Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Justin Falon on April 30, 2013, 10:31:00 PM
-
Gobbler down just after sunrise this morning. Need someone to post my photo for me here.
[email protected] and I will send a photo your way.
-
I cant do pics but look forward to seeing them. Congrats!
-
Me too!
-
Send me a pic to [email protected] and I will see what I can do.
-
Ok. I have sent an email reply.
I will post a story tonight. I hope all enjoy!!!!!
-
Congratulations again Justin! Here's the pic you texted me but let's see more.
(http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb472/mwgtrad/1367416742.jpg)
-
Congrats on the bird:) Cant wait to here the story
Heres your pic
(http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g464/sawtoothscream/284461f4-7a77-4dee-bc07-ea8784c5c0d2_zps12b13185.jpg) (http://s1103.photobucket.com/user/sawtoothscream/media/284461f4-7a77-4dee-bc07-ea8784c5c0d2_zps12b13185.jpg.html)
-
Congrats! Looks like a great bird!
-
Congrats!!RC
-
congrats :clapper:
-
Congrats!!
-
:thumbsup:
-
Way to go sir! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
-
Very nice, :campfire:
-
Waaaay to go Justin!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
-
Congrats on the bird!
-
Here we go boys. Thanks for posting these.
This has not been the best season for me. The birds really didn't cooperate very well. Sort of.
I've known about a small flock of turkeys on a farm for quite a while but have never been able to get them to respond to my calls, come in for a shot, you know how it goes. Tried a lot of blinds and different setups. On this farm, it never worked for me. Until now.
I found 2 hens BEDDED in dense shelterbelt on the afternoon of this past Thursday. They were not in the trees, they were snuggled into the grass, staying out of the wind. I nearly stepped on them and that's how I discovered them. The two took off running through the trees on a cow trail. Hey, at least I knew there were turkeys here.
Next mornings winds were forecast for 30 MPH. For those of you not familiar with S.D., that is pretty much the norm here. Ya get used to it.
Anyway, the alarm went off at 4:00 am and I got up and much to my surprise, there was very little wind. I had pre-determined my approach the night before and knew that if I went too close to the woods, I would risk busting the birds out of there and my hunt would end before it started. Been there. Done dat.
I drove about 1/2 mile away from the woods in the darkness of pre-dawn, with every step thankful that I had not believed the weatherman this date because those guys screw a bunch of stuff up. I set up my Double Bull T-2 blind about 120 yards from the woods where I suspected the birds were roosted and where an fenceline intersected the cow pasture. Upon my arrival I got all set up. It wasn't pretty with no flashlight, but it was quiet and I was confident. I had 2 hen decoys and a jake about 15 yards off the front of my blind. I crept back to the blind and settled in for the best hunting experience of my life. C'mon daylight.
There were no crow calls and no early morning gobbles that most of us are accustomed to and when 6:15 am rolled around, I began to worry. Maybe I am in the wrong spot. Wrong county? Maybe it's too early yet or perhaps all the hens have been bred and the flocks have broken up? Maybe those two hens were a fluke. I waited. And worried. I watched as 6 whitetails walked out of the end of the woodlot and crossed the gravel road into thick bedding area. They were clueless to my presence. I thought to myself "that's a first!!" I waited.
At 6:35 I saw a hen leave the woods and enter the cow pasture. She was alone. I tried to melt my black sweatshirt into the fabric of my blind. The T2 has a huge window in front. If you use a short bow and hunt by yourself, try one. You won't be disappointed. I was still and very nervous. All of a sudden a gobbler runs out into the cow pasture from outa nowhere and starts dancing circles all around the hen. He probably did 5 laps around her, in front of her, behind her. She just stood there. When he was done with his showing off, she tried to walk ahead but he stopped her by getting in front of her again. She jumped up, over him or around him, I couldn't see for sure, but here comes 11 more hens and a large tom bringing up the rear. They spend lots of time walking around putting around. THe toms showing their stuff. STRUT. The hens blowing them off.
I am worried that they are going to leave the field without seeing my decoy setup. I call to them. The wind picks up. What the????!!! THey do their little dance for about 5 minutes. I call again and the lone hen that first came into the field spots the decoys. She runs over to the set up and almost jumps in my blind. Literally she was maybe 10 inches from the fabric. Very cool. Kind of.
The other birds follow suit. Single file all the way to the setup. All the birds mingling amongst the imposters, the sniper sitting quietly in the darkness of my space age shelter. Waiting for the right moment. My grip tightens on the bow.
