isu22andy
Active Member
Turkey season started off for me and I was like was like a kid on Christmas Eve I couldnt sleep I was so excited. Myself and Missionman and a few other clowns on here have been scouting all the week before. Missionman watched the birds fly to the roost the night before so we grabbed a camera thinking we would film a bow kill... Well as 4:30 turned to 5:30 into 6 into light we soon realized the gobblers we roosted were all hens. Disappointed to say the least we packed up and moved on.
After numerous other attempts to use a bow we ran into more snags, birds hanging up, calling in jakes, calling them into 40 yards just for them to turn around and high tail it out of there. Im willing to say I had probably 10+ sits with the old stick and string until I couldnt take it anymore. Me and Missionman started to go our separate ways due to work schedules and lugging around the camera gear got to be a pain. My hopes and dreams of arrowing a bird were in the dumps and I was out for bitter sweet revenge. With a wild look in my eye 4th season rolled around and I dusted off the ol Benelli for a meeting with Mr. Gobbler. After numerous laps around the sections I have permission to hunt (Along with 15 others it seems like ) I finally spotted a strutting Tom and watched him roost into the tree for the next morning. Low and behold I was so excited I had to go tell Missionman and of course missionman happened to be having a campfire fiesta that night so after consuming numerous Blue Yummys and people doubting my ability to get up after consuming blue yummys past my bedtime the 4:15 alarm call was pounding in my head.
Dressed in my camo that now reaked like campfire smoke (Yes I slept in it and had to clean the sheets the following day) I jumped out of bed hit the truck and got to the honey hole. Took off across the field with the avians on my back and just as I leaned against a tree that the top was broken off and in the field (Also conveniently located in a nettles patch i soon find as light breaks) . A lone gobble strikes, CLOSE, I mean 50 yards close than soon goes quiet as I hear the wings flap down to the ground. I finally lay eyes on the strutter and his two ladys probably 80 yards from my setup. I let out a sequence of 2 yelps on the slate and he turns like a mad hornet right at my setup. Dumped him at 25 yards with a 3.5 inch Longbeard XR (Freaking cannon) - Something Ive be'en trying to get with my bow in that range for multiple days. He was toast by 6 am. Double beard 10.5" beard, 7/8s spurs 19.9 pounds.
Anyway here are the pictures. Still wish I could of got one with my bow, I did end up going back out with the bow using the Mojo scoot and shoot. I had 2 encounters under 10 yards, the first one I got drawn back and creaped around the edge of the decoy and was settling the pin and he quickly went out of strut and took off like a bat out of hell. The next one I got drawn back, and I tried going over top the fan to get a shot at him - Turns out thats not the answer. I got within 40 yards of another using the same tactic but he got all spooky and ran off. Drove around for 2-3 more nights and never saw a strutter again (on land I can hunt that is ) so I guess it was my time to be done. Illusive critters. Maybe next year. Thanks for all who contribute to this site, I probably should more as long as Ive been registered now.
Also on my Team is MissionMan. I will post his pics of his bird in a minute and he is supposed to post the story. He shot a monster 10.5 inch beard, 23.6 lbs and 1.5 inch spurs!
Missionmans pictures
After numerous other attempts to use a bow we ran into more snags, birds hanging up, calling in jakes, calling them into 40 yards just for them to turn around and high tail it out of there. Im willing to say I had probably 10+ sits with the old stick and string until I couldnt take it anymore. Me and Missionman started to go our separate ways due to work schedules and lugging around the camera gear got to be a pain. My hopes and dreams of arrowing a bird were in the dumps and I was out for bitter sweet revenge. With a wild look in my eye 4th season rolled around and I dusted off the ol Benelli for a meeting with Mr. Gobbler. After numerous laps around the sections I have permission to hunt (Along with 15 others it seems like ) I finally spotted a strutting Tom and watched him roost into the tree for the next morning. Low and behold I was so excited I had to go tell Missionman and of course missionman happened to be having a campfire fiesta that night so after consuming numerous Blue Yummys and people doubting my ability to get up after consuming blue yummys past my bedtime the 4:15 alarm call was pounding in my head.
Dressed in my camo that now reaked like campfire smoke (Yes I slept in it and had to clean the sheets the following day) I jumped out of bed hit the truck and got to the honey hole. Took off across the field with the avians on my back and just as I leaned against a tree that the top was broken off and in the field (Also conveniently located in a nettles patch i soon find as light breaks) . A lone gobble strikes, CLOSE, I mean 50 yards close than soon goes quiet as I hear the wings flap down to the ground. I finally lay eyes on the strutter and his two ladys probably 80 yards from my setup. I let out a sequence of 2 yelps on the slate and he turns like a mad hornet right at my setup. Dumped him at 25 yards with a 3.5 inch Longbeard XR (Freaking cannon) - Something Ive be'en trying to get with my bow in that range for multiple days. He was toast by 6 am. Double beard 10.5" beard, 7/8s spurs 19.9 pounds.
Anyway here are the pictures. Still wish I could of got one with my bow, I did end up going back out with the bow using the Mojo scoot and shoot. I had 2 encounters under 10 yards, the first one I got drawn back and creaped around the edge of the decoy and was settling the pin and he quickly went out of strut and took off like a bat out of hell. The next one I got drawn back, and I tried going over top the fan to get a shot at him - Turns out thats not the answer. I got within 40 yards of another using the same tactic but he got all spooky and ran off. Drove around for 2-3 more nights and never saw a strutter again (on land I can hunt that is ) so I guess it was my time to be done. Illusive critters. Maybe next year. Thanks for all who contribute to this site, I probably should more as long as Ive been registered now.
Also on my Team is MissionMan. I will post his pics of his bird in a minute and he is supposed to post the story. He shot a monster 10.5 inch beard, 23.6 lbs and 1.5 inch spurs!
Missionmans pictures
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