Full Quiver
New Member
With an extended weekend planned, I was not real excited about the weather forecast. My days off during the school year are few and far between and I always try to get the most out of them.
Early Friday morning turned out to be pretty nice, that is until the rain started. About 7:45 Mr. Boss Gobbler came out. This was one big bird! I’m not sure what was wrong, but he didn’t pay any attention to my decoys. The rest of the morning was spent dodging raindrops inside my blind and watching some hens feed in the field. Finally, about 11:30, with the rain finally stopped, I decided to call it a morning.
Before I left I wanted to move my blind. I thought I was safe by staking it down. That afternoon the wind really came up and figured I better go check on my blind. When I drove up to the field I got that sinking feeling. I could tell my blind was upside down and the field ege. Hustling down there I found that the wind had pulled the stakes out and one of the ceiling rods was broken. Didn’t have a lot of hope for the rest of the weekend. I knew I couldn’t hunt that evening, so I just left my blind lying on the ground and figured I would deal with it in the morning.
When I got up Saturday morning I could hear that the wind was still howling. Walking out of the house made me almost walk back inside. The temp had dropped about 20 degrees and with a broken blind sitting in the field, I didn’t have real high hopes. Stuggled with my blind to set it up in the wind and ended up wedging the broken rod against the hub to keep the roof up. Absolutely no gobbling at all in the morning. At 6:30 Mr. Boss Gobbler came out again. Again, he didn’t pay any attention to the decoys. Perhaps them spinning around their stakes wasn't too appealing to him. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif About this time the rain started and with the wind blowing it in the front of the blind and all over me and everything inside I was becoming miserable. I think it may have even been snowing! At 7:00 I spotted some more turkeys coming down the hill in the field. I could see 5 hens and a gobbler, and they all were working my way. One hen broke off, with the gobbler in tow, and went through a small finger of timber in the field. I knew they would be too far for a shot where they would come out. The other hens came through a small grassy opening and started coming into the decoys. (They must have liked the spinning decoys /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif) This helped to pull the gobbler a little closer. I ranged him and he was still a little far away. I decided I would try a head/neck shot. Would either be a hit or a clean miss. Got another good range on him, drew the bow, and waited for him to come to a stop. He helped me out by turning almost straight away from me, stood still for a second and I released the arrow. I watched the arrow fly and smack home! He dropped right in his tracks and did the ole’ bicycle pedal! Waited for all the other birds to clear out of the field and went out a scooped him up. The Jackhammer did its work! I was back at the house eating waffles and bacon by 8:00, and very glad to have my second bow bird down and to be out of that weather.
Not my best harvest pic, it was still raining and blowing when I got back and I couldn’t get my wife to come out of the garage. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif
Not as big as my first, but an awesome season!!!
18 lbs
5 1/4” beard
3/8” spurs
Early Friday morning turned out to be pretty nice, that is until the rain started. About 7:45 Mr. Boss Gobbler came out. This was one big bird! I’m not sure what was wrong, but he didn’t pay any attention to my decoys. The rest of the morning was spent dodging raindrops inside my blind and watching some hens feed in the field. Finally, about 11:30, with the rain finally stopped, I decided to call it a morning.
Before I left I wanted to move my blind. I thought I was safe by staking it down. That afternoon the wind really came up and figured I better go check on my blind. When I drove up to the field I got that sinking feeling. I could tell my blind was upside down and the field ege. Hustling down there I found that the wind had pulled the stakes out and one of the ceiling rods was broken. Didn’t have a lot of hope for the rest of the weekend. I knew I couldn’t hunt that evening, so I just left my blind lying on the ground and figured I would deal with it in the morning.
When I got up Saturday morning I could hear that the wind was still howling. Walking out of the house made me almost walk back inside. The temp had dropped about 20 degrees and with a broken blind sitting in the field, I didn’t have real high hopes. Stuggled with my blind to set it up in the wind and ended up wedging the broken rod against the hub to keep the roof up. Absolutely no gobbling at all in the morning. At 6:30 Mr. Boss Gobbler came out again. Again, he didn’t pay any attention to the decoys. Perhaps them spinning around their stakes wasn't too appealing to him. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif About this time the rain started and with the wind blowing it in the front of the blind and all over me and everything inside I was becoming miserable. I think it may have even been snowing! At 7:00 I spotted some more turkeys coming down the hill in the field. I could see 5 hens and a gobbler, and they all were working my way. One hen broke off, with the gobbler in tow, and went through a small finger of timber in the field. I knew they would be too far for a shot where they would come out. The other hens came through a small grassy opening and started coming into the decoys. (They must have liked the spinning decoys /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif) This helped to pull the gobbler a little closer. I ranged him and he was still a little far away. I decided I would try a head/neck shot. Would either be a hit or a clean miss. Got another good range on him, drew the bow, and waited for him to come to a stop. He helped me out by turning almost straight away from me, stood still for a second and I released the arrow. I watched the arrow fly and smack home! He dropped right in his tracks and did the ole’ bicycle pedal! Waited for all the other birds to clear out of the field and went out a scooped him up. The Jackhammer did its work! I was back at the house eating waffles and bacon by 8:00, and very glad to have my second bow bird down and to be out of that weather.
Not my best harvest pic, it was still raining and blowing when I got back and I couldn’t get my wife to come out of the garage. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif
Not as big as my first, but an awesome season!!!
18 lbs
5 1/4” beard
3/8” spurs
