Post by jnrbronc on May 1, 2007 23:03:38 GMT -5
I started turkey hunting in 1988. Iowa has a spring and fall season. I shot a fall jake in '88, a spring jake in '89 and another fall jake later that year. About this time, life got busy for me. I got married, bought a farm (farmed evening and weekends around my day job) and shortly there after, found myself back in graduate school. After getting my masters as a non-traditional student (read older), it hit me that I was missing something very important in my life: HUNTING! So for the last 3 years, I've been trying to make up for lost time.
Last spring I decided my next turkey HAD to be with a bow. I had my chances and choked way to many times.
This year work has been crazy, both with travel and a work load that won't let me take any time off. The afternoon of Saturday, April 21 was the first time I was able to get out and that was after a 6 hour drive home from Indianapolis that morning. I had a pretty uneventful afternoon and decided to leave before it got dark. On the way back to the car, I spotted a Tom in strut. I quickly ducked down so I wouldn't spook him. I watched him and his entourage walk across a cow pasture, flush and fly over a pond to roost in the trees on the far side. I waited until it got dark so I wouldn't spook them, then went back out Sunday morning. After flying down, the Tom decide to strut a little for my hen decoy, but he didn't come any closer than 56 paces, well outside of what I consider my bow range. I stuck around awhile hoping that something else might show, but when the wind blew the Matrix blind off of me, I bagged it.
The week at work dragged by. I thought alot about the Tom's hesistancy to come in to my hen decoy. I figured I needed to spice things up a little with some color. We used to raise Bronze turkeys and they would attack anything blue or red. One thing that really set them off was a Kingsford charcoal bag: it won the lotto with it's white, blue and red. They would stomp on an empty bag for hours. So off I went in search of a colorful decoy. I found a cheap ($13) jake decoy at a local sporting goods store. I had high hopes for Saturday morning.
I decided to try a property I have never turkey hunted before. Actually, I think I have only been on the property six times total. There is a finger of a hay field that divides two heavily wooded draws. I figured if I got down in that finger, I should potentially have birds roosted in front and behind me. I was all set up and in the Matrix at 5:15 am. At 5:20, the gobblers started sounding off and I was surrounded. I didn't hear any birds fly down, but the gobblers were gobbling when they hit the ground. Unfortunately, it sounded like they were all headed away from me. I didn't call very much, figuring that I would call later after they left the hens. Calling about every half hour, I was answered at about 8:45. We talked back and forth and it sounded like he was coming in. I saw him come into the hay field, but I don't think he saw the decoys. I put down the slate and striker so I could pick up my bow and started calling with the diaphragm call. A couple of yelps and he was on a rope. Just before he reached the jake decoy, he pulled up to strut. I was getting kind of jacked and rushed the shot. Everything worked out in the end, though.
4/28/07
23 lbs
10.5 inch beard
13/16 inch spurs
View of the set up from the blind:
Harvest photo:
I am leaning towards buying a second license which will be good for bow or gun. I'm not sure which I will take, maybe both.
Last spring I decided my next turkey HAD to be with a bow. I had my chances and choked way to many times.
This year work has been crazy, both with travel and a work load that won't let me take any time off. The afternoon of Saturday, April 21 was the first time I was able to get out and that was after a 6 hour drive home from Indianapolis that morning. I had a pretty uneventful afternoon and decided to leave before it got dark. On the way back to the car, I spotted a Tom in strut. I quickly ducked down so I wouldn't spook him. I watched him and his entourage walk across a cow pasture, flush and fly over a pond to roost in the trees on the far side. I waited until it got dark so I wouldn't spook them, then went back out Sunday morning. After flying down, the Tom decide to strut a little for my hen decoy, but he didn't come any closer than 56 paces, well outside of what I consider my bow range. I stuck around awhile hoping that something else might show, but when the wind blew the Matrix blind off of me, I bagged it.
The week at work dragged by. I thought alot about the Tom's hesistancy to come in to my hen decoy. I figured I needed to spice things up a little with some color. We used to raise Bronze turkeys and they would attack anything blue or red. One thing that really set them off was a Kingsford charcoal bag: it won the lotto with it's white, blue and red. They would stomp on an empty bag for hours. So off I went in search of a colorful decoy. I found a cheap ($13) jake decoy at a local sporting goods store. I had high hopes for Saturday morning.
I decided to try a property I have never turkey hunted before. Actually, I think I have only been on the property six times total. There is a finger of a hay field that divides two heavily wooded draws. I figured if I got down in that finger, I should potentially have birds roosted in front and behind me. I was all set up and in the Matrix at 5:15 am. At 5:20, the gobblers started sounding off and I was surrounded. I didn't hear any birds fly down, but the gobblers were gobbling when they hit the ground. Unfortunately, it sounded like they were all headed away from me. I didn't call very much, figuring that I would call later after they left the hens. Calling about every half hour, I was answered at about 8:45. We talked back and forth and it sounded like he was coming in. I saw him come into the hay field, but I don't think he saw the decoys. I put down the slate and striker so I could pick up my bow and started calling with the diaphragm call. A couple of yelps and he was on a rope. Just before he reached the jake decoy, he pulled up to strut. I was getting kind of jacked and rushed the shot. Everything worked out in the end, though.
4/28/07
23 lbs
10.5 inch beard
13/16 inch spurs
View of the set up from the blind:
Harvest photo:
I am leaning towards buying a second license which will be good for bow or gun. I'm not sure which I will take, maybe both.
