Hard to believe that my much anticipated trip south to Georgia has come and gone already. Back in late December I was notified by Jerry Russell, owner of Russell Outdoor Guides that I had been the random winner of his hunt give-a-way drawing here on Tradgang. The hunt was to be held during the month of April and offered turkey, hog and bowfishing all rolled together in one long action packed weekend. Jerry promised me there would be no time to sleep on this trip and he certainly held true to his word....from Thurs morning of our departure day until we arrived back home on Monday night we got roughly 14 hours of sleep!
Once I worked out the logistics of the trip, Jerry mentioned that he could handle another stickbow hunter in camp. Immediately I contacted Allen Felix--"Little Jake" here on tradgang, and he was quick to take the opportunity for this trek south of the mason dixon line. For those of you that don't know Allen, he is an experienced bowyer and long time(very successful I might add) traditional bowhunter plus it didn't take long to realize that he was one serious bowfisherman.
Our adventure began last Thursday evening when we started our 12 hour journey south to meet up with Jerry near Forsyth, GA. We knew that driving straight through the night would make us pretty exhausted right out of the chute but we didn't let that hold us back. 12 hours actually flew by as we compared countless stories of past bowhunting adventures across the country. Upon arriving in Forsyth, we picked up our licenses, ate breakfast and then met up with Jerry to head to his camp nearby. We immediately did what any dyed in the wool trad shooters do--break out the bows and start flinging some arrows! As soon as we made sure our bows were ready Jerry asked us if we were ready to go hunting for turkeys in the afternoon before our evening hog hunt. Naturally we jumped at the chance and loaded up gear to head out to set up some pop-up blinds to try and catch some strolling mid-day gobblers......
(http://i.imgur.com/mxjkyya.jpg?1)
Good start keep it rolling! I ain't patient enough fr a drawn out story. Lol
Yeah buddy! I can smell the campfire burning. Gonna be a good sit around the ring.
:campfire:
:campfire:
Really interested in this! Wanting to check our Jerry's operation myself!
I'll do my best not to draw this out too long but if Jerry hadn't tried to keep us awake for 3 days I might be able to stay up later to wrap this up sooner. Now where was I....
I have turkey hunted for years but had never used my longbow. Being from PA, I had rarely ever hunted turkeys in the afternoon because until 2 years ago our state would not permit hunting past noon.
Jerry set up the blind, the decoys and said that he has his best luck with infrequent calling, maybe once every half an hour. The blind was positioned on the edge of a food plot surrounded by thick brush and bordered by a small creek. At both ends of the plot were access roads which provides a great set up for strolling birds. Throughout the plot there was numerous patches of areas where hogs had been rooting. If you look closely in the picture below you can see some evidence of their activity to the left of the decoy.
I settled into position and called lightly with some putts and purrs every half an hour or so. After about 3 hours, I glanced to the right and caught movement out of the right window of the blind and it was heading my way......
(http://i.imgur.com/0p70xQE.jpg)
Come on man give us more! Oh yeah, I was there, lol.
I'm not sure where my manners were but I forgot to tell the all important details of my hunting setup. On this trip I would be using my Dryad Epic ILF with ACS CG longbow limbs. My carbon arrows are lead by a 175 grain Simmons Tigershark in a 100 grain brass insert for a total weight of 590 grains. It makes a nice fairly heavyweight set up for my 50# at 26" draw.
As for the turkey hunt setup we were using pop-up blinds with a jake and hen decoy positioned roughly 5 yards from the blind. Unfortunately I had also brought along one of those small 3 sided turkey chairs with a back. If you have ever spent more than 2 hours in one of those chairs you will know why I said unfortunately. The pain in your posterior is roughly equal to that of a riding on one of those narrow bike seats after you have not ridden a bike for a year or more. On this trip we would spend nearly 20 hours perched on that torture device.
I will get back to the hunt but first I have to get 2 nine year old twin daughters ready for school before I head to work. Bear with me and I will try to wrap up this hunt on a timely manner but I realize I am only up to the 3 hour mark of a 3 day hunt......
(http://i.imgur.com/ysPv6YN.jpg)
:campfire: :coffee:
This will be a greet story. Looking forward to it
Now back to the hunt--the movement to the my right was a young single hen and she was moving right towards my decoys. As anxious as I was to peak to see if she was being followed by a gobbler, I fought the urge to look to make certain that I did not spook her. As most of you know, there is nothing more nervous in the woods than a turkey. As the hen approached she checked out the decoys before proceeding to feed. I watched her for 1 hour and 8 minutes before she fed out of sight. A gobbler never followed her but it was great to have such a close encounter this early in the hunt. This hen did something interesting as she laid down in some grass roughly 15 yards from my location. She was perfectly motionless for nearly 5 minutes with only a portion of her head visible. I wondered if she was hiding from a predator she might have sensed or if she was just resting. Eventually she started lifting her head like a periscope and surveyed the entire field. Eventually she stood and proceeded to work around the blind before feeding out of sight nearly 80 yards away.
