This seems to be the Turkey thread so let me throw my tragedy in here for good measure.
First of all , it started with me driving up to Spiker's house after a 36 hour install followed by 4 hours of sleep
I got lost a little and called Spiker who was asleep and remained asleep as I left the message
By the time I figured out where the mistaken turn was Spiker's wife had woke him up and he had called back , so at least the phone call was useful anyway
Upon arrival we hurriedly ran the blinds down to the fields edge and set them up in time to see the sun lighting the horizon.
That went well but left no time for equipment checks of any kind
Within a 1/2 hour spiker was hitting the slate and I was sitting still since I had forgotten my slate in my delirium the night before.
Actually,I wasn't sitting really still because the mosquitoes (all 10 million of them) were filling the pop up while the rest waited their turn in the field.
I also forgot to bring my thermo cells
Skipmasters suggestion of leaving the front of the blind down sounded good at the time but after a few minutes it was obvious that I would have been better off utilizing the screen for the biting insects even if I didn't need it for the turkeys sake.
What was even worse was that by the time I was inhaling equal parts of mosquitoes and air..... Spiker had somehow gotten the attention of 4 birds who were converging on our position at a rather rapid pace
So I sat there trying not to slump from the blood loss I was experiencing while the birds held in the wood line ..... watching our lifeless hens that were staked in front of us
Obviously turkeys (like men) like a little more life in their girls and after a hundred gobbles or so , they moved off to find more affectionate mates for the day
At least I was able to lite up at this point and smoke the little demons out of the tent
That was amazing in itself ..... anyone who says smoke doesn't work on these little bastards hasn't been in a situation where they could see the effect
Within a minute I was all alone in my blind again and feeling much better.
But the birds were gone and that did suck
After a couple of hours Spiker and I had given up on the chances of seeing any birds and were talking between the two blinds without any regard for being stealth
We were about ready to bail on the blinds when Spiker started playing with the slate ..... and there was an answer
Maybe 200 yards out ......... and then on the second round of calls a few minutes later , the woods exploded with a gobble of defiance
Not 90 yards from us I saw a pure white head the size of an acorn sticking up over the rise
Spiker couldn't see it but continued to work the bird well
Finally he saw it .... it took him awhile because it was so small but finally he saw it and adjusted his clucks and purrs to match the head position
A half an hour later he had convinced the bird to come to us and another half an hour passed before the target was within 45 yards from us.
Since the bird would not turn tail , I was forced to draw as soon as he turned his head which happened to be at the 45 mark.
It was pretty hard to get a bead on him since my pins actually covered most of the bird.
So small of a bird
.... probably only enough to make a small sandwich but I decided to take the shot anyway.
I settled in pretty well but did have to move the pin up and down a bit to keep the target in view as I timed the pin to cover that area as I released.
When I released the feathers seemed to delay their explosion as the arrow drove into the ground before the feathers even moved
That was pretty cool and I have a witness to the awesome speed of the BK now
;D
Well I knew right away that something was wrong because the feathers blew right below his neck .... 5" to the right from where I had aimed , which was at the wing butt.
Game over ..... the bird scurried up the edge of the field giving a loud putt putt putt as he ran.
The small target was hard enough....but
Dont you know that my rest had broken as well
I guess I am not a Turkey kinda guy
