Minnesota Metro Area Turkey Bow Hunt Season "A"

Well, my 5 day MN Turkey season is over with and I still have not bagged a MN Turkey yet. However, I have learned a very valuable lesson and would like to share it with you guys so you do not make the same mistake I did. Read on to see what mistake caused me to leave my turkey tag unfilled. I was bow hunting the first season here in MN in the Metro Zone. Along on my hunts with me were IDO members and good friends Steve Huettl and Brad Juaire. This was my first time hunting Turkeys in MN and I’m pretty new to the game all together. So it was great spending time hunting with Brad and Steve, as everyday I was increasing my very limited Turkey knowledge from these two guys years of turkey hunting experience.

The first 3 days we just hunted for a couple hours each morning and were being faced with some very quiet birds as we only heard less then a handful of gobbles and only one of those was from a turkey on the ground. Our tactic to try to harvest a bird would be basically to set up on field edges in the morning where we thought the turkeys would be or travel to. We would be set up in ground blinds with decoys set up and try to call them into our spread. Our decoy spread was 4-5 birds with two different little groups. The first would be a strutting B-Mobile fanned out behind a bedded hen. The other group that was positioned about 10 yards apart was either two hens or a hens and a jake. These two small groups of decoys were set up 5-10 yards from the blind. We basically hunted 2 different pieces of property on the south side of the metro. Although, we started to key in one certain property as we started to finally see TOM’s every day out and started playing the cat and mouse game of trying to predict what they would do. Just when we thought we had them pegged, they switched it up on us again on the 4th day this past Saturday. However, on a good note we noticed that finally on this 4th day, the birds became a lot more vocal as we heard quite a few gobbles from the roost and a few from the ground that day. With no real close encounters with Toms yet, we had quite a few single hens come into our decoy spread.Brad had to leave on Saturday so it was just Steve and I on the final two days.

So finally it came down to the last day of my season, but we had high expectations as we truly thought we had them figured out, but then again we have thought that before. We were set up deep in a corner of recently disced corn field waiting for light to fill the sky. The birds were roosted close to this location the morning before, so we sat waiting to hear a gobble, cluck or yelp. Finally, we heard a hen starting to become a lil more vocal and then gobbles begun to fill the air form 3 sides of us. Hoping that the turkeys would do the same thing this morning and work to our field edge. All of sudden a gobble echoed through the crisp morning air as Steve and I both snapped our head and looked at each other with a grin, as that bird was very close to us. Hearing some other Toms gobbling and some hens a little farther away had us concerned that our Tom would work in their direction, until a hen had flew from her roost and made the field edge right in front of us. This hen became real vocal and had this Tom next to us fired up as she would continuously answer to Steve’s call that would cause a chain reaction every time and cause this roosted Tom to gobble. This hen would not shut up, but it was a good thing. She kept him fired up and had our excitement ready to burst at the seams. Finally, we seen this bird hit the ground and he started working our way, but he got silent the minute he hit the ground. Steve’s calling and the hens yelping were still talking back and forth, but our Tom was now in stealth mode. I got down on the ground and got my bow ready as the Tom was now just about to hit the field edge and he was not alone as he had a hen in tow. This bird was no stranger to Steve and I as we have watched him for 2 straight days previously and nicknamed him “Missing Tail Feathers” as he had a huge portion of his fan missing form previous battles or encounters. He now was now standing at the field edge and less then 20 yards from us as he was in full strut coming in drumming, spitting, the whole 9 yards as he was eyeing up B-Mobile and man was this bird worked up. He worked his way in and as he started to get close to the decoys set up 5 yards in front of me, I came to full draw as he strutted around the back side of B-Mobile. As I sat at full draw staring this TOM down, I went through my usual checklist of things in my mind and moved forward as I verified 3 or 4 times that my arrow would clear the blind. The TOM was now inches away form B-Mobile as he came around and cleared the backside of our decoy. He was quartering towards me at 5 yards in full strut and was just turning ever so slightly, when my itchy trigger finger had all it could take as I released my carbon express screaming towards the TOM. My long five day hunt was now being decided in a matter of a few seconds. I saw my lighted nock shoot through the bird and commented immediately how it hit lower then I wanted it too. The bird jumped in the air, spun and hastily made his way away from us. He made it to the field edge as we watched him walked up and over the rolling field and out of site. We gave him awhile and reviewed our film footage from the blind and were still in question as to the shot placement due to the small screen, but believed it was a lil low. We retrieved my arrow and did not see much sign of a good hit on it. We then trailed my bird finding some blood but not very much. We looked for that bird for over two hours to no avail.

So, I went home after that morning and my season had ended empty handed and tag unfulfilled as we both had things we needed to attend to. Still fuming on my ride home as this sort of stuff always eats me up inside. Upon getting home after reviewing the shot in my head a hundred times already , I finally was able to play it back on my big TV numerous times and get a better picture of where my arrow hit the bird. Along with the evidence on my arrow, Steve and I came to the conclusion that I shot low and just skimming the bird as one blade of my Rage broad head that actually hit meat or flesh. Still not satisfied and upset, I kept thinking why did my arrow hit a good 2-3” low from where I was aiming?? After stewing on this all day and night Sunday. I had a few thoughts of what happened, but only after I got off the phone Monday morning with Steve were one of those thoughts verified. After Steve had talked to Steve Davis, a GAMEHIDE Pro Staffer and Turkey nut, did he verify why I missed my bird. After thinking about it more, it makes total sense. I have never shot my bow at a target from 5 yards. I shoot 10 yards all the time. However, from about 7-8 yards and less, things change. Your arrow while sitting on your rest at full draw, is a good 3.5-4.5 inches below your top sight pin. So from the horizontal distance of 0 to about 7-8 yards your arrow is actually rising up to meet your sight pin. Thus in my case, shooting at a bird from about 5 yards my arrow impacted the target around 2 inches lower then my sight. Sounds simple, but I have never shot an arrow from that distance and I turned an easy chip shot into a missed opportunity because I over looked something so simple. The suggestion that was given to me was, when shooting that distance was to use my 40 yard pin. You can bet the next time I’m out practicing, I will be putting this suggestion to the test and figure out exactly where my arrow is hitting @ 5 yards. I hope this helps you guys out from making the same mistake as I did and hopefully it can save a few broken hearts along with some unfilled tags at the same time. I would like to thank Steve Huettl and Brad Juaire for taking time out of their busy schedules to hunt with me, share their wisdom, passion, and get me hooked on this stupid TURKEY hunting thing. I still have a tag in mid May for a Wisconsin Gobbler and you can bet I will be ready for’em. Until next time, I’m out!

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