turkey talisman

[beyondmyken]

Went to a new spot based on topo, aerial photos and talking to landowner.  A few squirrels this afternoon and some frogs(too warm for Nov).  About 5:10, 4 hen turkeys are walking to the northeast of me about 40-50 yards.  They saw me raise my binoculars from my treestand and became slightly nervous with soft putts but still milled around.  About 5:20pm I hear a deer walking in the dry leaves to the southeast and look over my shoulder to see a buck. Wind is mostly out of the south. I am prepared for him to walk to my right but he comes behind me and to my left.  I had to turn slowly around to my left and peered over my shoulder.  On my left there are alot of saplings with quite a few leaves still on, limiting my shooting lanes.  He stops at one of them at 10 yards. A quick but careful release and I see the arrow zip through him.  He kicks and runs haphazardly, stops at about 60 yards within sight, and plops down flat.  An easy tracking job.  With the landowner's help, I dragged him over the flat ground, across a swampy area, then dressed him out.  The landowner had a tractor wth a front loader and it was a piece of cake to take the deer to the truck.  Easiest packing out job I have ever had.  I used a Fedora Xtreme, 54 lbs with 600 grain extreme FOC carbons and an Extreme BH. This combo centerpunched a rib on the near side and exited the far side chest.  This is the second time this season where I saw turkeys and within mintues had deer near me.

[4est trekker]

Wonderful harvest...clean, quick, and humane.  But I have to ask...did you tape his mouth shut with that leaf on purpose?      

[4runr]

Congrats on a beautiful buck!

I like the big grin Alan!

[beyondmyken]

Yeah, I saw that after I got home and put the pics on the computer.  The other photos were not as good. That's the problem with 53 yo eyes, bifocals and itty bitty digital camera viewscreens.  

[imhntn]

Nice buck.  Sounds like a great hunt.  Now you'll be saying, "Come on turkeys."

[4est trekker]

I think it's a great picture!  It's got some character.  You've got this great grin on your face, and it's kind of like you wiped it off of his!  Next time, send some of those turkeys my way    

[Bill Watts II]

Congratulations, Alan!  Nice picture too, BTW.

Watts

[Guru]

congrats!

[swp]

Congrats!

[beyondmyken]

Well, I went back out and got my treestand out of the woods.  In the daylight I followed the blood trail, it was not as good as I would have thought given that the buck died 60 yards from the shot.  My shot was high mid-right lung and low left lung, not too far below the scapula.  The last 9 inches of the arrow had snapped off and was inside the buck when I dressed him out.  I suspect that the arrow remnant was plugging the exit hole somewhat.

[First White Falcon]

Very nice!

[SS Snuffer]

Good job! Nice buck and great pic.

[KentuckyTJ]

Great job Alan

[rushlush]

Very nice!