear them get out of the trees.  I made one call and that's all it took.  I had 4 Toms walk 15 yds from me.  I shot mine and other 3 ran about 25 yds away.  My son was about 100 yds from me.  He started calling and it took them about an hour to get over to him.  They finally came out in the opening and my son made a great 43yd shot and dropped the bird.  It was my first bird ever and his second bird in 3 yrs.  What an addicting sport!!

[Borch]

7 hours ago, CLPDB said:

What a great and memorable morning.  My 14 yr old son and I had been hunting for about a week.  My season started Wednesday.  We've seen and heard birds but nothing to shoot at until this morning.  Got down to land and on the way to the hunting area we must of heard 10 or more Gobbles around us.  At least 5 coming from area where we sit.  I sat down about 75 yds from where I thought they were roosting.  I could hear them get out of the trees.  I made one call and that's all it took.  I had 4 Toms walk 15 yds from me.  I shot mine and other 3 ran about 25 yds away.  My son was about 100 yds from me.  He started calling and it took them about an hour to get over to him.  They finally came out in the opening and my son made a great 43yd shot and dropped the bird.  It was my first bird ever and his second bird in 3 yrs.  What an addicting sport!!

Congrats to you both.    and welcome to the addiction.   

[DonBo]

Archerysniper filled his South Dakota tag yesterday with this beautiful Merriam's.  I'm still hopeful as we had at least a dozen gobbling all around us last night at fly up. Had one close this morning, but not quite close enough.

[Borch]

Love those merriam and the places you hunt them in.  Congrats Archerysniper.  Good luck Don.

[ANYFISH2]

DonBo, where is your beautiful bird?

Man I would love to hunt those Merriam's someday.  If you ever need an out of shape, chubby guy to hunt with, I know a guy!

[gimruis]

That Merriam's turkey is an astonishing bird.

[DonBo]

On 4/27/2020 at 7:59 AM, ANYFISH2 said:

DonBo, where is your beautiful bird?

 

Ask and you shall receive.

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by DonBo

[ANYFISH2]

Congrats DonBo.

[Wanderer]

Great birds guys!  Every time you guys post those hunts I get the “miss you” feeling for the Black Hills.

[Borch]

I got to get back out there.  Always loved chasing those Black Hills birds.

[Borch]

Got a nice Tom last night as they were working there way to roost.   Had one gobble about an hour before sunset close.  Watched him and at least one more strut down the ridge.  About 10 minutes before sunset heard a couple birds fly up close by and started to pack up for the long walk back down a swampy/boggy trail.  Looked up and saw one 35 yards away that must have popped up over the edge of the ridge.  He got nervous and started quickly walking towards the edge.  I was able to quickly get my gun picked up and pointed in the right direction, getting a shot just before he dropped out of sight. He went down in a heap 45 yards away.  Didn't have a good option for taking pictures on my own and in a hurry.  But here is what I have.

 

Better bird than I thought once I looked him over closer when I got home.  He had a 9" beard, sharp, hooked 1 1/8" spurs and weighed 24.6 lbs.

[ANYFISH2]

Very nice bird Borch, congrats.

[Wanderer]

Good for you Borch!

 

I’ve just been out the past two afternoons.  Had a Tom fly up about 70 yards away from me a half hour before the end of legal shooting.  I called just enough to get him to look the way of my decoy but he wasn’t budging.  He proceeded to make himself comfortable for the evening.  Not a peep out of him.

 

Tonight I didn’t see anything until coming back home.  Went underneath a hen on the roost and heard a Tom gobble to the north and one to the south of her.  Might give the spot a try in the morning.  I was surprised she stayed put.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Wanderer

[Borch]

Yeah its weird how sometimes they fly up early and other times they are on the ground when it dang dark. 

 

Good luck tomorrow!

[DonBo]

Great bird Borch, love those sharp hooks.

[ANYFISH2]

Had my first ever "miss" with archery equipment this morning.

I do believe the tom had me all sorts of feverish!

 

Had 3 Tom's gobble their way in from the SE this morning, no hens and all cooperating well.  First Tom to see the hen decoy, came running in.  I drew back and waited for him to run into the pin, then he hits the breaks hard about 3yrds from the decay(13 from me), turns and runs back the way he came.  I let my draw down. Now looking that direction I can see all three half strutting but look very nervous?  I know he didn't see me.

Then seconds later I hear thunderous drumming to my right, opposite of the 3 tom.  I freeze to see a huge red head and long beard enter my window of view.  Huge bird, absolutely huge!  He turns and walks back to my right out of sight. Drumming to beat the band.