The toms are going bzerk on the jake decoy. Pecking it. knocked it down then stepped on it and just looked at it. One tom to my right and one to my left. Hens and dead decoys in the middle. THe greatest show on earth!!!!!
THe larger tom got nervous and attempted to push the lone hen further out and away from the rest of the birds. Away from the blind. Away from me. My grip nearly crushed the mesquite riser on my 85# Texas Comanche, my heart pounded and I didn't know whether to cry tears of joy or tears of sorrow, but that moment that we all know so well when something truly magnificent is about to happen came upon me.
When the gobbler was almost too far the right of me and my arrow crowding the fabric of the Double Bull, I took a deep breath and watched as the gobbler made a full circle, as if saluting his foe, accepting that the gig was almost up
-
congratulations :clapper:
-
Congrats!
-
he spread his fan far and wide and turned his head away from me, exposing a bullseye on his butt. He paused. I drew the 900 grain leopardwood arrow tipped with a 190 grain grizzly broadhead to anchor and when my fingers hit the corner of my mouth I said to myself "Mr. Turkey, you've been had."
Then I watched in silence as the arrow through the air and covered the 14 yards and found its target before I could blink, smashing dead center through the rear of the bird, burying 3/4 of the shaft up through his chest. Right to the feathers. Only the nock and a few inches of shaft visible. He took off and the other hens and lone gobbler yelling to him, "you idiot, you're gonna get us killed!!" In a single file fashion and in short order they sprinted the distance of the cow pasture and down the gravel road and then cut a corner right through the abandoned farmstead. All was quiet as the dust settled. The sun not yet creeping over the tree tops. My grip relaxed and I laid down the bow and gathered my thoughts.
The buster ran 100 yards as he followed the flock back into the roost. I probably looked like a clown chasing a bull as I chased after them. Just before I almost lost sight of them I watched the mighty warrior attempt to follow the flock through a break in a woven wire fence. Luck was not on his side this day as he took his final breath and did a nose dive into the dirt. Shaft still protruding from his now lifeless body. Not even a breath as I approached him probably looking pretty ruffled myself.
I admired him for a few minutes before picking him up. Though not the largest bird, but the greatest memory of my hunting career. Shooting this elusive gobbler close to my boyhood haunts. They had escaped me numerous times in the past, but not this time. I picked him up by the feet as the last few drops of blood settled into the crook of his beak. His body already cooling as the sun shined down on him, making every feather in his lifeless body glimmer like gold in a miner's shaft. I slung him over my shoulder and walked back to the blind, trying to trace the exact path on hard gravel that he had taken on his death run.
I gathered my things and loaded him in the rig. I drove the 215 miles home, I periodically glanced over at my prize, riding shotgun in all his glory. The drive home would not be nearly as lonely. I got home, showed him off to the family. He weighed 24# and sported a 9" beard. Nearly a quarter of his fan was cut off as my razor sharp grizzly entered from the rear. I never found the missing tail feathers. Don't much care. This turkey has class. He is riding in style. My wife said what are WE going to do with him. I paused, only briefly, and looked at my pal. I thought he would look good on my wall in my office where I can see him often. I said, "we've got to get you town, clean you up a bit. We'll find an artist more talented than I and make you look as good as new. Then we can show you off a bit......"
-
:clapper: :clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
-
:bigsmyl: :thumbsup:
-
Excellent story!! And a nice bird to go with it! Congrats!
-
Great story and a fine looking bird!
Congratulations!
-
Thanks to all who made this possible, posting of pictures and reading with interest. In addition to raising 4 little girls and being married to my
"best friend" this hunt put a smile across my face that will be there for a very long time.....
justin
-
verygood story thxs for sharing and congrats on the bird hes a goodone!!!!
-
Awesome story! Great job!
-
Very nice :clapper:
-
Congrats, great looking bird!
-
:thumbsup:
-
Great job bud...story & bird! Bet that TexCurve IS faster than you can blink. Well done Justin.
-
Congrats Justin. Pretty awesome experience, isn't it?
-
I am a happy hunter!!!!!
justin
-
Great Stuff ,way to go !!!!!!!
-
Congrats!!!
-
Congrat's way to go...
-
Great story Justin and congrats on your trophy!
Don’t forget to show us the finished piece when the artist is finished.
-
Great story!! :clapper: :clapper: :clapper: