How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

One thing I haven't done is take a turkey with a bow. This year I hope will change things. I've won a hunt in Kansas this year and for the first time they are opening their season early for bow only. Ah, that's where I come in. I'm headed to Kansas the first 3 days of April and hunting out of Double Bulls with River Valley Game Calls' cameras rolling looking for footage for RVGC's volume IV of Head Hunters.

I then head to NC with GMMAT for more video opportunities then back to PA. I'm hopin to make Jeff famous. lol Now once back in PA I don't know if the bow or the turkey killin Mossberg is going with me. PA birds don't fall to bows easily and I feel are the wariest birds in the country also spook on blinds, that's been my experience tho. The proverbial saying in the industry is that if you can kill a bird in PA you can kill a bird anywhere in the country. ;)

With PA's extra tag I'll have the opportunity for 6 birds. If I tag out, any NY's want to host an avid turkey hunter/caller. ;)

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

i may try it, i dont know though. I have never hunted them with a shotgun so starting off with a bow might be difficult

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Rob, best of luck in Kansas.I am going to bow and shot gun hunt turkeys. If I take my son or sons..its gonna be the shotgun, alone, with my bow this spring. The same goeswith bears this spring.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I am planning on taking my 2nd turkey with a bow. I am pretty optomistic. I took one this past fall and this will be my first spring hunt with a bow. I can't wait.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

What is a gun? Bow all the way!!!

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Thanks shed33, sounds awesome, perhaps one of these years I'll make Idaho for Merriams. I'm hoping for a Rio in Kansas but understand the hybrids are the abundant ones.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

WEll I don't know. Last year I got bold and tried with the bow. Had 2 instances at HUGE birds that would have been dead with a shotgun. Put the bow away and never did get another gobbler in range.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Good luck Rob, this will be my first year using a bow to turkey hunt.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Took the words out of my mouth[8D].

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I loves me turkey hunting and trust me, I headed to the turkey woods with my bow long before blinds were legal here in PA. Our birds are pressured harder than any birds in the country and just don't act like others either. Rybo just gave an example and understands. No, they are not impossible to take with bow and a blind, but nearly..lol I know dozens of avid turkey hunters who are yet to take one with a shotgun. I enjoy calling for others, if I never take another with a shotgun, it's fine I do enjoy it though and now hunt for the cameras but a turkey with bow has eluded me, and this is my year. :D

And I'm not talking fall birds from the treestand, that's just not the same as a wiley gobbler on the ground. ;)

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

OK....I'm In.

NC law.....turkey and deer seasons never cross paths.....so if you're after a turkey in NC.....that's all you're after. I know a BUNCH of people who've taken turkeys with the bow.....but I don't personally know ANYONE who's taken one when that's the quarry they were after. I live near the VA border....and a bunch of guys shoot 'em while deer hunting from a treestand. I've never even known anyone here to get one with the bow while TURKEY hunting.

I also know that different folks do different things across the country. I'm just stating what a feat it is HERE to get one with the bow. I can't speak for others....and I'm neither diminishing nor commenting directly on your successes. I'm stating what its like.....HERE.

We're going after them with the bow, this year. period. I've got a bunch of 'em......a great place (or places) to hunt.....and a great attitude.

Looking forward to it, Rob.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

The only way we hunt turkeys is with a bow. Hunt here in iA and then down to MO to hunt with our pro staffers MOM/SWD and her husband Ron on their beautiful land.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Ahhhhhh......Home.......

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I'll get one with the gun first and then try with a bow. It's only my second season.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

This spring I will be leaving my new gun at home. I've decided to hunt spring turkeys with a bow and fall turkeys with a gun. I hunt them differently in the fall and the gun is really cool. 11-87 3 1/2" supermag.[:-]

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Here in Oklahoma, (at least in my county) you're allowed two toms. I plan on using my ultra mag for the first one and then trying to connect on one with my bow.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

GMMAT and ROBPA FYI it is illegal to take a turkey from an elevated tree stand in the state of WI.

GMMAT while you don't know me you can now say you know of someone who has went out with the sole purpose of taking a turkey witha bow. I would never take a turkey while deer hunting in the fear of spooking deer.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

It's more fun to say I don't know anyone....lol:D

I don't even claim Germ in this discussion...;)

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

So whose season is first. Again, KS is April 1st for opener for Bow Only, any states sooner than that?

We'll have to pin a turkey/bow harvest thread to the top for pictures....pictures are a must. ;)

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I didn't get out last year "ONCE". Will this year. I have Bowhunted them 6 years with a BOW ONLY. ONE dead Jake the 2nd year. 6 missed in the following years. No, I don't think I am a bad shot-just when they see anything out of the ordinarry-they are OFF,runnin or flyin.
It "IS" a blast for sure. Good Luck...

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I've never heard of that. I just finished reading all the regulations on their web site and found no mention of stand use at all. I believe that it is legal to hunt from an elevated tree stand in Wis.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

That would be a silly law GregH, it certainly no advantage to be elevated when it comes to birds, well with a bow anyway...

