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Turkey. My only one this year

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Turkey. My only one this year

Postby pointysticks » 05 26, 2015 •  [Post 1]

Got a friendly reminder that I have been silent for a while. Still lurking for sure. :)

But I arrowed my first long beard. On a winery! Super fun. First time I've ever set up under roosted birds. It was raining toms!

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pointysticks
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Re: Turkey. My only one this year

Postby GobbleFarmer » 05 26, 2015 •  [Post 2]

Raining toms :lol: . Is that your first turkey, or first long beard? :?:
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ~ Benjamin Franklin.
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Re: Turkey. My only one this year

Postby pointysticks » 05 27, 2015 •  [Post 3]

First long beard. I'm all jakes till now.
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Re: Turkey. My only one this year

Postby GobbleFarmer » 05 27, 2015 •  [Post 4]

Well then congratulations, was that one of those 'I had to hold off on all the jakes' or 'this longbeard just happened to be the only legal bird'. Heck why don't you just do a detailed write up-if you have the time, it's so much better that way. :D
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ~ Benjamin Franklin.
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Re: Turkey. My only one this year

Postby pointysticks » 05 27, 2015 •  [Post 5]

okay, true story.

i have exclusive access to about 30 acres of decent turkey land. but the recent droughts crushed the flock. for the past 5 years, i can only manage to arrow jakes. toms were scarce. this was a 3 hour drive for me.

fast forward to this year; i have a buddy that works for a winery. he got exclusive access to hunt birds on the winery property. this place is about 45 mins from my home. sweet!! my buddy kills 3 birds last year, but discovered he just wasnt that fond of butchering birds. for some reason the smell killed him. made him gag. haha..so he invited me this year.

we both timed it badly so i only got two hunts in. he just got his wife pregnant with twins, so he has a lot on his plate. we got out there one day, and called in an awesome bird. from way out on the horizon. on the way in, he crossed paths with a couple of winery owner friends..with shotguns. the bird died gloriously, and we left the spot.
we were both crestfallen for losing the birds to a big shotgun blast.

a few weeks later, he called and ask me to go again. he got the keys to a new area, that no one has hunted before. perfect virgin flock of birds. i agreed and we both decided to get there at dark thirty. we got there super early. picture this. big expanses of grape vines. in the middle were big groves of giant oak trees. it didnt take a genious to imagine where the birds will roost. we crept in at dark..and started to set up the blind. the biggest trees formed a triangle. we posted up near the smallest of the trees. we could hear the flap of wings overhead!! birds would fly from one tree to the other.

we climbed in our blind and drank coffee waiting for the sun. at sun up..nothing..silence!! what? we got worried they snuck off. at 6:15..all hell broke loose. it rained hens and toms. they dont come straight down. they glided over our heads, landed, and came running back to the middle of the "triangle"..i had my DSD hen about 15 yards in front of me.
i about came unglued. there were the biggest turkeys of my entire life all around us. one big giant tome came in to 20..i lifted my bow and it saw movement and deflated his full strut and walked off. in comes a smaller tom..i come to full draw and my friend whispers, "no..dont shoot that one, it is the smallest one!".. i let down. at that time a really good bird was ducking under the irrigation lines of the grapes. one row at a time. it got to 20 yards and i couldnt handle it anymore. went to full draw, let it rip. the bird did a somersault and died with a little death flap. we sat still and waited until the birds left to run to my dead bird.

i dont care who you are. if decending birds dont blow up your adrenalin, you have no soul. :). it is by far the most exciting thing i have ever witnessed. we tried to get it on video but our vid is out of focus it is funny. you could hear us whispering stupid things to each other. hahahha..
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Re: Turkey. My only one this year

Postby GobbleFarmer » 05 28, 2015 •  [Post 6]

Much better :D , thanks. we need the stories when waiting in the off-season. I'm glad your bud kept you from shootin' that little thing, and I bet you are too! ;)
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ~ Benjamin Franklin.
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Re: Turkey. My only one this year

Postby TurkeyBowMaster » 05 13, 2016 •  [Post 7]

Congrats. I took 10 this season with archery gear, but turkey are my thing.
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Re: Turkey. My only one this year

Postby TurkeyBowMaster » 05 14, 2016 •  [Post 8]

Flydown is one of my favorite times, especially when they are landing close. I tripled for the first time this year soon after flydown near a big roost in Northern Nebraska. It's a very good strategy getting the toms to commit to the decoys before they get henned up.
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