Got a chance to make another run out west and it did not disappoint early. Had to check on a timed protein feeder and decided to make it a couple days of turkey hunting as well to see if they had gotten any more responsive to calls. Heard a Tom gobbling on my walk into my favorite area and was starting to get excited. After a couple of yelps and purrs, I had a nice Tom to my left at 15 yards, 20 minutes into my first hunt. Unfortunately something boogered him up and he would not finish. I'm not sure if it was the decoys or maybe the 30-40 mph winds on my DB popup, but he was coming on a string and I could see a beard out of my silver dollar sized view hole. He just got out of their quick soon after.
So onto a couple hours later, I hear a faint gobble upwind of me in between gusts and try to call him. He responds and we're on. He must have been close because he's on the edge of the treeline before I know it and coming my way. After the earlier busting, I decided I wasn't going to move with him right in my front shooting window looking at the decoys with me behind them. I was going to wait until he got to me and put his fan to me. I had also determined I was going to be a little more aggressive if the bird would allow it. As he was coming in I had a hen enter my view from the right and I'm like great...another set of eyes to work around.
So Tommy comes right in to face up Fake Jake and the hen stays out just to the right of the dekes giving me the evil eye. I was able to get the video turned on but needed her to move on away or turnaround and do it quick. Luckily she did move on out of the window's view and you can see her in the background meandering off when I make my shot. Now Tommy is facing up Fake Jake and during this time he does not quit moving for very long. I let it go on for a few minutes but decided I need to take a shot when he allows one. I drew with his fan to me and waited for the right moment. He slips off to the tail side of the decoys and I go to settle my pin. I was just about to release and he moved up just a tad. I normally wouldn't shoot over my decoy but something just made me do it...lol. I'm guessing my subconscious told me to get it done and made me aim a little higher than normal to avoid the deke. Anyway, I spined the Tom but it was DRT with no tracking. Looking back I could have screwed that up. Little high and it would have been all feathers, little lower and maybe some deke..
Both would have provoked personal *** chewings by myself. 
Thankfully neither happened.
I will say that my dang Fitfort action camera spit teh bit on this bird. I had some great pre-shot reverse angle footage of the decoy interaction but the video stopped recording 5 secs before the shot while the audio kept going. Make no dang sense. I was ****** so I just shelved the whole action camera reverse angle footage for this one. Didn't want to jack with it after not getting the shot. On with the show.
Another 10" beard and a slight shade under 1-1/4" spurs. Beard was thinner than my last but I'll take it with the season we've had. Grim reapers and DSDs did their job that day. I'm done out west for the year as I can't get back out here before the season ends but I do have some local birds here calling my name. If not, I'm happy with 2 archery turkeys to add to the beard and spur pile this year. Can't say enough what good decoys do for a set up and upping success rates. DSDs are worth every penny.
Cool grab of the arrow impact. Look for the white fletchings..
1-2" high...
"Hit 'em high watch 'em die...Hit 'em low...watch 'em go"
Post shot celebration. Thought this was a good grab in all the green.
Solid spurs
Take it to the tree! Full moon hero shot..
Video...embedding desktop and mobile..
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvn9DN8GM0&t=31s"]2019 Tom Green Longbeard #2 - YouTube[/ame]
So onto a couple hours later, I hear a faint gobble upwind of me in between gusts and try to call him. He responds and we're on. He must have been close because he's on the edge of the treeline before I know it and coming my way. After the earlier busting, I decided I wasn't going to move with him right in my front shooting window looking at the decoys with me behind them. I was going to wait until he got to me and put his fan to me. I had also determined I was going to be a little more aggressive if the bird would allow it. As he was coming in I had a hen enter my view from the right and I'm like great...another set of eyes to work around.
So Tommy comes right in to face up Fake Jake and the hen stays out just to the right of the dekes giving me the evil eye. I was able to get the video turned on but needed her to move on away or turnaround and do it quick. Luckily she did move on out of the window's view and you can see her in the background meandering off when I make my shot. Now Tommy is facing up Fake Jake and during this time he does not quit moving for very long. I let it go on for a few minutes but decided I need to take a shot when he allows one. I drew with his fan to me and waited for the right moment. He slips off to the tail side of the decoys and I go to settle my pin. I was just about to release and he moved up just a tad. I normally wouldn't shoot over my decoy but something just made me do it...lol. I'm guessing my subconscious told me to get it done and made me aim a little higher than normal to avoid the deke. Anyway, I spined the Tom but it was DRT with no tracking. Looking back I could have screwed that up. Little high and it would have been all feathers, little lower and maybe some deke.. Both would have provoked personal *** chewings by myself. Thankfully neither happened. I will say that my dang Fitfort action camera spit teh bit on this bird. I had some great pre-shot reverse angle footage of the decoy interaction but the video stopped recording 5 secs before the shot while the audio kept going. Make no dang sense. I was ****** so I just shelved the whole action camera reverse angle footage for this one. Didn't want to jack with it after not getting the shot. On with the show.
Another 10" beard and a slight shade under 1-1/4" spurs. Beard was thinner than my last but I'll take it with the season we've had. Grim reapers and DSDs did their job that day. I'm done out west for the year as I can't get back out here before the season ends but I do have some local birds here calling my name. If not, I'm happy with 2 archery turkeys to add to the beard and spur pile this year. Can't say enough what good decoys do for a set up and upping success rates. DSDs are worth every penny.
Cool grab of the arrow impact. Look for the white fletchings..
1-2" high... "Hit 'em high watch 'em die...Hit 'em low...watch 'em go"
Post shot celebration. Thought this was a good grab in all the green.
Solid spurs
Take it to the tree! Full moon hero shot..
Video...embedding desktop and mobile..
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dvn9DN8GM0&t=31s"]2019 Tom Green Longbeard #2 - YouTube[/ame]
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