Still an Adrenalin Rush

I saw a longbeard in strut on Friday afternoon and had a friend call me that evening saying he saw him in the same area right before roosting time. He called me yesterday evening and again told me he saw him in the same spot with two girlfriends. (I call that Eastern Shore Roosting). That was all I needed to find myself there early this morning with bow and decoys in hand. I used a little two sided, teepee blind and set out a Smith hen and a jake in semi strut 20 yards from me in good view of any approaching turkey.

A good gobble sounded about 125 yards back in the woods when I was making final prep. I moved about 20 yards to my right and called on the slate; he cut me off with another gobble. I moved back to the set up and picked up the bow and crossed my fingers...my expectations were high. No more gobbles, but in about 5 mins. he walked out of the woods (typical 2 year old, about 8" beard), by himself catching sight of the decoys. As soon as he saw them he gobbled and dropped into strut. He moved out about 35 yards, gobbled and strutted his stuff slowly across in front of me heading towards the DSD. No drumming but an occassional gobble. A hen unknowingly helped me out by yelping as she came out within 10 yards of the decoys.

Then a longbeard came out from the opposite direction making a beeline for the first gobbler (could mess things up); which promptly ran him off. The first tom went back into strut and started moving slowly towards the decoys again. I came to full draw as he went behind two huge pines and estimated an 18 - 20 yard shot. He finally strutted out broadside, I settled the pin at the top of the drumstick and squeezed...the arrow hitting the mark. He couldn't run and flapped to a stop about 7 yards. Hands on him, heart still pounding; the end of another great bow hunt. Time 6:05 AM.

The Slick Trick broke both legs and tore up part of his breast...what a mess. Things happened so fast that it wasn't until then that I realized I hadn't hooked the arrow up to the string tracker. The arrow went completely through and laid next to him. What a hunt; still as exciting as the first bird forty eight years ago.