I went out again this morning to try to get a turkey with the bow. (Waking up at 3:15 AM, hunting, and then coming to work for 9:30 AM is a killer!)
Well, when we say we “hunt”, we mean we “hunt”. It doesn’t necessarily mean we are always successful! Here’s my story…
Since daybreak, I heard turkeys everywhere. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were around. Around 7:00AM, a nice 7-point buck walked about 20 yards from my blind and smelled the doe urine I sprayed. It milled around and sniffed for about 15 minutes. I could have shot it, but when I changed my arrows from a turkey to a deer arrow, I heard turkeys close and saw about 8 gobblers out in the field. Since I was there to hunt turkeys (and I still have yet to harvest a turkey with the bow), I decided to let the buck go and focus on the turkeys.
After about 40 minutes of clucking, putting, calling, and gobbling, about 10 hens and jakes walk up. Since my time was running out, I decided to shoot a jake. I drew and launched an arrow at the turkey — at 15 yards. The arrow hit, the turkey jumped and flapped its wings…and walked away. I tried to hit it with another arrow, but missed. After a few minutes, I went to find my arrow. I found it, and it was broken in half with some small feathers on it (but no blood). There were others feathers on the ground, but no bird. After an extensive search, I concluded I (again) just nicked the breast and hit no vitals. Yes — I MISSED A 15-YARD SHOT!! AAGGGHHHHH!!!
I have one day left. Maybe the 12-gauge comes out tomorrow…