Her she is keeping a close eye on the decoys.
(http://i.imgur.com/M0MxOb4.jpg?1)
I apologize but it is time to drop the kids off at school and then head to work. Work has a strict policy against posting on tradgang during work hours so I will continue this journey this evening. Apparently management does not understand the importance of not stringing along readers.....
This should be good!
This is gonna be good....
Come on!!!! Its torture
Sweet!!.....
Sorry about the delay but hopefully I can get some more of this story underway.
After the hen left the field I just sat and absorbed the scenery that this central GA creek bottom had to offer. Jerry and Allen had hunted to together on that set in another area along a gas line about a 1/4 mile from my location. They had seen a cruising gobbler in the distance but it did not respond to their set up. They picked me up and we headed back to the camp to restock our gear for the evening hog hunt.
Pretty much as soon as we loaded our fanny packs we were off again for an evening sit for hogs. Jerry had shown Allen his spot earlier and then drove me to my stand which was situated along a pine thicket near a feeder stream. My past experience with hogs has been spot and stalk so stand hunting would be a little change of pace for me. As we walked into my hunting area I could see a lot of rooting and countless tracks along the way. As we crossed a small gully my stand for the evening came into view. It didn't take someone with a lot of hog hunting experience to know that this place was being trashed by the resident hogs.
Here is the picture of my view for the evening.
(http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy17/cmcmath/Georgia%20Combo%20Hunt/DSCN4926.jpg) (http://s773.photobucket.com/user/cmcmath/media/Georgia%20Combo%20Hunt/DSCN4926.jpg.html)
:campfire:
Jerry had mentioned that he was sure that I would be amazed at the sheer amount of critters that would visit the feeder in an evening. No more than 2 minutes after Jerry walked out of sight I catch movement moving towards the feeder. My first thought was literally "what in the he!! is that thing?" and what looked like a miniature kangaroo hopped into sight. This thing looked like a cottontail on steroids, easily double the size of our rabbits at home in Pennsylvania. As it fed, I heard another animal approaching and here comes another one of these huge rabbits. This one easily cleared the small gully and also approached the feeder. Later as I told this story to Jerry he laughed and said that these over-sized rodents were "cane cutters". Pictures don't do these things justice but trust me if you have never encountered one you would be amazed at their size.
(http://i.imgur.com/wjBsXsW.jpg)
Encountering unusual sights and in this case animals is one of the true bonuses to hunting out of your home territory. Before climbing down out of the stand that evening I would see countless birds, around 15 hungry coons and an armadillo. The feeder had been visited by a constant parade of visitors and rarely was there not a 4 legged critter within 5 yards of me. Time absolutely flew by. A cold front was passing through the area during my evening hunt and the swirling winds really hurt my chances of encountering a hog. Several times I could hear movement in the thickets behind the stand but then the wind would gust into my face and movement would cease. What a hog lacks in eyesight in low light condition it more than makes up for with its keen sense of smell. After hours of watching coons fight with each other over feed plus the occasional barred owl announcing its presence it was time to climb down and head back to camp. As I slipped along the trail I heard something in the dry leaves and spotted an armadillo that was totally oblivious to me only 2 feet away. Before I could grab the camera it realized I was sneaking nearby and it took off like a shot to safety. Those little guys can move!
Back at camp, we compared stories of the evening. Allen had also seen lots of sign but the winds had let the hogs know that he was nearby. He had seen several deer, coons, etc before his evening hunt ended.
Jerry asked us what we wanted to do on Saturday morning and it was decided we would once again chase turkeys and then plan on heading to a nearby lake for a night of bowfishing. It had been an action packed day and our 5 am wake up would be there before we knew it.
I am sure enjoying the read Clay. You guys were troopers for sure. It is making me tired just reading about it. I do have to say, however, that I feel like I am watching a movie with friends that I have seen before while doing my best to not give away the ending...
There's so much to seeing lots of animals. Even if it isn't your quarry at that time. Makes the time that much more enjoyable. Please elaborate on the "cane cutters". Are they rabbits or not!?
Matty You are so right about seeing a variety of animals. It can be overwhelming at the bait sites some times with the sheer number of animals. It is like a zoo and really adds a lot to the hunt. The cane cutters are just a seriously oversized version of the cottontail. They can top out in weight between 6-7 pounds. The first time you encounter one their size can be a bit shocking. They inhabit swampy woodlands and will swim like a beaver. Many southern hunters go a lifetime and never see one but where we hunt they are a very common sight.
