This past Spring turkey season of 2015 was really exciting. I had harvested a few turkeys by now and really wanted to improve my calling and work on scouting to become a better hunter.
I am very grateful to have permission to hunt on several properties, including new permission the the field right beside our house. The benefit of this is when I work until 4 I can still make it home in time to get out for an evening hunt.
Matt has never shot a Tom so the season started with hopes for him to harvest a turkey. We went out several times together even to the point where we called a beautiful Tom in only to get spooked and leave out of range. A Sunday morning after a long week Matt invited me to go out with him hunting on his dad's property. I decided to stay home and of course he had 3 jakes come into the decoys that morning and harvested his bird.
I was disappointed to miss his hunt and knew from then on I would make time to go even if I had a long week.
We made plans to hunt an evening at Wing-Ding's where I shot both my Toms in 2014. Matt was coming with me this time and set up in a treestand with the camera. We have never filmed a hunt before and we're just doing it for fun, but thankfully it all worked out.
I set up in a ground blind with my compound bow. I really wanted to take a bird with my bow as this is something I have never done before. I used a wooden box call and immediately received and a response from a gobbler. I called soft and then more aggressively and had a beautiful Jake come in full strut to a Jake and Hen set up by Avian-X decoys. Zink's decoys are so lifelike even the turkeys cannot tell if they are real or not. I came to fill draw at 15 yards and burried the pin into the butt of his wing. My arrow took off and immediately the Turkey was not going anywhere. When hunting you want a clean kill and bow hunting turkeys is especially challenging. He flopped around for longer than I would have liked and although I made a good shot it took a bit of time for my bird to die. I am proud to harvest my first Turkey with a bow I have decided due to the difficulty a shotgun will be my number one weapon for turkey hunting from here on out. I will leave my bow for deer season.
Here is a photo of my with my first Turkey taken with a compound bow.
