The hubby and I went to a stand we hadnt hunted this year in a river bottom.I had had a stand in this same spot last year and had seen alot of action there. It is accessable by only a narrow coridor on the north end of the river bottom,river on the west side ,ridges and draws that finger down to it on the east side and a very steep ridge on the south side. The deer like to bed in the middle so we hunted the north quarter on the river bottom for evening hunts. We arrived and my husband took the stand and facing north at about 12 oclock and I hunted the ground at about 4oclock close to the river with my back to the river. I was seated at the base of a large tree , where I could see my husband in the stand and see anything coming in behind him. I was sitting with the tree on my right when I heard something coming because of the rustle of the leaves on my right but could not see what was coming and it sounded close, like a couple of dear. I was praying the deer would veer off and go to my husbands stand, because he hasnt gotten a deer yet this year. I thought it was deer and then all of a sudden there are turkey heads coming out from around the tree,Well I just about had a corornary, they were 7yards in front of me , and then then the lead hen saw me, her head pops up and then all the 5 hens I saw go on alert. They decided to put it reverse and go back the way they came, at a slow walk. So I had the tree between me and them so I stood and manuvered my self and my bow around the back side of the tree, but I had no shots, I could only see parts of turkeys here and there, it was just to thick. My husband was sitting in his stand watching the whole thing happen. When the turkeys were starting to walk away he tried calling to them to hopefully distrack them or call them back in, but it didnt work. He knew how bad I have been wanting to get a turkey with my bow, and was trying to help me out.WHAT A GUY. To add insult to injury he had a shot at them but couldnt take one, he hadnt bought his turkey tag yet. He was able to count 8 turkeys in all( 5 hens) and (3 longbeards) that I coudnt see that were coming right behind me. Well after a long time of trying to settle down after the turkeys I see a buck coming out of where the draw opens up to the river bottom to the right of my stand, he is walking in sand and dirt so my husband never even heard him coming. The buck stops and seems to be looking in the direction of my husband and I see him stomp his foot, he makes a 1/4 turn and starts walking straight up the ridge, so I decide to try and help out my husand so I use my grunt with a doe estrus bleat, the buck stops and then out of nowhere on my left I hear a deer blow real close, I take my eyes off the buck to try and see what was blowing at me , but I cant see anything its to thick over there, it blows about 5 times, well I look back at the buck on the ridge and he was gone, he seemed to just dissapear into the brush accending the ridge. We later heard and saw the turkeys flying up to roost all around us and some were even roosting right over us. They seemed to be just mocking me when they flew right in front and over me<img src=icon_smile_angry.gif border=0 align=middle> When the hunting light faded we gathered our gear and meet up to walk out and began to relive all the events. Well it turns out that my husband had been watching the turkeys work there way towards me for a long time, he said I thought you knew they were coming? I told him they came on the other side of the tree, I didnt know it was turkeys until they were right in front of my face. He had never even seen the buck on his right, he thought I was just grunting and bleating to try and stir up some action. He decided that we had to work out some kind of signal system. I told him the problem with it all was that last year the turkeys never came from the south at that stand they always came from the northwest and the deer had never come from the east in the evening they had always come from the south at that stand last year. But we did have a blast. Sometimes the critters just seem to break out of every pattern that I think that I have on them.<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

looks like ya'll make a great team! congrats on a great day of huntin!

daytona 500 winner- Ward Burton
go Cat-22

I hunt in the NIshnabotna river bottom and hunt the ground too. I love those river trees that have several trees connected together leaning out because you can crawl into the middle of them and have a natural blind. I'm seeing lots of deer and have passed up several small bucks, had a 5x5 not 7 yards away but he came in on my only blind spot, and watched several very nice bucks just out of range come into a cut corn field. Only a matter of time before one follows the thicket and has to pass me. The timber tapers to just 10 yards where my stand is so they have to reveal themselves to get past. Can only hunt north winds though. Really good story you posted

THWACK!