Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Back in the day, killing a tom with a bow was a big deal. Seriously. It took a massive amount of skill, time and effort. This is an animal with eagle vision, superhuman hearing, and some of the wiriest nerves on the planet. Not anyone can go out with a bow and arrow and shoot one. It just didn't happen. Only the best of the best could do it consistently.

Nowadays - anyone with a few dollars to spare can do it.

Why? The advent of the Ground Blind.

Whydoes the King believe thata portable ground blind "devalues" taking an archery tom? Simple. By eliminating his top two lines of defense: Sight and Sound.

In the past, a would-be turkey bowhunter would have to hide behind a rose bush or a treetrunk and try to come to fulldraw on a spooky tom without getting busted. Good luck with that.

There were no decoys to distract him. It was a fair fight. Mano-a-mano.

Not so "fair" anymore.

See, the game has changed, and it's now kosher to camp out inside a giant blacked-out groundblind - where the hunter lies in wait wearing a black sweatshirt, with his silhouette eliminated by closing all the windows (except for the shooting hole). His movements are shrouded in darkness. His sounds are muffled by the interior lining. As if that's not enough, we're using flocks of highly-detaileddecoys to divert their attention away from the big camouflage cube sitting at the edge of the woods.

Hell, it's gotten to the point where a first-timer 12-year-oldcan go out with a guide and shoot a turkey with his bow - while carrying on a conversation with the caller inside the blind.

The King says: this stinks.

I just feel like the whole accomplishment of killing a turkey from the ground with the bow is being diluted by these blind-hunting schmucks who obviously can't git-r-dun without using the blind as a crutch.

Gone are the days whentaking a spring tom with archery tacklewas a big deal.


So what say you? Is the King 2 jewels short of a karat, or is he preaching the gospel?

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

the king is a few jools short but that has nothing to do with this thread! LOL:D! I can't give much of an opinion as I have never killed a turkey with a bow. I will this year though and I will do it out of a pop-up blind. My plan is to kill one with the BP shotgun then one with the Marquis, and then one with the recurve. I personally will not devalue any of these kills.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

a aint touchin this one with a 40 foot arrow...........







this aught get super interesting, super quick....alot of ways this can go....

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I'll let you know how easy it was if/when it happens this year.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

to each his own, if you like to use a blind then that is cool. i personally i love to use a ground blind, i don't always use one when bow hunting, but it is a great tool. i don't think it dilutes anything.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Fran, start diluting the vodka a bit more!:D

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

"Back in the day, killing adeer with a bow was a big deal. Seriously. It took a massive amount of skill, time and effort. This is an animal with eagle vision, superhuman hearing, can smell a fart in gale force winds and some of the wiriest nerves on the planet. Not anyone can go out with a bow and arrow and shoot one. It just didn't happen. Only the best of the best could do it consistently.

Nowadays - anyone with a few dollars to spare can do it.

Why? The advent of the 360fps compound bow"

Does using a hyperfast shooting compound bow devalue an archery deer? Probably no more than a ground blind devalues an archery Tom ;).


Each hunter chooses to make the hunt as easy, or as hard, as they want it to be. The value in a hunt can only be measured by each individual hunter. When we start letting others tell us whether our hunts are "good enough" then we start hunting for the wrong reasons.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I have been in the Archery only phase for deer and turkey since 2001. Six years now, and scored 4 Toms. I am yet to use a man made ground blind! Now I have cut some pine bows and stacked them. Is this your idea of a ground blind? Not to me. 2 years ago I shot one while standing in 3 ft high slough grass no cover other than that.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Let's put it this way: Does anyone believe that the level of difficulty DOESN'T increase when you take the Ground Blind out of the equation?



And Yes, Bruce. The King's hyperfast bow DOES indeed dilute his accomplishment when he shoots a deer. Animals stand no chance against such an awesome weapon. It's true.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Hunting and theequipment we use changes, deal with it. Or throw away your turkey calls and try and sneak up on a turkey and spear it.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I think a man made blind does give an advantage.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

As with most of your rants I voted for C).....:D

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

A bit testy arnt we?

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

LOL .....so did I!!! Boy how we missed them when he was on hiatus, tho!!!!:D

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Then I am guessing you will be hunting Tom's out of a ground blind this year LOL ;).

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

It's still harder than deer hunting.;)

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

So, Teejay is a guy who does it the hard way. Mad props. The King has tried and failed many times. That's not easy.

Let the record show, however, that the King has not - and will not - hunt from a ground blind. He refuses.

Just saying: I think if you took the ground blinds away from a lot of our "turkey bowhunters" there would be a whole hell of a lot less toms eating the shaft this spring. At least me thinks so. [:o]

The King also thinks that if it wasn't REALLY easier to do it with a ground blind - everybody wouldn't want one. [:-]

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Bruce this is Frans Turkey hunting ground, any questions?

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

One question: Does he use a white ground blind there and put it in the middle or does he use a gray one and setup along the side?

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Kinda like taking away our treestands for deer hunting, Fran???? I agree it's easier with a stand.

I think the number of archers who've taken aturkey with their bow would go way down, also.....if you took away the ones killed out of a treestand.

