Short story for a longbow... and a turkey.

DannyBows · April 10, 2012, 12:13:00 PM

Beautiful bow--Well Done!

CJ Pearson · April 10, 2012, 01:47:00 PM

Charlie, did I miss the turkey part of the story?

That is a sweet looking bow yu've built there Sir.

robtattoo · April 10, 2012, 01:54:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by CJ Pearson:
Charlie, did I miss the turkey part of the story?

That is a sweet looking bow yu've built there Sir.

Just hang on for a bit, he'll get to it.

It is a nice looking tooth-rattler though....

jonsimoneau · April 10, 2012, 01:55:00 PM

Charlie's stories are always fit for a book. This will be good.

Bill Carlsen · April 10, 2012, 02:28:00 PM

Those Hunter's Heads look familiar, Charlie.

Shan · April 10, 2012, 02:37:00 PM

jcar315 · April 10, 2012, 02:44:00 PM

A beauty of a bow!

Really appreciate the story telling via the pictures Charlie uses too. Love the first pic.

3Feathers · April 10, 2012, 05:36:00 PM

What a beautiful bow sir thanks for the story.I have the Hill sickness also.Got rid of my reflex-deflex longbows.Now starting my Hill collection.

Guru · April 10, 2012, 06:29:00 PM

Been waiting to hear this story since I got that text a week or so back

April 10, 2012, 07:38:00 PM

TimDougan · April 10, 2012, 08:34:00 PM

Charlie you are a treasure. Waiting for more. TD.

straitera · April 10, 2012, 08:58:00 PM

Welcome back Charlie! What a beaut!!

Taken to timing your stories with a calendar. All worth the wait.

Charlie Lamb · April 10, 2012, 09:12:00 PM

A few years ago I started my Kansas love affair. What a great place to hunt. My fall hunting for deer started with Tracy inviting me over and I was hooked from the start. There were big bucks everywhere it seemed.

Then an old buddy from Wyoming bought a place in kansas an hour west of Tracy and it is loaded with turkeys.... deer too, but I'm working on that part.

So now each year as the Ide's of March come and go
I find myself preparing for the early April opener of the special kansas archery turkey season.
How cool is that? A special season for bow and arrow turkey.

One thing it seems I can usually count on, besides the warm welcome from Rusty and his lovely wife Rosemary, is some kind of impending weather.

My first year had shown everything from heat wave conditions that found me stripped to my shorts in the pop up blind to killing my second bird of the week in a blowing snow while my little heater glowed red in a corner of my dark nook.

The weather man had told me I could expect the unexpected this time around and he didn't lie.

The first morning started with a routine I will never get use to. I'd screwed up setting my alarm and had just happened to check the time on my watch. Crikies!!! Dawn was damn near breaking and there I lay.

With moves that would have made Superman proud I whirled around into my hunting stuff and out the door I went.
I had a little bit of a walk to make after I parked the truck (Rusty's place is pretty big) and I could here Tom's gobbling from their roosts.

I was racing daylight to be in my blind before the birds started their cackling fly downs.
There was no reason they shouldn't fly down in normal time. Though certainly not a clear morning, it wasn't blustery or wet. I picked up my pace.

I'd set up my blind the afternoon before and as I topped a small rise I spotted 4 two legged figures running into the gray woodline. POOP!!

Why is it when you blow a situation for just a moment you feel like that's the last chance you'll get. I just knew I'd really messed up this time.

As I pulled up the zipper on the blind and entered I felt the camoflaged cloak of invisibility embrace me. I knew the day to come would bring adventure and experiences to put a smile back on my face.

owlbait · April 10, 2012, 09:15:00 PM

Hush, das comin mon! What kind of seat you using in your blind Charlie?

wooddamon1 · April 10, 2012, 09:18:00 PM

Charlie Lamb · April 10, 2012, 09:25:00 PM

I didn't have long to wait either. Over the past several years I'd picked out a few habits of the resident birds.

They tend to congregate in a huge roost in the bend of the small creek that bisects the property. Since this is high ground, some would fly off into the bottoms while the rest would make there way in different directions following the myriad of tree lines created by food plots and prairie grass fields.

My blind was situated along one of those corridors and would show me birds whether they responded to my calls or not. It wasn't long before more wandering birds happened by.

It all seemed a little slow to my anxious mind but I guess that was just a figment of a greedy imagination. Soon I had more company.

Charlie Lamb · April 10, 2012, 09:28:00 PM

I use a seat I got at Sam's Club. Kind of a director's chair with a pretty solid seat, arms and a little table top attached... with a cup holder.

I spend all day in the blind when I'm hunting Rusty's place and portability is not a problem as I don't "run and gun".

Cyclic-Rivers · April 10, 2012, 09:32:00 PM

Great Start Charlie

Duckbutt · April 10, 2012, 09:42:00 PM

Charlie Lamb · April 10, 2012, 10:01:00 PM

Now I'm here to tell you that I'm no whiz when it comes to turkey calling. Even though I come from a turkey hunting family and my experience goes back to a time when you might only hear one gobble in a weeks hunting, I can confidently state that I suck.

When my old uncle Truman would here me practicing, he'd just shake his head slowly and say, "boy you need to keep your calls real quiet and not very often. They'll figure out you're a fake too fast as it is".
Not much has changed, so I give an occasional soft yelp or two every half hour or so. When a bird comes it ain't because I charmed him in.

The morning was interesting as they always are in the turkey woods. Cardinals, Blueays and even a crow or two filled in the minutes and hours between birds, but all morning not a gobbler came closer than 50 yards.