Clay, get those kids in the bed and start writing!
Bright and early next morning we met up with Jerry and his son Luke for another round with the local turkeys. We decided to try one of Jerry's other nearby properties based on intel from the farmer as well as encounters Jerry had been having with birds in some creek bottom pastures. This morning I would be hunting with Jerry while Allen would be guided by Luke several hundred yards from us. We walked a few hundred yards through the dark and set up our blind in a pinch point where several roads, small rolling ridges and the brush along the creek all met. The more daylight it got the better and better this spot looked. We did the same basic set up as the day before with a jake and hen decoy within 5 yards of the blind.
The funny thing that I have noticed about turkeys is that while they can all over the place, some mornings they just don't feel like talking. We did our calling ever half hour or so but the birds remained unresponsive. About an hour after daylight 4 bucks that were beginning to grow antlers appeared and kept a careful eye on the blind that had shown up in their backyard. Another hour later movement came from the opposite direction but this time it was a herd of beef cattle heading to water. The blind and decoys were too tempting for this young bull calf to come and check out.
(http://i.imgur.com/q3SLYN3.jpg)
The rest of the morning Jerry and I spent talking about past hunts, future dream hunts, traditional archery, family, careers, life in general, etc. If you have never met Jerry, within a few minutes you will quickly realize that he is one of the most serious and well traveled hunters you will meet. While I have been blessed to have hunted numerous states across the country for a variety of game, Jerry has successfully hunted in numerous countries. I can assure you that his son Luke is a chip off the old block. Lots of fascinating stories were flying as we stayed in our blind all that morning.
Around noon we headed back to camp to share stories with Allen and Luke. Even though our attention was focused towards the upcoming night of bowfishing, it was decided we would grab a quick bite to eat and then you guessed it....no not any napping....because rather we were heading back out to another area to chase turkeys!
Again, Jerry and I paired up for the afternoon hunt while Allen and Luke went the other direction. We headed back to a distant creek bottom and then crossed a creek onto a lush green gas line covered with several foot plots. Jerry and I paused long enough to snap a picture of a small waterfall before reaching our hunting area.
(http://i.imgur.com/kl8vWvE.jpg)
Once we got our feet soaked crossing a creek to the gas line, we climbed up a fairly long grade to the apex of the hill to set up our blind and decoys. With views of several hundred yards in both directions we settled in for the afternoon hunt.
(http://i.imgur.com/hvOM7C2.jpg?1)
(http://i.imgur.com/M620yoP.jpg)
The afternoon was spent constantly peering out the windows of the blind, infrequent calling and lots of conversation as we attempted to solve the world's problems. After roughly 2 hours in the stand Jerry looks out the one window and made an exceptional spot on a single bird that was standing on the opposite side of the small creek. Naturally it was right in the very spot where Jerry and Allen had sat the day before when they watched the turkey feeding right where Jerry and I were now set up. Typical turkey making a fool out of hunters because they never seem to do anything on a consistent basis.
Jerry made a few calls to get the birds attention and we anxiously awaited for the bird to appear. Unfortunately, I think the jake was in the one spot where he was not able to get a visual on the decoys. We sat for another 2 hours before calling it quits as we needed to get back to camp to prepare for the evening/night of bowfishing. As we broke down camp and headed back to the trail to camp, we spotted a single bird 250 yards away on the gas line feeding in the grass. Even at that distance it wasted to time in spying us and taking cover in the nearby woods. It had been a great afternoon of being in the turkey woods.
:campfire:
We arrived back in camp and immediately swapped out our turkey hunting gear for bowfishing set ups. Again no rest for the weary. At this point, Jerry was probably wondering if we ever needed sleep.
While I had never bowfished before, the same could not be said for Allen. Allen is a bowfishing fanatic and has spent years chasing carp here in PA plus makes annual trips to the Chesapeake Bay for cow nose rays. I wish I had taken a better picture of his set up because he made an absolutely stunning bow just for his bowfishing forays. It was quite fancy with a bubinga riser with a contrasting shedua radius. Quite a work of art to be smacking around on the side of the boat chasing gar and carp!
We headed to a nearby lake and while the weather had been cool lately we were still hoping that the fish would be active. Jerry's tunnel hull with the LED set up is quite a nice platform to experience my first adventure in bowfishing. Here is his boat as we readied our gear in the daylight.
