HuntingNet.com Forums - First Turkey

Thursday afternoon I got off work a few minutes early and decided to get in an afternoon hunt.Things started off bad because I got to the stand later than planned and then when I got there my haul rope broke and I had to fix it! I finally settled in about 3:45, overdressed and wringing with sweat.Then about 4:00 I heard what I thought was deer,but it turned out to be 7 Toms filing down the ridge to my west.When they got to the bottom of the draw I drew my bow and waited for the first bird to find an opening.He stepped into the clear at what I thought was 30 yards , so I settled my 2nd pin on the butt of his wing and touched-off the release.The arrow went right under the gobbler.He ran about 40yards north and I didn't have another shot at him so I knocked another arrow and turned to the next bird now only 20yards away.He found an opening and the 20mph north wind found my arrow.Now all of the birds were gone and I was bummed.I decided to locate my arrows and call it a night.I looked for my 2nd arrow first , but couldn't locate it.So I went to find my first arrow.When I found it, much to my amazement, it had blood on the fletching.So now I headed to the last place I saw him and started looking for blood.I'd gone maybe 20 yards when he got up ,struggling to get away.He got airborn,flew across the draw and down the other ridge about 150yards.I saw the general area where he came down.So off I go.After 15 or 20 minutes I came near some real thick cover and there he went ,trying to escape again.I realized he couldn't run well and now the cover was so thick he couldn't fly so I just ran after him.He squatted down trying to hide and let come up to about 10 yards.I knocked my 3rd and final arrow and tried to find some sort of hole in the tangled mess of cover.I released ,the arrow juked and slammed into a tree.The tom took off again and so did I.He only went about 20yards before squatting this time and now I had an opening at 8 yards.Only problem was, the only arrow I had left had a broadhead that was semi-mangled.I knocked it up , said a very short prayer and finally anchored the bird.I don't have pics yet ,but he weighed 17lbs. had 1 inch spurrs and sported a 10 1/2 inch beard.First turkey I've ever killed by any means and was an adventure I'll never forget.I'll try to post some pics soon.One more thing.I learned yesterday to never , ever ,ever give up too soon on a recovery.Upon recovering the tom I discovered my 1st arrow had completely severed the tendon in his right leg.