The 3 other Tom's attempt to approach the decoy a couple more times but end up backing off and make wide birth of the decoy and me about 30yds out and cross Infront of me through the woods.  All is silent for about 2-3 mins, I can see the other Tom's a ways a way just hang about.  The big bird I have no idea where he is.  I decide I will soft call a few times to see if I can draw one of the 3 back in.  As soon as I do, the drumming begins in earnest.  I look out the very slightly unzipped window to see this monster of a bird strutting and drumming his way toward the decoy.  He is steadily coming, I know he committed now.  He going to come very close to the blind.  I draw back when he is about 10 yards from me knowing he can see my movement.  I swing to where I believe he will enter my window, I wait(like 3 secs).  Now is when I get all worked up, my blind moves slightly, the bird has literally strutted against my blind.  His bone white head enters the window view like a foot and away.  Never been so close to a live wild turkey.  He continues to strut toward the decoy, I now realise I need to settle on the bird, as I do this I move slightly, he quickly breaks strut and turns going away.  Now I believe I panic a bit, thinking I spooked him, so I settle the pin at the base of the tail feathers and release being at 8 yrds the arrows flight is high and all I have to show for it is about 10 guard feathers.

 

absolute depression sets in, I attempt to call and bring him back, he did give me one more shot opportunity at about 15yrds but I couldn't get re knocked quick enough.

After looking for an hour, and not finding a single drop of blood much less another feather, I am confident it was essentially a clean(minus a few feathers) miss.  However, this was a painful one,. Without knowing the weight this was by far the biggest, most mature bird I have had an opportunity to see. Gosh Darn it!

 

Until next time guess.  Thanks for letting me release to you all.

[Borch]

They will get you worked up.   It's what makes it so much fun.  Even if we miss, (been there).

[Barbelboy]

Well Anyfish, that sounds like a hunt you'll relive in your mind thousands of times.

I wish I could say i haven't been there this year..........twice. I love archery hunting for turkeys, I strongly dislike archery hunting for turkeys some days.

The first miss of the year was a mid morning hunt. I had sat up the blind about 10:30 AM. At about 11, a bird gobbled after a calling sequence. Hey, hey, i'm in business. Call again, he's coming. Sweet. Call 2 minutes later, holy cow, he's close now. Oh, there he is. He sees decoys, hits strut. I call, he breaks strut and starts running in. Holy cow, gotta get drawn. Wind gust, blind moves. He stops. Poop. I softly call. He then slowly worked in at about 20 yards. He was nervous about the blind, never stopped walking at about 20 yards. I clucked, he stopped I shot/he stepped same second, missed his head by 1" ( I use Magnus broadheads, either clean miss or dead bird) barely touching his back. Off he runs. Sigh...........man that was close

#2 (and this one is much worse)

Perfect set up. 4 toms roosted 100 yards away. They hit the ground. All 4 work directly towards my set up. Never really running, but alternating strutting and doing that fat wobble walk they do. OH MY GOSH, this is gonna happen. How cool. They work into my decoys 10 yards away and proceed to start beating up my Jake. I draw. Aim.........and miss. I think i had a mini seizure or something. My brother turns to me "what happened"? I nock another arrow, they are roughly 30 yards away now. Draw, Aim, Miss again just over one's head. At this point my brother and I are laughing. I'm not even mad, just can't believe it happened. 

 

I think what annoys me the most about it is not completing the competency cycle. Meaning I accomplished everything up to closing the deal, knowing darn well that a shot at less than 10 yards should be the simplest thing in the world. But i'm grateful that i can be outdoors experiencing such awesome things. We all  think about the turkeys we miss for a long  time. 

 

Borch is right. They'll get you worked up. Another time i had 3 toms come in. As they beat up my jake decoy I hit one in the neck with the cutter broadhead. That turkey thought it was the decoy and went insane attacking it. Leading me to believe i missed. So i knocked an arrow with a regular broad head. As the turkey moved around I shot and put the broadhead into one of the fiberglass support poles of my blind. As in the arrow was stuck in it. What the? Now the turkeys know something else is up and start walking off, the one I hit limping with head down. SO i nocked another arrow and got him again. Long story short, he was hit and dead on his feet, just so angry at the Jake decoy that his adrenaline kept him going for awhile. 

 

I think next year i'm gonna use a gun. Give myself a break from this bow hunting drama........yeah right. 

 

[DonBo]

1 hour ago, Barbelboy said:

 

I love archery hunting for turkeys, I strongly dislike archery hunting for turkeys some days.

 

 

This pretty much sums it up perfectly.  Well said.

 

You actually stuck an arrow into a fiberglass pole?  I just blew coffee all over my monitor. 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by DonBo

[gimruis]

I honestly don't know anyone who has harvested a turkey with a traditional compound bow.  I have quite a few friends and relatives to deer hunt with a compound bow in the fall and they won't attempt to hunt turkeys in the spring with their bow because they know how difficult it is.

[DonBo]

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I honestly don't know anyone who has harvested a turkey with a traditional compound bow.  I have quite a few friends and relatives to deer hunt with a compound bow in the fall and they won't attempt to hunt turkeys in the spring with their bow because they know how difficult it is.