(http://i.imgur.com/oYLAD1S.jpg)
As we started down the shoreline it looked like the water might be too cloudy at this end of the lake. Jerry said if we don't run into some numbers of fish in the first couple of hundred yards then we would trailer the boat to the other end of the lake so we did not waste too much precious time. Since I was the newbie to bowfishing it was decided that I would shoot first. We had gone maybe 100 yards when I encountered the first gar. Swing a miss # 1 for me. In typical first timer bowfishing style, I had managed to shoot over the fish. After I learned how to retrieve the line, Allen once again told me that it was my turn. Another short distance and I was once again at full draw on a gar. Miss #2, followed by #3, #4, etc ensued shortly. Finally after half a dozen shots I connected on my first gar.
(http://i.imgur.com/c46D3ox.jpg?1)
At that point I told Allen to take over the shooting. Quickly he showed me what years of experience at bowfishing can yield. Allen was quite thrilled with his first ever gar.
(http://i.imgur.com/ZVHlIlL.jpg?1)
Let's just say that Allen continued to make some absolutely incredible shots. In fact one shot resulted in a rare miss on the target gar but he managed to centerpunch a gizzard shad. It was unbelievable and left Jerry shaking his head in disbelief.
(http://i.imgur.com/LzyFgoI.jpg?1)
For the next few hours we trolled along the shorelines for gar. Other than the amazing shots that Allen continued to make, the other amazing part was the way that Jerry could spot fish. You could tell it was not his first rodeo. He constantly was spotting fish well before I ever laid eyes on them.
Bowfishing on Jerry's rig equipped with LED lighting was quite nice because there were no noisy generators needed. As a result we got to enjoy the sounds of all the wildlife that frequented that lake. We heard all kinds of beavers smacking their tails in protest to us disrupting their nocturnal habits. Several times they would surface near the boat before slapping their tails and making waves. We also encountered what appeared to be hundreds of buzzards roosted along the shore. As we approached them they would get agitated and let out some prehistoric chatter before either spitting or defecating into the water within mere feet of us. The odor that was given off by this discharge was quite nasty and quickly had us veering from their haunts.
Right after this encounter we spotted a mudtrail in the water which indicated the high probability of a carp. Sure enough there was the monster feeding along in the murky water. As Allen drew back Jerry and I knew this carp was in trouble.
(http://i.imgur.com/2WxE51W.jpg?1)
We continued to bowfish until midnight and Jerry said "let's hit some more shoreline and call it an evening". We agreed and continue to search the water for additional gar. Allen made a tremendous long range shot to land his best gar of the evening.
(http://i.imgur.com/pNBRNoA.jpg)
As we headed back towards the dock we encountered the best gar of the evening. In uncharacteristic fashion, Allen shot above the fish and it headed right for the boat. I was able to anchor this fish and end the evening with a 43.5" trophy!
(http://i.imgur.com/HVTjIx8.jpg?1)
(http://i.imgur.com/8ApJBq3.jpg?1)
The evening has been an absolute blast and I am already looking forward to getting my own bowfishing set up for back here in PA.
We got to bed a little after 1 am and already had made plans to meet at camp at 6:30 for our final morning of turkey hunting.
Speaking of bed, it is my bedtime as I am still catching up on my sleep from last weekend. I don't want to ruin it but stayed tuned because there is some really good action coming up the next morning!
After checking the weather radar early the next morning it was decided that with a large amount of rain on the way that we would head to a heavily timbered ridge that bordered a oak covered creek bottom. Jerry and I climbed up a trail right at daylight and paused at a likely looking spot where 2 faint roads met. Hearing nothing we walked about another 100 yards to the edge of some more open timber. As soon as we stopped again a gobble broke the pre-dawn silence. Jerry instantly owl hooted back with his mouth and the bird fired right back. Judging him to be within 150 yards and likely roosted along the creek bottom we quickly assessed the set up and decided to head back to the spot where the 2 faint roads met. As we quickly made our way there, Jerry hooted once more and the bird fired back again. We quickly put up our typical jake and hen spread along with our blind right in the middle of a small opening. As we finished the set up the bird continued to gobble on his own probably about another 10 times within the few minutes it took us to prepare.
(http://i.imgur.com/KoY2EVE.jpg)
At this point the rain was beginning to fall and we sat patiently hoping to recognize that the bird had flown down from his roost. Jerry made about 3 gobbles and a few tree calls so that he knew an intruder had entered his territory. Once again his calls were met with numerous return gobbles. We gave him the silent treatment for a few minutes and about every minute he would gobble on his own.
Here is a shot as I anxiously await to see what this gobbler plans to do next.
(http://i.imgur.com/QgT7mIX.jpg)
If you have spent any time chasing turkeys, you will know that despite having a fired up gobbler nearby and what looks like a perfect set up that it is far from over.
