All in all I had a pretty good turkey season this spring, no turkey on the table but good times in the woods.
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Opening morning was a pretty close to perfect morning. Toms were gobbling all around my set up at day break and answered my calls shortly after they flew down from the roost. I had a nice Tom follow a hen just out of range down the edge of a bean field. Two toms to the east were still answering my calls when I would yelp and cluck waiting for a bit in between calls. The toms gained some ground and were getting fired up as they closed the distance. The first tom the came by could resist joining in and started gobbling to the west. Three toms closing in from different directions. They finally broke into the open the tom from the west came strutting right in to the decoy. From my hiding spot behind a brush pile I slowly worked my bow into position as the tom’s head hidden by his tail feathers. I picked my spot, drew, and released. Looked like a solid hit and the tom went down, but only for a second. The tom was back on his feet and running then took off flying across the corner of the field. He landed about 150 yards away.
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I waited a half hour or so and walked over where I saw him land. I found some blood and the broadhead end of my arrow. I saw the tom just as he took off running into thick brush. He left more blood where he took off from.
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I found no more blood or signs of where the tom went. I searched through the brush for a good 5 hours and found nothing. I was pretty bummed to say the least. Never found that bird and I still wonder where he went. I decided to mount a string tracker to my bow that evening. I found that a small loom clamp around the wire on my quiver worked out pretty well. No more escaping turkeys.
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I hunted quite a few more mornings without another shot. Called a few more toms into shotgun distance but couldn’t get them into bow range.
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