Hey guys!

After logging in countless hours last year with zero to show for it, I hit the jackpot this year with my 2nd bird on my second day hunting. I got this one on public land in west river, SD. My friend and I took off west on Friday and got out to the general area just in time to drive to a couple of public land locations before dark, just so we'd be able to find them the next morning. We had no chance to really "scout" much, other than deciding which land looked the best.

Got out a little late on Saturday morning. We set our blinds about 200 yards apart along a slight hill next to a grove of trees with a creek running through it. I was kind of worried about whether or not there were any birds in the area, but I had just set up my blind and was putting out decoys when I heard the first gobble of the morning. I got them all set and hurried back into the blind. I called a little and got some positive responses. Went back and forth with what I thought were several birds for about a half hour until I saw one walking my way about 250 yards out. He was taking his time, gobbling some, eating some, meandering about. He didn't come directly in, but instead walked off to my left. He got to within about 25 yards of my setup and stopped when he heard my buddy call. He didn't gobble, but just kind of looked about half nervously. It looked like he wasn't going to come in any farther, but I didn't want to drop my bow to pick up the call again, so I decided I'd pull back on him. I had zero'd in on him for a few seconds when it looked like he was going to turn around and walk out, so I touched off the release and stuck him. He went about 15 yards before piling up. I stepped it off later to about 28 yards from the blind to where I hit him. Definitely at the distance limit of what I felt I should shoot at.

The only sad part is, we didn't have a scale or a tape measure, but my WAGs would be: 15-17lbs, 2 years old, 7 inch beard, 1/4-1/2 spurs. Looks like he was out of the jake stage, but not a boss yet by any means. Plenty good enough for me, though. One cool part, though, is that unless I'm mistaken, this one's a Merriam's and my first was a Rio, so I'm 2 birds into a grand slam!

Used the exact same setup as the first bird (except being 300+ miles away) 04 BowTech Liberty, Gold Tip 3D Pro arrow (same one, even) with a Muzzy broadhead. Mostly used a slate call.

I'll try to update this with more pics later. Oh yeah - still debating on what to do with it, mounting wise. Only know I'm not going to do a full mount. I might spring for a half-mount, though, instead of just the beard and tail.

Nice turkey

Congrats. Really nice bird.

Dude nice bird. Looks like you've entered the "TURKEY ZONE"

Nice turkey and picture![8D]

Congrats. Two birds with a bow. That's something to be proud of.

Beautiful bird!