Got the tag filled yesterday morning. My uncles land just outside Rochester is always full of birds. But my experience in actually calling them in has been very difficult to say the least. So I typically try to set my blind up in an ambush location to try and cut them off between their roosts and the field that they inevitably end up in (just about everyday) It is a small pinch between the horse pasture and his actual yard. But, for what ever reason, they almost always use this path or the one the opposite side of the pasture, so it is a guessing game. These Toms are very, very vocal while on roost and as soon as they hit the ground, it’s absolute silence until they reach the fields….I’ve never had much luck with decoys and/or calling them in. So, I’ve used my past experiences with where they travel to try and close the deal. Opening weekend, I picked the wrong side of the pasture and watched all the action about 120 yards away. So this past Sunday I set up on the other side and hoped I had outsmarted them. As luck would have it, I watched 5 hens come off roost and work their way to me, they walked by my blind 10 yards away. As I kept looking to my right, the Tom’s and Jake’s were in hot pursuit, two of each. Neither tom was a monster, but when your bow hunting, you don’t get too many chances, so I picked out the one I liked and let the arrow fly. I heard the arrow hit home and watched as my turkey made his way to the edge of the woods and hunkered down. I quickly grabbed my bow and walked over to where I watched him drop in. He was still sitting there but his head was up. I stuck another arrow into his head and claimed my prize. Two year old bird, 3/4″ spurs and an 8″ beard. Not a monster by any means, but he ended a 4 year drought with bow in hand.
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…. rrr