 

My first year was way back.  Hunted Missouri before we even had a season here.  A local hills redneck told me, in a deep southern accent:  "Hell boy, them thang's fer deer."  He may have been right, but it can be done and it's a ton of fun when it all comes together. (which honestly rarely happens)

Edited May 4, 2020 by DonBo

[Wanderer]

Yes, props to those that can consistently get it done with a bow!  That’s been one of my goals and so far unfulfilled.  I’ve shot many with my shotgun though.

 

I wanted to use my bow this year but knew I wasn’t shooting well enough - and don’t have the time to go every weekend anyway.  I’m still carrying my Matthews LX I used to literally shoot apples with from the roof of my house.  I had it restrung after I hit and lost the 1 Turkey I’ve shot with it.  My groups did tighten up but I’m still not spending enough time with it to be tuned where I should be.  It’s old; I’m getting old.

 

I pulled back someone else’s Matthews Vertix a couple weeks ago.  I almost went to the shop to buy one over the weekend.  Start over fresh and be committed to it.  The commitment is the hard part and what I absolutely love about archery hunting.

[DonBo]

6 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

I pulled back someone else’s Matthews Vertix a couple weeks ago.  I almost went to the shop to buy one over the weekend.  

 

Seriously, go shoot some of the new bows.  They are so much better than those made even 5 years ago.  Smoother, quieter, faster, more forgiving than ever.

[Wanderer]

1 hour ago, DonBo said:

 

Seriously, go shoot some of the new bows.  They are so much better than those made even 5 years ago.  Smoother, quieter, faster, more forgiving than ever.

I’ve seriously been avoiding that!   I didn’t want to drop the $1,500 or more to start over!  But I’ve gotten my money’s worth and then some from my old rig.  Getting to be time to freshen up if I’m going to continue with the sport - which I am!!!

[DonBo]

Wanderer:  I bought mine used, just one year old for about half the price of new.  Couldn't have been happier.  Lots of quality used bows out there as long as you know what you need for draw length and weight.

[Barbelboy]

Sorry you had to clean up your monitor, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. But yup you read that correctly. right into the fiberglass pole of the blind with a rage broad head. arrow was stuck halfway through the pole. literally if you told me you'd pay my mortgage off if I did it again i couldn't pull it off. Lets just say in the heat of the moment with birds in front of you, thinking you've missed and the second arrow goes into the darn blind pole............it makes things even more confusing. Luckily i had hit him with the first arrow and the 3rd anchored him at 20 yards. Which i had to stand up and shift the blind to get the window turned so i could shoot the 3rd arrow. It was kind of a goat rodeo, mixed with hot garbage in a dumpster fire. But somehow i pulled it off. . 

I've shot 7 turkeys with my bow now, think i need a break and use the good ol fashioned 12 gauge. 

I say that, but the lure of hunting all season will probably get me again. though the new rules of hunting statewide do sweeten that pot. 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Barbelboy

[Barbelboy]

I agree, the new bows are so nice to shoot. and trailing or losing turkeys with traditional broad heads is why i use the cutter heads. its a clean hit/miss and the target is not smaller than a turkeys vitals in their body. and i can accurately shoot out to 30 yards with it easily. Yes, get a 1-2 yr old model for MUCH cheaper. Once you upgrade you'll wonder why you waited. 

[Wanderer]

I’ll start keeping an eye out and see what shows up.  Sometimes though it’s the impulse buy that’s the tipping point.  Think about the upgrade for a year or more then have a lackluster experience with your old gear and say screw it, I’m going to get that new one NOW!   

 

Thats the part of my head that still thinks I’m in my 20’s. 

[rundrave]

On 5/4/2020 at 8:28 AM, gimruis said:

I have quite a few friends and relatives to deer hunt with a compound bow in the fall and they won't attempt to hunt turkeys in the spring with their bow because they know how difficult it is.

 

Many of us that pursue any wild game dont do it because its easy. We do it because we embrace the challenge. Just like I can pay $$$ and shoot birds with a guide on private land. I can also try to hunt birds on public because of the challenge it brings. Doing it with a bow just makes the bird even more of a trophy when it all comes together and so much more rewarding. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by rundrave

[gimruis]

19 hours ago, rundrave said:

 

Many of us that pursue any wild game dont do it because its easy. We do it because we embrace the challenge. Just like I can pay $$$ and shoot birds with a guide on private land. I can also try to hunt birds on public because of the challenge it brings. Doing it with a bow just makes the bird even more of a trophy when it all comes together and so much more rewarding. 

 

That's fair.  I wasn't trying to tell people not to do it.  I was simply stating that I did not know anyone who filled their turkey tag with a bow and several of my relatives do in fact bow hunt for deer, but they find it so hard for turkeys that they think its futile.  Maybe its a lack of practice?  Obviously using a compound bow requires dedication and a lot of frequent practice.  Personally, I'm looking for every advantage that I can find and use.  Its hard enough for me as it is.