feather cut

well when a bird is at 40 yards and in strut, mistakes happen I had two gobblers come from about 350 yards on their own at about 8:45 this morning. I got a few gobbles from them as they disappeared into the woods. For about an hour they gobbled off and on to my yelps and the pheasants cackling. Before i knew it, he was making his way up hill from where i was this morning to about 50 yards and just strutted and spit and drummed behind me and behind some trees. I watched for about 15 minutes while a jake grazed and the Tom came in and out of strut many times. He wasn’t committing to the decoys and preferred them to go to him as usual So i had to make a decision to try and get a shot off. So i was able to get him a little closer and finally drew my bow when he was strut and looking away. So once i settled my 40 yard pin on him, i shot and it looked a little low but since i shoot the Stricknines, i didn’t think much of it.
However, what i didn’t know was that i missed him by about 2 inches and cut his wing feathers off He flapped his wings once and ran off. It didn’t help that the wind was blowing 30 mph in my face when i shot but who knows if that was a factor

Lesson to be learned: I hate my life

Mistakes happen and lessons are learned each and every time we head out to the woods. That’s what makes us better hunters in the future!

I learned many years ago that taking a shot at a turkey with the bow that is further than 25-30 yards usually ends up a disaster. Most of that has to do with arrow penetration on the bird. With the wide cutting diameters on most turkey broad heads these days your penetration is not very good. Obviously the further the distance is the less kinetic energy that arrow has when hitting the bird. Long and short…I never take a shot over 20 yards anymore. It just doesn’t give the turkey any justice and they deserve that at the very least. I know it’s tough and frustrating to have a bird in gun range (but out of bow range) but you must keep your cool. Remember that’s the choice you make when chasing them with the bow. That’s why it’s one of the bigger challenges out there when it comes to hunting.

I’ve been there before Protour so keep your head up and take the lesson you learned today out with you tomorrow morning! You will get your day in the sun sooner than you know!!

ya its tough. I didn’t realize the size difference when a turkey is strut and out of strut and how big of a difference that makes Oh well, still have two weeks left

Keep after them. Huntin with a bow is tuff, with a lot of near misses! Best of luck!