TSOV, Great tom and photos! Looks like your tom has some cool lighter markings on the middle inner tail feathers. Those easterns sure have gorgeous colors! The grass is always greener on the other side!
Yes he sure did have extra brite colorings....that green stump helped bring them out! Great hunt ....love the spring and watching that arrow fly ! Its turkey Nugget time now :)
St Clair county Michigan 24lb even 10 1/4 beard 1 1/4 spur Saturday Noon - came in silent, but full strut spit drumming all the way to the Jake decoy. Also had Avain X feeder and lookout decoy
I arrowed a tom late in the afternoon on Sunday. I got some pretty cool video footage of the shot. I also explain my "blindless" setup in the video in case anyone wants to try something like that themselves.
Sorry about the shakiness of some of the video after the shot. The GoPro is so small and light that it is hard to hold steady while trying to explain things. (Also, I am not a professional. ;-) ) Full size the video and make sure it is playing in HD mode for best viewing.
Here area couple of pretty cool still frames I lifted from the video that show the arrow in flight.
Awesome stills and video, Greg. Congrats to all the successful turkey bowhunters!
With one day to hunt Colorado, I was lucky enough to call in this mountain Merriam's. If one turkey is better than another this is my best ;). I shot 11" of his beard off :)
Congrats will and good work! .. I shot 80 % of the beard of my third bird too.. Would still shoot that shot on a 12" bearded bird if one walked in today... I think ;-)
Congrats to everyone on the great birds and super photos!
Also, I had Jon Simoneau change the settings on his Facebook video to "Public" so now you can go back and watch his video. It wasn't working before unless you were his FB friend. His video is pretty cool.
Thank goodness for Spring and Turkeys...ain't no two the same. TSOV and AZBugler those are a couple of beautiful birds...heck they all are...nice work folks!
Writer I thought this pic showed the spurs better than hanging him from them. Just happened to have the cord for wrapping up my blind so I used it. Definitely was a good size bird 28lbs with a 10.5" beard and 1 11/16" spurs. Not sure how old it would make him? We got lots of birds here and very little hunting pressure. Makes for fun hunting that's for sure.
Zoomed this one in a little. Kind of hard to see but the top spur in the pic is from the leg closest to the camera. I would post a better pic bit they are at the taxi now.
Colorado. Long hike up a steep mountain to get to this guy. Looked like a small body. Bird had an 8 inch beard. I think he was just lean from the steep country he was living in!! Ha
After hunting Nebraska off and on for 15 days with the recurve bow and no success, I hunted Colorado the other day for 15 minutes with the compound bow.
I will return to Nebraska next week with the compound bow and a Heads Up decoy.
Had my daughter out this morning same exact spot in the pasture as my son last week. When the Tom came in, the morning sun was in our eyes, and through the mesh in blind it was hard to see,her first shot looked good and the Tom jumped. But did not act like it was hit so we nocked another arrow. The Tom wanted to destroy the avian x jake decoy, and came on to fight and my daughter shot again this time the Tom reacted to the shot and started flopping. Sweeeet she got him wow what a commotion. So when we got out of the blind and went to the Tom laying in the pasture we seen that the first shot totally center punched the decoy!! Oh boy did we laugh oh man good times!! 22lbs 9.5" beard no spurs. SE MN
Lots of dandy birds! Congrats to all! Didn't think it would ever come together for me, but on Friday the 13th this guy cooperated. Drilled him at 10 yards. 22 lbs, 1 in spurs and 10 in beard.
Called in 2 this afternoon. The smaller one made the mistake of turning away at 8 yards, while strutting. I hit him in the bulls eye, and he went about 50 yards. Had a string tracker, but didn't need it, had good blood all the way. 19 lbs, with 9 inch beard.
MN late season with my longbow at 15 yards. Mmmmm...smoked turkey breasts are my favorite. Took this one almost to the day that I took a big tom last year, from the very same spot.
Just read through the posts and man, there are some great birds and stories!
Nogutsnostory just above, though, may be the best! Your daughter must be cool as a cucumber under pressure. First she did a perfect shot on the decoy, then another on the real tom. Good job!
Got this one this morning here in MN. Tomorrow is the last day of our season. Called him to 12 yards. Not the best pic. I covered his neck because the bullhead made a mess and I forgot my good camera so it's a cell pic.
A lot of nice birds were taken as time was running out on everyone's seasons. Good job, everyone!
I hadn't been out since I arrowed the turkey back in April, so right near the end of the season in late May I headed to the family land where I grew up. I thought I was going to pull it off in the same spot as late in the season last year, but the lead tom spooked as he saw me finishing my draw with my recurve. (If you look close, you can see me in the background--especially if you make sure the clip is playing in HD.) I ended up taking a bit of a rushed shot at the second tom as they escaped and only shaved a few feathers off of him. Getting busted like that is pretty common when you bowhunt turkeys with no blind and that's exactly why I like doing it that way. No bird went home with me, but it was still a blast!
2016 fall bird... "take the Jake". This was the first bird I've killed with my daughter present.. spot stalk into the flock with the right topography and a little luck. we had a great time!
Tagged out (fall limit) this afternoon with my daughter Gia along side of me again ... called in two flocks into the decoys until finally Gia told me to shoot the Jake attacking the decoy.. hard to go against her ;-) so I put him down. Gia was my little fall turkey lucky charm this season and wouldn't have it any other way!