Post by isthereice on Apr 27, 2015 15:01:09 GMT -5
I took off early this morning for the turkey woods and had a truly memorable hunt. I got in to my favourite spot, set up the decoys, and got tucked into the underbrush 25 yards away by 6:30am. The sun was barely up so I refrained from calling until I heard the telltale wing beats of large birds coming out of the trees and hitting the forest floor. When that started I began softly yelping with my new Redhead push button box call. The thing sounds very good and is incredibly easy to use, just push the button in with varying pressure and intensity to get the pattern you want.
The birds were definitely around but were staying absolutely silent and tight in to cover. I'm guessing this is because they heard me come in and set up. That's something you really can't avoid on a one day hunt so you just have to get in there and hope for the best. After a couple hours of zero action it seemed obvious the birds did head in the opposite direction to start their day. No matter though, this is common and they or another group will move through later. After another couple of hours I was really getting bored and walked back to the Jeep to stretch my legs and take a break. I was only gone about 20 minutes and got a big surprise on the trail back. There were two Toms walking in to my decoys!
It was a worst case scenario, I was on the trail with my decoy spread about 70 yards away and two Toms were between me and it, with their backs to me and moving towards to the decoys. There was no way I could pursue with the dry pine needles and twigs carpeting the forest floor and the Toms were about to get to my set and realize those birds weren't alive. I was sure my hunt was blown and was kicking myself for having left at the worst possible time, but I figured I had nothing to lose so I gingerly crept a few yards into the forest and hunkered down behind some fallen branches. I was wearing camo gear but had precious little cover. I got out the box call and started yelping loudly, hoping to turn the big birds around and bring them back my way, but having no real hope they would. To my utter amazement they both turned on cue and came looking for the sound! One of them grew wary and walked off behind a nearby rise in the land and I never saw him again. The other one kept coming right to my call, gobbling all the way, and I kept calling to keep his mind off the decoys he just left behind. He was looking right at me about 60 yards away and coming fast and I realized I had no shot because of foliage and trees between me and him. He had banked to his right a little and was angling behind trees and shrubs so I couldn't get a shot. I had to carefully move my upper body to the left to keep my scope on him, sure the whole time he'd spot the movement and bust me, but he kept coming and I kept calling. Thank God the push button call only required one finger to operate. I kept moving as he kept angling in and eventually I ended up almost prone on my back with my left shoulder braced against a tree. It was hard to keep the bow limbs level with the ground and the bird in the crosshairs but it was working, and then I realized the range finder was in my zippered pocket and there was no way I could use it. Crap. I just had to guess at the yardage as he closed in. At about 40 yards he turned to face me head on and kept coming. When he got to an estimated 35 yards I had the 35 line on the top of his beard and squeezed the trigger through a contorted and aching wrist.
TWANG!
THWAP!
A few moments of hopping and flapping and my opening day Tom was on the ground
It turned out I hit him a little low but right on centre so my two inch Rage broadhead dispatched him quickly and cleanly anyway. The shot was actually more like 38 yards than my 35 yard guess, but thankfully it was close enough.
Ya gotta love turkey hunting.