I took Friday off, planning on spending as much time as I needed to bring home a tom. The forecast for the day called for a very warm day (it was 70 degrees driving in the dark) with steady winds of 20, gusting to 35.....just what an archer wants to hear
My mantra of "nobody, nobody, nobody" as I was driving to the parking lot on the public wildlife area was met with success as it was empty when I pulled in at O'dark thirty.
I did not hear nearly as many gobbles this opening weekend as last years opener. I had tucked back into a corner of the field so that the howling warm south winds barely moved the decoys. Jake-like gobbles came off the trees upwind. On further reflection, there could have been lots of birds gobbling on the roost, but if they weren't close or upwind, they could have gobbled all day and I would not be able to hear them.
I was tucked into a cedar tree, hoping that the birds would approach the decoys and I was happy that it worked out as planned. Three jakes came in to say hello to the hen. My semi-strut jake decoy was quite off putting to these young turkeys.
I have had an internal discussion this winter about using my crossbow in turkey hunting. My fall turkey success was partially a crossbow harvest first. I didn't trust that the bolt had done a lethal job, so I finished the wobbling turkey with my shotgun. Does this count as a "first" or not. And really, why does this even matter to me?
The debate in my head this winter was whether I would shoot a jake, or would I hold out for a tom? This is archery opening weekend, and there is still a full month and a half of spring season to harvest two bearded birds. And now here 7 yards in front of me are three jakes, milling around my decoy. The biggest bird was clear of his two buddies. Some unseen force pulled my head down on the stock, centered the cross hairs (20,30,40 and 50 yards) on the central crosshair (20 yards) and squeezed. Airmailing the bolt over the intended target (7 yards is less than 20 yards kansadad!!! DUH YOU KNUCKLEHEAD) the jakes milled around and then started to slowly walk away.
In for a penny, in for a pound, I pulled another bolt off the quiver, and recocked the crossbow. The jakes were slowly walking to my left, and appropriately skittish. Mentally calculating the distance, I calmed my breathing and focused on the going away spine shot offered by the jake on the left of the group. As the crosshairs were right where wanted, I might have forgot I was shooting a crossbow with a squeezing trigger control required, and may have instead reverted to my standard crush the shotgun trigger. Arrow away, I heard the impact, and saw the jake react as if impacted, but I knew that my aim was not true. All three birds ran off, with a chagrined kansasdad sitting there "asking what did I just do? "
One lone wing feather with a cut mark fluttering across the cut soybean field and my ears told me that something was hit. The way that all three of those birds ran off and the angle of the shot attempt makes me think that all that was hit was the wing (solo feather?). I marked where the birds ran across the field and entered the woods, and noted the direction that they were fleeing. I could see into the woods and follow them until they ran down into the dry watercourse. I hustled over hoping against reality that I would look down and see a dead turkey, but nothing. Increasing circular search pattern from the last spot I saw them go, I never turned up any turkeys, dead or otherwise.
After an intensive search, I returned to my hidey hole on the edge of the field. Five jakes approached from the east, perhaps unnerved by the half strut jake decoy shuddering and moving herky jerky in the wind, they slowed down their approach and finally stalled out about 35 yards out. After a quick discussion, it seemed they decided that staying away from these weird newcomers to their field, they moved to the far edge of the field.
Dark clouds with a lowering ceiling and rumbling thunder rolled in, spitting rain, and then heavy rain, and then finally dropping stinging hail which chased two toms off the field that had been headed my way.
This scene provided the comic relief to my keystone cops attempt at getting my first turkey with a crossbow. With apologies to Sesame Street......
"Some of these things are not like the other"
