Ive learned a few things this spring about turkey hunting and the most profound one is that turkey hunting with a bow is one of the hardest tasks to fulfill 
Well opening day on Friday for the MN archery season, this proved to be true. I had set up initially at the bottom of a draw in between a hay field to the north and to the south, a big strip of pine trees on a hill where i believed the turkeys roosted. Since friday was such a windy day and i couldn’t hear any gobbles, i moved my blind up to the edge of the hay field where i could see almost a half mile to the west at about 7:15 am. Well at 8:30, i see two longbeards making their way in my direction from about 400 yards away 
So to make this short, I had called them up as they circled and came up the draw where i had initially set up 
It took them about 30 minutes to close the distance to within 40 yards where the strutter that i had my eye on stayed back in the open wooded area and put on a show for the hen decoy. He would not come any closer so i had to open the back window to get a shot. I ranged him at 39 yards and drew when he was in strut. With the wind blowing in my face at about 30 mph 
I shot and i thought i hit a touch back, but in the end, i took off one of his wing feathers and that was that 
Sunday morning i was hunting a different property and with no gobbles close and two gun shots within 300 yards where the birds were gobbling, i packed up and headed to the same property where i had missed the gobbler the day before at 7:15. This time, i had my blind set up at a finger into a soon to be alfalfa field where i had seen those two strutters friday morning. Well within 15 minutes, i had a Tom gobbling with in 200 yards behind me. I clucked, purred, and yelped off and on before i saw a silent gobbler making his way up through a pine tree cluster with a hen at full strut behind me I was closing the distance very slowly and i had a tree ranged at 45 yards in case he came within that distance. Well as the hen got closer to that 45 yard mark, i saw that she had about a 3-4 inch beard 
Now i really wanted to take a crack at her, but the sight of the sun glowing the tips of the Tom’s fan while he was in strut changed my mind 
He ended up getting to that tree that was 45 yards away and my self-efficacy at shooting that distance was very low since i missed that bird at 40. Im going to throw this out there that i believe this is the same bird i missed on Friday because there was absolutely nothing wrong with his fan and his beard was very identical. Anyway, i passed on the shot in hopes that he would get closer, but he ended up moving farther away and gobble every time i would call
Well to my surprise, as i was texting my buddy as what to do, i catch a glimps of a bird 10 yards from my blind to my left that i didn’t see coming I slowly turn and see 3 jakes making their way to my hen decoy. So i slowly turn around to take a shot at either one and realize that i can get away with more movement than i initially thought!! These birds aren’t that bright I drew on the jake with the biggest beard and stopped him at 20 yards and smoked him with a Stricknine 
He tried to run, but with one leg busted up he didn’t go far and nose dived into the ground after he tried to fly 
The jakes ran over to attack him as i was jumping for joy in the blind 
10 minutes later, i notice a gobbler coming over a hill about 90 yards away as the Tom i first had my eye on gobbled multiple times back at the hen he was with. Once i get out of the blind, i walk over to my bird and there is a hen and 3 other gobblers within 30 yards of my jake
However im not disappointed because who knows if i would have got a shot at one of them. Overall, incredible season with 3 out of the 4 people including myself that i am close with have taken birds with their bows since Friday
Ill be headed back to this spot in the morning with my brother in hopes of bagging a bird!!! Good luck to all who are still going at it
The Jake weighed 17 pounds and had a 4 1/4 inch beard 
