Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: suburbanirma on May 15, 2014, 05:32:00 PM
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Got out to my turkey blind this morning by 5 a.m., set out a lone hen decoy and settled into my comfy Huntmore chair. About a half hour later, I hen yelped and did that again about every 20 minutes. By 7:30, I decided to take a look at my cell phone for emails and then checked out the TradGang forum to pass the time. When I looked up a few minutes later, there was a dandy gobbler out beyond the decoy. It was pecking around in the grass and suddenly was right there in front of me. As I started to draw my Morrison ILF Max1 recurve, the turkey popped its head up and looked my way. He then resumed pecking around in the grass, I took aim and loosed the arrow. At the same time, the bird turned slightly and the arrow struck him angling forward at the hip. On impact, the nock of the arrow blew out from the weight tube I had inside the arrow shaft. The turkey ran off with the arrow dragging behind. I watched him crouch low at the edge of the tag alders for a couple of minutes, and then he started limping toward the adjacent spruce swamp. I left the blind and circled to a logging road that the bird would have to cross. After several minutes, I didn't see the gobbler, so I went back to where I last saw him, found blood and took a step into the flooded marsh. Suddenly, there was a big racket 20 yards ahead and the turkey clattered airborne and flew to the north, toward a pasture.
"Way to go...," I told myself. "Now what?"
I slogged through the marsh and tall brush and stepped into the pasture. I regained my line of sight where I thought the turkey flew and headed in that direction. I hit the logging road and found a fresh turkey track in the sand. Only one foot was making tracks and those were about four feet in between each mark. I followed northward until the tracks indicated that the gobbler crossed the road.
I continued across the road to another logging road. I got just 10 yards or so down that road and heard a commotion in the tag alders to the east. It was the turkey and he was trying to hustle through the brush. Suddenly, it clambered into the air again and flew across another marsh. I couldn't see exactly where he dropped down but headed in that direction anyway. This was unfamiliar territory to me, so it was difficult to predict where he might go. The landscape had forest, grassy paths, overgrown meadow and recent clearcut with inch-thick aspen saplings. I thought that perhaps he landed further to the north again where there was a jungle of tag alder clumps in a soggy meadow.
As I picked my way through the tag alders, I heard a racket in front of me and there was the turkey flapping as it limped away from me. I hustled after it with my bow in one hand and a bow quiver in the other. I almost caught up to it and took out an arrow to try to shoot through the little trees. When the bird got to another small clearing, he jumped into the air and was winging his way to the east. In the process of weaseling through the brush in pursuit of the gobbler, I lost my quiver and had just the one arrow on my person. I marked where the turkey came down and headed that way after him. I wound down through a shallow, brushy ravine and heard the flapping noise again off to the side. I headed in that direction and spotted the turkey that seemed to be nearly played out. I was able to get a relatively close shot at him and hit him at the base of the wing. He took off again, but at a really slow pace, as this nearly 65-year-old fat man caught up to him and broke its neck, as I was out of ammo by that time. All in all, I chased this turkey more than 3/4 mile across woods, marsh and swamps and it took about an hour. That isn't how I planned to get a turkey, but that's how it happened. I really hate to give up on a "hit" animal.
(http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/tradarcher1949/05-15-2014tomandturkey1TGcopy_zps16e55f42.jpg) (http://s778.photobucket.com/user/tradarcher1949/media/05-15-2014tomandturkey1TGcopy_zps16e55f42.jpg.html)
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Persistence payed off. Congratulations, Tom!
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They are tough!!
Congrats. Glad you got him. :thumbsup: :clapper: :clapper:
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You summed up the never give up motto there good sir. Way to follow up!
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Beautiful bird Tom
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Way to stick with it man ..CONGRATS there tuff for sure
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I've got a lot of respect for you for staying the course and let's be honest it read more exciting then a I shot it was dead story! ;)
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Great story!! I like to tell it like it is myself. It is reality it doesn't always work out "perfect" but in the end you get the animal.
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Man! I wouldn't want to be on the run and have you on my tail! (LOL). Way to persist!
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Excellent tom Tom!
Hah...
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Nice bird Tom, Congrats :thumbsup:
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Way to hang in there,nice bird,congrats. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Congrats! Nice bird way to not give up!
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Nice job. Glad you were persistent and didn't give up! Great pic!
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Way to stay on him! Very nice bird!
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congrats ya OLD MAN. Enjoy the turkey tenders.
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YEE HA Tom!!! That is quite a story. Congratulation! I bet you will savor those turkey tenders.
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Congratulations Tom on the nice bird and persistent follow-up. Those should be tenderized tenders from the sounds of all the beating of the brush they took on. I'll bet your legs were a little tender from the chase too the next morning. ;)
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Glad you stuck with it!!
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Hey Tom. Way to stick with it. Those buggars can be hard to kill sometime. Congrats.
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Congrats!
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Thanks for the compliments, guys. Wearing heavy rubber knee boots while "running" thru the brush chasing a turkey was exhausting. I have to admire a turkey's hardiness and vigor. Maybe it wouldn't have been so hardy if I'd hit it in the right spot, though. By the way, my wife, Sara, prepared some of the dark meat in a crock pot, made dark gravy and poured the shredded meat/gravy over noodles for dinner last night. Delicious!! Maybe tonite we'll get around to some of the turkey tenders.
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Tom I'm not sure if he's going to be that tender after that chase. What a tracking job! Congrats.
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Congrats! Great story and recovery! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Wife Sara and I prepared some turkey tenders for supper tonight. We cut breast steaks, pounded on them with a meat hammer, seasoned them and browned them in onions and butter. Sara made gravy while I peeled some potatoes. After the tenders simmered for about 40 minutes, we loaded up plates and enjoyed the delightful turkey tenders. Yummmmmn!!
(http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/tradarcher1949/turkeytenders1_zpsf0c2e94e.jpg) (http://s778.photobucket.com/user/tradarcher1949/media/turkeytenders1_zpsf0c2e94e.jpg.html)
(http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/tradarcher1949/turkeytenders2_zps63661e6c.jpg) (http://s778.photobucket.com/user/tradarcher1949/media/turkeytenders2_zps63661e6c.jpg.html)
(http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/tradarcher1949/turkeytenders3_zps90d41f80.jpg) (http://s778.photobucket.com/user/tradarcher1949/media/turkeytenders3_zps90d41f80.jpg.html)
(http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/tradarcher1949/turkeytenders4_zps1e32a2f2.jpg) (http://s778.photobucket.com/user/tradarcher1949/media/turkeytenders4_zps1e32a2f2.jpg.html)
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Congrats Tom. Great Tracking Job. I know it would have been a hard find if you walked away and he died in the middle of a tag alder swamp. Keeping on him I think was the best thing to do in this scenario.
Those tenders look great.