Bad Luck is Better Than No Luck At All!

Posted by Scott Mensing | Posted in , | Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010

As written by Bo Parker.

The past few weeks of turkey hunting have been rather interesting. Scott and I were covered up in birds on Friday during the second weekend of the MO season. We had never hunted the farm before and had only walked it once during a shed hunt. I told Scott that if I was a turkey (I’ve been accused of being one by my parents), I’d roost right where those two creeks come together. He agreed and we set the blind up in a field a short distance away. After setting the blind up, I had to use Mother Nature’s outdoor facilities. While doing so, a gobbler sounded off right where we thought they’d be. It had the makings of a great morning. It wasn’t long until we had about 7 or 8 birds gobbling like crazy. They answered us every time we called and 3 of them flew down into our field. Unfortunately, so did half a dozen hens! We never had anything come within 50 yards, but we were rewarded with quite a show. Our day ended when a fox caught one of the turkeys up in the horse pasture.

On Sunday of the same week, I was able to sneak out with my lovely bride, Sarah. We set up in almost the exact same spot and the birds were there again. They gobbled like crazy. Unfortunately, they were once again roosted with hens. 4 or 5 of the gobblers flew down into a different field, but one came towards us. He flew to a tree on the edge of the field and stayed on the roost strutting and gobbling for an hour and a half after the others flew down. It was a neat show but was pretty frustrating.



Finally, a bearded lady came into the field and he flew down to chase her around. He never did come close enough for a shot. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad that Sarah got to see some action on her first turkey hunt. 3:30 AM was just a little too early for her though; she caught a few Zzz’s in the blind.



The next weekend, my friend Ben and I went out to the same farm on Friday morning. I had set up a blind for us a few days before and it was really close to the roost. We slipped in early and quietly and set up the decoys and got ready in the blind. When the birds woke up, they were even closer than I’d anticipated. We had several within 50 yards of us. A couple of the birds actually flew over us into the field. However, two of them flew down in front of us and approached our set.

They got to within 10 yards but didn’t like the looks of our setup for some reason. They paused again at 25 yards and I released an arrow. Unfortunately, the pause wasn’t long enough. The gobbler I shot took a step when I released and I hit him a bit further back than I wanted. We never did recover the bird even though we tracked him for a while. I was pretty sick about it, but it is a lesson learned. I’ll know how to handle the situation better next time.

The following day found us setup in the blind once again, but we moved further from the roost and out of site of it. We were not disappointed when the birds woke up. There were 5 or 6 gobblers and a few jakes sounding off every time we called. Things were looking pretty good until fly down time when they shut up. We couldn’t figure out why they were being so quiet, until I finally saw the head of a coyote crest the hill to the East. He made a move on our setup and got to within 50 yards before he finally caught our scent. It was the only day all season that I didn’t see a gobbler. The winds blew about 30 mph for most of the day and I believe that the turkeys hunkered down in the timber because of it.

The following day was Mother’s day and also the last day of the Missouri season. I spent it at home with my wife and children. All in all, the Missouri turkey season was a huge success. We were able to capture some great footage, spend some quality time outdoors, and make some memories that will last a lifetime. I have no regrets. I’m sure that several more tags would have been filled had we chased the turkeys with shotguns instead of bows… But we’re bowhunters, and that just ain’t how we roll!

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