Hey Guys,
Lisa (my gal of 14 years), shot her first archery turkey on Saturday.
It was a really nice morning, if you could discount the mosquitoes. Beautiful sunrise, pleasant breeze, the fragrance of the moldy smelling blind (guess it was damp when I last put it away...oops).
We heard birds all morning, but only saw hens. About 10:00 I realized my blood gravy level was dangerously low, so we went into town for a late breakfast. It was close, but after we ate I was infused with energy, vitality and pork fat.
As we walked back in to the blind, I thought I heard a gobble. I responded with a terminally lonely hen call and was rewarded with a double, and then a triple gobble before the echo of my yelps faded. We sprinted to the blind.
We arrived at the blind after a brief dash. She climbed in and got her bow ready as I fought to get my nerves (and the huge meal I just ate) under control. We were both in the blind only seconds when the tom came out into the field at full strut. I did my best to sound alone and needy, with the turkey call of course.
He traveled the 100 yards in what seemed like fractions of a second, and stood facing the decoy spitting and drumming.
Lisa, drew, anchored and loosed the arrow at 15 yards. It was a near complete pass through. When the bird leapt into the air, the arrow fell free and the turkey splatted to the ground 30 yards or so away.
The bird weighed 23lbs, had a 10 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. A pretty good bird for our part of the country.
The photo was taken with my phone, so is poor quality. I will post others when we get them out of the camera.
OkKeith
(http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/OkKeith/lisaturkey-1.jpg)
:clapper: :clapper:
A big congratulation's!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Awsome!! We hope to get a couple this weekend!
WELL DONE LISA! Congrats! Thats a great bird! :clapper: :clapper:
Congratulations Lisa (and your magnificent caller and guide)! The smile says it all, and beautifully!
Killdeer :clapper:
Well done Lisa! You even let the gravy scarfing beau in on the hunt, very generous.
Awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing, and i will add my congratulations!
Well told OK!
Well done Lisa!!
Congratulations!!!!!!
congrats :thumbsup: :clapper:
good times for sure... :clapper: :clapper:
Way to go. Congrats to you both.
:notworthy:
wow your good
Outstanding!! :thumbsup: and Congratulations!! :clapper: :clapper:
Way to go Lisa!! (and your caller!) :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
:clapper: Congrats Lisa.
Right On!!! :thumbsup:
Cool story! You all done good!
Very cool Lisa (and your caller) :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
very nice :clapper:
:thumbsup:
:thumbsup:
way to go girl!!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :clapper:
Excellent!
Good job! That's a nice bird!
suuuuuuuuuuper - suppppppppper.
Check the spelling ok
Jer Bear
Congrats!!!
What was her setup? Bow, arrow, BH, etc.?
Mike
Cool. Congrats.
Congrats. Nice bird.
Well done.
Thanks for all the kind words (for me as well).
She has a short draw length so mostly shoots youth bows.
She was shooting a Browning youth bow that was 40lbs. at her 24" draw length. She had her Gold Tip 3555s (cap dipped and fletched by her) with 3, 4 inch fletches, tipped with 100 grain 4 blade stingers.
The shot placement was between "fair" and "good" ( on a poor, fair, good and excellent scale). The bird was quartering slightly away. Her arrow entered high on the birds left drumstick and exited through the right wing butt.
During my standard after action necropsy (why is it I can mess around in animal guts all day, but have to use a coat hanger to get loose noodles out of the sink drain?) I saw that the 4 blade did good damage along the wound path, breaking leg bones the breast bone and wing bones, but never did any damage to the heart or lungs.
I think the bird was done in by shock and blood loss. We maybe should have waited for a full side on shot, but like most exciting hunting situations, everthing happened real fast.
Take home lesson? I think recovery on this bird would have been much more difficult with a standard 2 blade head. The 4 blade caused more soft tissue damage and resulted in a quicker end due to blood loss.
She's ready to go again! We hunt a two bird county, and she has resharpened her broadheads. We will be out there this weekend.
OkKeith
WOW! Nice one. Congratulations! :notworthy: :clapper:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: