Hey guys -

Just got my first turkey with a bow this weekend. Heck, first turkey for me, period. 2004 was my first turkey season and I got hooked into it big time. I spent a lot of hours in the woods. I'd never done it and nobody I'd ever hunted with had hunted turkeys, either. Somehow, it's not as popular around here as it should be.

Anyway, I fumbled around last year, not really knowing what to do, but trying everything, reading everything, buying CDs, renting DVDs, etc. Started 'getting it' about 3/4 of the way through last season, I think, but by then the pickins were slim.

Needless to say, I was REALLY anticipating the 2005 spring season. But things came up and I didn't get to go out until the 2nd weekend. I got up at 3 am on Saturday morning and got packed up and took off for some state land close to my hometown where there aren't a great deal of hunters. (not a ton of birds, either, though, but I knew there was a small group of them there) I got my blind set up well before sunup, just outside of a huge tree grove where I'd inadvertantly bumped some off the roost late last year during deer season. I ended up having quite a wait until sunup.

When the time came, I started some calling on a scratch plate, but when the gobbles came they were 500 yards away on another section of state land on the other side of the road that I came in on. I hadn't arrived at my folks' place until midnight the night before, so I didn't get a chance to do any scouting or 'putting the birds to bed'. Turns out I was quite a ways away from where I needed to be. Despite the distance and the setup error, I had a tom gobbling to me, but he wasn't interested enough to cross the road and the slough to get to me. I ended up packing it in after it started raining pretty hard midway through the morning.

That afternoon, my buddy got into town and we decided to go back out to that area and set up closer to where they had roosted the night before. I thought that even if we didn't have any luck that night, we could leave our blinds there and be ready for the next morning. I set up my blind facing south on the western slope of a slight hill, with a big pine tree on the east side of me, to my left. I put my jake decoy about 10 yards out, directly in front of me, facing my blind, and two hen decoys to the west of it. My buddy set his blind up on the top of the hill to the east of me and slightly south, facing north. He was only using one hen decoy, which I couldn't see.

We were there for a few hours before we got any response to our calls, but we finally heard one way off in the distance to the northeast of us. From my position, I couldn't see the bird at all, but he seemed to be moving north/south without getting any closer to us. It went on like that for quite awhile. I tried to back off the calling a bit, hoping the tom would think that the hen I was pretending to be was moving away from him, but it didn't seem to work. My buddy was using 3 different calls and the bird seemed to be responding to each. I was mostly using my slate call, but I had a fighting purr system (two plunger calls) that I tried a couple of times, too. After awhile, I tried mixing it up a bit more, doing some purrs and clucks. The tom responded to me, but not as fast as he seemed to be responding to my buddy's calls.

After what seemed like forever (even longer than it takes to read all this babble I'm writing) I could tell he was moving in. As the gobbles got closer, I was sure he was within sight of my buddy's blind, as he sounded as if he was on top of the hill, just north of him. Then I could have sworn it was two different toms gobbling back to us. I was just hoping that after my buddy got one that the other would come close enough to my setup to give me a shot.

As I was anticipating a shot from my buddy's blind, I heard some rustling behind me, then the spit and drum. One of the two birds was apparantly going to check out my setup. I got ready to draw just as he walked within 3 feet to the right of my blind. By the time I saw him, he was drawing a bead on my jake decoy and was looking for a fight. He was in full strut as he got past the front of my blind and I drew on him. He was almost to my jake as I was making sure I'd anchored right. I touched off the release without even noticing I'd done it and the next thing I knew the tom was rolled over. He kicked about 3 times and lay still. I got another arrow knocked right away, though, thinking he'd get up and I'd need to stick him again. Plus, I thought there was another tom coming in, so I didn't want to jump out of the blind after the downed one and scare him off.

I waited, but nothing happened. No more gobbles and my bird wasn't moving. I put down the bow and called again to see if I'd get a response from the other tom. Nothing. My buddy called, too, so I thought he could see the other one. No response, though. I called again and after hearing nothing, I decided to get out and check out my bird. I was breathing like I'd just ran a marathon and shaking pretty bad by that time. I got out cautiously and looked around, but didn't see anything. I made a motion to my buddy's blind and he popped his head out to see what was going on. I motioned toward my bird and started running to it. He came down to check it out and I found out there never was a 2nd tom and my buddy hadn't seen the one I shot until he got out and came down to my setup. He had been wondering what had happened, as he knew the tom got close, but then the gobbling stopped suddenly. ( a muzzy'll do that to a bird, though!)

Anyway, it worked out great for me, but unfortunately my buddy didn't get a bird yet, but he's got some time before the season closes.

The tom came in at 24 lbs. Beard wasn't overly long; I never did measure it, but I'd guess around 7 inches. Spurs were 7/8 of an inch and were starting to hook a bit. I brought it in to the taxidermist to get a full strut mount done. Taxidermist agreed that the beard wasn't overly long, but said it was twice as thick as they normally are.

Sorry the story was so long, but I'm still pretty pumped about finally getting one. I love deer hunting, but nothing beats turkeys, IMO. Nothing like hearing that gobble up close.



edit: changed subject line to reflect multiple pics.

Congrats cj. Great story and bird. I'm still looking for my first one. Went last year and once so far this year. I agree, I love deer hunting but I sure do want to bag a gobbler. Way to go.

Great job and great story!!! I am going to have to start making time for the old gobblers. I am too busy in the spring with the honey doo's so I never put in for a permit, that will change!!!

Congrats to you, a great way to take your first bird!!!

Thanks for the pics.

Very nice tom, story and picture

Congrats....nothing like taking a gobbler with archery tackle

Awesome story, I'm using the shotgun this year but next year bow is definately on the list. I just need a blind. Turkey hunting is something special.

Congrats on a true trophy!

congrats buddy, it was a good story and not a bad bird either

Way to go