Our turkey season opened yesterday and after getting skunked on Saturday due to being locked out of the areas I had scouted in the pre-season I had high hopes for today! My honey hole area was open on the sign-in log and despite seeing 10 other hunters already checked into it I decided to go for it anyway and just try to get there first. 0500 found me parked on the side of the road ready to walk in and lo and behold I was the first car there! My hunting partner arrived shortly after and we grabbed our gear and headed into the woods.
After a little walk to warmup we were settled into the edge of a food plot bordering a little creek bottom that the deer and turkey like to use as a travel corridor. I decided to setup my Double Bull with our backs to the rising sun and put the hen and jake decoys out in the plot eight steps from the blind so approaching birds could see it from 30-40 yards away. After that all we had to do was wait on the woods to wake up and try to keep from nodding off.
Two weeks ago the gobblers were absolutely hammering on the roost and would continue to do so for 10-15 minutes after the initial fly down, they must be well into the laying/incubating phase because I have yet to hear a tom sound off in the morning since then. About an hour after shooting light we had two hens work into our setup from the far end of the plot, I was hoping they'd be dragging big boy along with them but it was not meant to be. They moseyed over to our end of the plot and proceeded to preen and feed right next to our decoys for the next 10 minutes. I couldn't hardly believe my luck of having some live "decoys" right in the middle of my setup and hoped to see more birds in tow but it didn't pan out.
They meandered off and we continued to wait, calling every 45 minutes or so just in case a bird was within earshot but out of sight. Around 0900 my buddy had to leave so he grabbed his gear and headed to the house but I decided to stick it out for a few more hours and I'm glad I did!
Around 1030 I found myself getting tired so I nocked an arrow, came to full draw and picked a spot on my jake to make sure my limb clearance was okay and stretch out my muscles. Not 30 seconds after letting down I heard a scratch and a cluck from the creek bottom off to my right. I froze on the spot and shifted my eyes over to see the silhouette of a turkey in the saplings about 15 yards away. My first thought was "Crap, that bird just saw me let down and the jig is up before it could even begin!" To my surprise he took a couple of seconds to survey the scene and then came right into the setup, a few seconds later another bird came into view from the bottom and followed in trace of the first.
At this point my heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest as the two toms proceeded to take turns pounding the living daylights out of the jake! One bird was noticeably more mature than the other so I decided to make him my focus for the first available shot. I was fortunate to already be in shooting position after the precheck, but I just couldn't get an opportunity where both birds were facing away from me. After a few minutes of kicking and bumping my bird was quartering away looking into the woods and my instincts said "Now!"
As I passed half-draw I heard a loud "putt" and I knew the jig was up. In my excitement I "tuned out" the other bird for a moment, but sure enough he was staring me down at the moment of truth. I came to anchor but they were already halfway to the creek and I didn't have a shot. I'd never practiced with the shoot through mesh before so I didn't have it up for this hunt. When I got back to the house I went out back to give it a trial run and could hardly believe it when I put the first arrow within an inch of my spot from 12 yards. I guess I'll chalk this one up to another lesson learned and you can bet that next time I'll be using that stinking mesh!
After a little walk to warmup we were settled into the edge of a food plot bordering a little creek bottom that the deer and turkey like to use as a travel corridor. I decided to setup my Double Bull with our backs to the rising sun and put the hen and jake decoys out in the plot eight steps from the blind so approaching birds could see it from 30-40 yards away. After that all we had to do was wait on the woods to wake up and try to keep from nodding off.
Two weeks ago the gobblers were absolutely hammering on the roost and would continue to do so for 10-15 minutes after the initial fly down, they must be well into the laying/incubating phase because I have yet to hear a tom sound off in the morning since then. About an hour after shooting light we had two hens work into our setup from the far end of the plot, I was hoping they'd be dragging big boy along with them but it was not meant to be. They moseyed over to our end of the plot and proceeded to preen and feed right next to our decoys for the next 10 minutes. I couldn't hardly believe my luck of having some live "decoys" right in the middle of my setup and hoped to see more birds in tow but it didn't pan out.
They meandered off and we continued to wait, calling every 45 minutes or so just in case a bird was within earshot but out of sight. Around 0900 my buddy had to leave so he grabbed his gear and headed to the house but I decided to stick it out for a few more hours and I'm glad I did!
Around 1030 I found myself getting tired so I nocked an arrow, came to full draw and picked a spot on my jake to make sure my limb clearance was okay and stretch out my muscles. Not 30 seconds after letting down I heard a scratch and a cluck from the creek bottom off to my right. I froze on the spot and shifted my eyes over to see the silhouette of a turkey in the saplings about 15 yards away. My first thought was "Crap, that bird just saw me let down and the jig is up before it could even begin!" To my surprise he took a couple of seconds to survey the scene and then came right into the setup, a few seconds later another bird came into view from the bottom and followed in trace of the first.
At this point my heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest as the two toms proceeded to take turns pounding the living daylights out of the jake! One bird was noticeably more mature than the other so I decided to make him my focus for the first available shot. I was fortunate to already be in shooting position after the precheck, but I just couldn't get an opportunity where both birds were facing away from me. After a few minutes of kicking and bumping my bird was quartering away looking into the woods and my instincts said "Now!"
As I passed half-draw I heard a loud "putt" and I knew the jig was up. In my excitement I "tuned out" the other bird for a moment, but sure enough he was staring me down at the moment of truth. I came to anchor but they were already halfway to the creek and I didn't have a shot. I'd never practiced with the shoot through mesh before so I didn't have it up for this hunt. When I got back to the house I went out back to give it a trial run and could hardly believe it when I put the first arrow within an inch of my spot from 12 yards. I guess I'll chalk this one up to another lesson learned and you can bet that next time I'll be using that stinking mesh!
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