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I'm gonna try to get one early with my shotgun and maybe, just maybe I'll get out there with the bow. I just don't have a good spot to leave up a ground blind while I'm not hunting without fear that it will get stolen.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I drew my Wisconsin tag again this year. I got first season April 12-16 for Unit 20. This will be my second year turkey hunting with a bow. Killed a 22# Tom with 11" beard the first time.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I personally feel it is harder to take a turkey from a treestand than on the ground; bow or gun. Especially early spring or late season fall when there areno leaves to hide you. The birds in IA are leary of everything and anything. If they could smell, you would never get one. If I have a choice for an "easier" way to hunt a turkey, I am going with the ground. I can't imagine WI stating no turkeys from a treestand. A groundblind would be the 1st thing the lawmakers would attack before a treestand IMO.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I'll be attempting to take a PA bird with my recurve. It would just mean so much more to me to be able to take a bird with my recurve.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Perhaps in the spring when calling but not when one happens by in the fall, there is a huge difference in shooting a happen by turkey and one being called in as well as a huge difference in spring and fall as well as hens vs gobblers. I don't know anyone who hunts spring gobblers from a treestand by calling, that would be difficult and probably fruitless. IMO.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I agree with you, Rob.....and like I said....I know TONS of people who shoot 'em from treestands in the Fall. I counted 65 under me Thanksgiving day '05......and there wasn't many days I didn't see them while deer hunting, this past Fall. If it were legal.....I could have killed (_________).

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Turkey hunting with a bow is the only way to go and it's my only weapon I hunt with.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Purchased a Matrix from Mobow, so I'll definitely be going after them with my bow this spring.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Definately will be using a bow this season!

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Seeing birds while in a treesstand is one thing, but drawing on one and killing itis a whole nother story. Guys also can call them in the fall with the lost call. Neither sex is easier to kill IMO. There are just a lot more hens than toms so hens present themselves more often. Both of their sense of eyesight andhearing, coupled with the fearof being eaten by about anything that walks or flies the woods makes them a hard trophy to take withouta blind and just a bow. In a tree or on the ground, you take a turkey with a bow and without a blind, you have accomplished something that few bowhunters have. I have taken two in my life this way. One from the ground, sitting on a stool with a ghilley type outfit, and the other in a treestand wearing predator camo.I have seen tons of birds over the years, drawn on a few, but for one reason or another, couldn't get the shot off or they bust you and run or fly.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Show me the TONS. Pics and their stories would be great. How do you know tons when it is illegal where you live? Just curious and trying to learn why it is hard for me andmy friends and not for yours.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

If you'll go back and look, Don....I said a LONG time back in this thread that I wasn't diminishing anyone's accomplishments with what I was saying. The ONLY reason I don't kill turkeys with my bow is........it's illegal. Trust me when I tell you I've drawn on turkeys from an elevated platform. I've thrown things at them. I've waved my hands at them.

There's an ashen hen I've drawn on several times (and no....I don't put the pin on her). She's a BEAUTIFUL bird and would be a trophy in anyone's eyes. She's untouchable in my county. We don't have an "either-sex" season.....so she can never be legally harvested.

If we had an unlimited harvest for Fall.....I'd bet $1K I could kill6 (I originallythought 10....but I hate for it to sound unbelievable....lol).

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I totally disagree, I've drawn on many many turkeys while in a treestand wearing a variety of camouflages, they were just not in season so no shots. I've hunted many birds face to face on the ground, you blink wrong and they are gone, huge difference. IMO Flocked fall birds are much more relaxed than spring birds searching for the calling. Hens are much easier to call and take as well vs gobblers, spring or fall. The lost call is only one of many vocalizations that will call fall birds.

It's a good accomplishment taking a turkey from a treestand, just not a great one.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

Maybe they're better shots than you, Don....I dunno.

I don't need to explain myself, again.....go back....it's in there.

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

OK, Don....

I was invited to join a deer lease in VA/WV (State line bisects the 2 separate leases). I didn't join.....but the guys in it are all friends of mine (they live around here). I don't know one of them that HASN'T killed a turkey from his treestand.

All I know is......they're not exactly Rod Keck(sp?).....ifyaknowwhatimean?

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I'll be out there with 3 of my daughters as well.... All bow hunting birds!!

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

im kicking around the idea. if i ever get time to get back out in the yard and practice. if i do it itll be the first day of the season..make it or break it. jake or long beard. then itll be back to longbeards only with the shotgun. i never killed a jake and for some reason i wanna keep that streak going...long beards and sharp hooks do more for me i guess. but i would love to take one with the bow. first day on good private land is about the best opprotunity. but thats just because pressure is pretty rediculous. its funny how easy birds will come in that arent pressured. both spring longbeards i rolled so far have been in super secret spots during the first week that are usually not hunted. later in the season they become guys lasts resorts etc and become more pressured..but if you can find the right birds its doable. id love to take one with the bow...but not unless i get time to get back into practicing...which i doubt will happen. just too busy this semester

RE: How many BOW turkey hunters we gonna see this year?
 

I will be again this year in pursuit of the turkey with the bow in KS!