As this bird continued to gobble, at this point about 40 times, we listened for the sign that he had pitched off the roost. After the one gobble, Jerry and I looked at each other as we could tell he had hit the ground. At that time, Jerry broke the silence with a fly down cackle and was met an instant response. After another minute a gobble about halfway to us told me to get ready for some action. I looked out the left window of the blind and caught movement at about 25 yards......
Jerry whispers "he just saw the decoy and is instantly into full strut.....get ready" as I prepared myself for the encounter. Rather than risk moving and blowing the opportunity I decided to wait until he approached the decoy before I checked out the action. Through the leaves I could hear his footsteps so I knew any second he would be strutting into view.
At this point, rather than try to explain what all transpired I will attach a link to video footage.
If a picture is worth a 1,000 words than I guess video is worth a few million.
Enjoy....sure hope this link works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cddvD94wvuI&list=UUdL0nqTUdEPx4HWQEmjDvFQ
Time to take the kids to school again so I will wrap up this hunt this evening when I get home.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:
Man that sucks! Great encounter and some good footage of that poor jake decoy getting beat up!!
Naturally I blamed my low shot on the bowfishing from the hours earlier on the night before. Jerry was able to take a closer, slow motion look at the shot on a bigger screen and determined that the hit was a grazing, non-lethal hit. Sure that helps knowing that the gobbler will live to be chased another day but disappointing on the other hand knowing that I did not do my part on delivering a fatal arrow. As we all know to well, once that arrow is released at a live animal it can never be taken back.
As you can see it was a great experience spending time with Jerry on his home turf. I really appreciate the 110% effort he gave to make this trip such a success. While the encounter with the bird did not end as we had hoped it is an experience I will not soon forget. This trip also proved that you are never too experienced to learn as I have a whole new outlook on archery turkey hunting with stick and string plus found out why so many are addicted to bowfishing.
I would like to publicly thank Jerry for offering this raffle hunt to the tradgang family and feel truly blessed to have been able to make this trip. The trip was was again proof of the quality of folks that frequent this site.
Thanks again Jerry and I look forward to hunting with you again in the future. I can't wait to see pictures of "my" gobbler once you manage to arrow him.
Here is a parting photo from the roosting area of the big gobbler that will forever be ingrained in my memory of central Georgia.
(http://i.imgur.com/6hjJXG1.jpg)
That was the best turkey footage that I have seen. kudos to you, because as soon as he walked in I woulda let the air out of him. You have to have ice water running through your veins.
Great hunt and video.
Glad you enjoyed it. Fortunately Jerry had coached me to give him some time to destroy the decoy before he would settle down enough to shoot. He made it very clear that it is not a good idea to shoot at a gobbler in full strut and it is easy to see why it is so tempting when he is at 5 yards. Each time he would start to calm down I would draw and then he would go right back into full strut. Finally on the third time of drawing I was able to take the shot. If you look very closely in the footage right before I shoot, you will see that the bird is walking backwards because while he was flogging the decoy he caught his beak in the soft baggy skin on this neck. I believe that he was so focused on his beak being stuck that he dropped out of strut just long enough for the shot. Jerry is a fan of aiming for between the primary feathers and the legs to take out the hips. My shot was about 1/2" from taking that bird home.
Wow great hunt and video. Im not a turkey hunter but that video may have enticed me to put the fishing rods down and get out after em. Glad you fellas had a great trip.
Great story,pics, and footage. I was down to hunt with Jerry and his son last year around this time. We had a great time. Jerry worked his tail off to make sure of that. Glen
Clay, that was a great read. I had a great time with you and Allen and you reaffirmed my belief that the boys from the Northeast are some of the hardest hunting folks I have ever been around. I try every year to hunt a group of you guys into the ground and it is always one great time. Thanks for the kind words but the truth be told, we enjoy these adventures more than you guys.
Not a whole lot more I can add to Clay's story, but I wanted to thank Jerry, and Luke
for a very good time. Even though the hogs and turkeys didn't cooperate. Jerry is a
really neat guy, full of lots of hunting stories, and man can he spot fish.
I am for sure going to be heading down south next spring for a couple nights of
bow fishing with him.
And I want to thank Clay again for inviting me along, I enjoyed seeing how excited
he was when he shot his first gar,and then the biggest gar of the night. It was a lot of
fun sharing a camp with good people.
Thanks guys. Hopefully we can do that again soon, I am already giving some serious thought on trying to plan one of those island hunts we talked about.....
:thumbsup: :coffee:
Todd
Looks like a great time was had by all :thumbsup: