Gobbler Action April 8, 9 & 10

Last week I intended to bowhunt wild turkeys more during the week, but as you may or may not have noticed I’ve been updating Bowhunting.net with more advanced application software  (that will add several important new functions as well as spiffy up the websites appearance and navigation). Frankly, this is a huge job and it’s gonna take time to add all the new sections, that’s in addition to updating the existing content and display too.

Fortunately I can do what’s needed with the “one thing at a time” method.

On Friday I got up an hour before daylight and introduced my frying pan to generous portions of corned beef hash, fresh sliced potatoes and 4 basted eggs. A few minutes after the hash and potatoes I was in the wild turkey woods and inside my ground blind with my bow and turkey calls and a thermos of black coffee.

My iPhone AccuWeather predicted a clear sky and they were correct. Soon the beginning sunlight put a glow in the dark sky and daylight hurried in. Gobbles sounded off from the west (the neighbors pond and roost trees), the east (river roosts) … but not yet from the north.

I did a fly down call with my Billy Yargus Blue Cutter mouth call and paused, listening.

Blue Cutter custom mouth call from World Champion caller Billy Yargus  

Surprise, a Hen walked past me on the right of the Double Bull blind I was inside. I eased my iPhone out of my right jacket pocket and took the hen’s picture. It was really close. Surprise #2: a big Tom gobbler walked around the blind’s left side, in full strut. As you can see I got a picture of both wild turkeys.

I pushed my phone into my jacket pocket and then gripped my bow and carefully lifted it off the ground and moved it so I could shoot. When I got my sight on the Tom he was very close to the cedar tree ahead of him in the picture. I got my sight pin on his fan and moved it to where all the long fan feathers come together. And now … he was behind some of the limbs and branches on the cedar tree.

A shot was no longer in the mix. I cut hurriedly but softly, but the big Tom ignored me. He had all his attention focused on the hen and was definitely staying with her.

CONTINUED…