I need all the help I can get with bow turkeys. But I'm gonna either ditch the blind if I get one this year......or go longbow in '09.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

No he baits them:D Brings some corn and dresses like the Famers daughter;)

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

For the sake of all that's holy ... I just puked in my mouth [:'(];)

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I have seen a picture of him, the only way he could pass for the farmer's daughter is if she were 11 yrs old. Or I guess he could wear long sleeves and pass for her at 14 yrs old :D:D.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

That reminds me, Germ. I need my turkey baiting dress back. Season is getting close. You keep saying you're sending it back to me, but my mailbox is always empty. Getting tired of this runaround. [&o]

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

The King has many tactics for turkey hunting on his ground.
He will even belly craw through pig poop, hang from the rafters, shoot one from the tractor in second gear[8D] He even once hid inside a feed bag than popped out and whacked one. He is the king;)

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Mrs. Hemry stitched up the hole in the rear, what on earth did you do:D

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I don't wanna talk about it.

Now go sit in your blind and eat your vienna sausages.
__________________________________________________ ___

Speaking of diluting accomplishments: Chew on this -

We'd all probably frown on a guy who killed a turkey inside a fence. Not so fast!Really, a turkey can easily fly over the fence. So it's free to come and go at its leisure. So the "fence" is a non-factor. Right?

But, we don't frown on "blind hunting" which strips the bird of his two main defenses. Why is that?

So what's worse? Killing a tom in a "high fence" enclosure OR killing one from a ground blind.

Smell what's cookin'?

For the record, the King doesn't expect this opinion to be popular, b/c blind hunting has become widely accepted in the hunting world. Just calling a spade a spade, that's all. Or at least addressing an issue that hasn't really been addressed by the popular media. Obviously, Cabela's sells a lot of blinds, and magazines peddle a lot of ad space to blind manufacturers - so the smart dollar says that most magazines or tv shows wouldn't touch this with a ten-foot-pole. [:-]

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Once again the King has spoken :DDam your entertaining:D[8D] Dude, i seen you on a comercial where three MAD women were trying to run over you in a mini van :DWhats up with that?? [8D]

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I've killed Tom Turkeys with a Bow using a Blind, and not using a Blind. They died either way!;)

Dan

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

The King is sooo right on this topic that it elevates him to being "the man". I don't know if I call it cheating, but it certainly is an "apples to oranges" comparison.

I have killed ELEVEN turkeys with my bow. But all of them has been in the comfort of a DB blind where I can move around almost at free will.

I have hunted just as much if not more for turkeys with a bow and only natural set ups and got ZERO turkeys to show for my efforts.

I have made the argument to others that bow and blind is in MANY instances EASIER than trying to shoot one with a shotgun. I never get anyone to agree, because to do so would deflate their egos, but I have hunted a lot of turkeys with both gun and bow, and I know what I say is true.

So why do I continue to hunt turkeys with bow and blind? Mostly cause I don't care what anyone else thinks about it and I still enjoy it.

I don't have the time to hunt turkeys as much asI used to,so it expedites thehunt.In addition,the blind gives me a chance to take a lot of pictures of other wildlife as well.

Is it harder than killing any ole deer? Maybe in some places. But in my little part of the woods where both deer and turkey are plentiful and the turkeys roosts are fairly predictable, I'd say it is a wash.

Just my experience. Agree or deny yourself the truth that the King so freely speaks, the choice is yours.;)

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

It is much harder to shoot a turkey out of one of those Double Bull Blinds with the central A/C and kitchenette in them than shoot a deer from a tree stand? I don't think so!
I have no problem with someone using a blind to bow hunt turkeys,but there is no question the degree of difficulty is considerably less.The most important piece of the equation there would be where you set up,and thumping the Tom where you need to.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

So does it not beg the question..

Which is a bigger accomplishment??

Shotgun turkey with no blind ??

or

Bow Turkey with blind??

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I don't know, whichever one would make me "the man" is my guess though ;).

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Movement is more difficult to get away with with the shotgun.Weapon used more difficult with archery equipment.It is probably a wash.Now factor in super duper choke tubes and Hevi shot,where you can dump them at 45 to 50 yards with the shotgun,then I don't know.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I see what you're saying. Using a blind definitely makes the task a bit easier. Let's not beat around the bush though. We might as well call it cheating. I think the same goes for deer hunting. We are sitting 20-30' up in our comfy stands waiting on our unsuspecting prey to walk by. Binoculars and a range finder wrapped around our necks with our 300+ fps bows in our hands. That doesn't seem too fair either.

Just for the record, I've never hunted out of a blind. However, I'm buying one real soon specifically for turkey hunting this spring. Although I've never done it; hunting from a blind doesn't guarantee a kill. I'd still say its a challenge but it no way compares to hanging upside down in a tree with a longbow in hand.[8D]

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I've done both.

Which is easier?

My opinion is the shotgun by a big margin.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

I think thats something we could all agree on.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Depends on the state!

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

Shotgunning a turkey is bar far easier than killing one out of a blind with a bow.

RE: Diluting accomplishments: Archery Turkeys
 

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