......ends December 31st and I still had two tags to fill, so I headed out early yesterday morning to try my luck.
Decoys were set up and I was in the blind over an hour before sunrise. Normally the birds start to wakeup and call fifteen to twenty minutes before sunrise, but I didn't hear anything yesterday. So I just clucked and yelped every few minutes anyway. About sunrise I saw a bird fly down in the woods about eighty yards away. I yelped and she started heading my way, soon followed by another.
They came in from the right of my decoys and stopped about twenty five yards away. It presented me with a kind of awkward right hand shot because of the size and shape of the window in my blind, but I thought I could make it. I launched the arrow, and to my surprise, it hit the dirt several yards in front of the hen, WTH! It didn't take long to figure out what had happened.
I shot right through the zipper of the blind window! :doh2:
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg115/rlageman/Hunting/122915%201_zpswhfzwwx1.jpg)
Surprisingly, the birds were startled but didn't run off. In fact, two more came from the woods and joined them. And even more surprisingly, I was able to re-cock the crossbow and load another arrow without scaring the birds off. They were still on the right side about twenty five yards out, so I did what I should have done in the first place and took the shot left handed. THUD!
She flopped into the wood line a few yards away and went down. My second crossbow turkey of the fall season.
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg115/rlageman/Hunting/122915%208_zpssbxr2act.jpg)
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg115/rlageman/Hunting/122915%2010_zpsqpjz1u8z.jpg)
Tomorrow I'm taking my buddy Roy to see if we can get his first turkey with a crossbow. And maybe I'll get lucky and fill my last tag.
Pat
I woulda appreciated a hero pic with the zipper Pat. :huh: :laf:
Way to recover from a mishap though. Nicely done :congrats:
Let us know how Roy does too.
That was a fine recovery pat!
Good luck in the morn
Pat your hell on those Turkeys
Great job on being able to cock and harvest a nice bird.
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Damb zippers can screw up anything. :pout: Good job on the remount.
:laf: :laf: @ the zipper!! Nice recovery & good shootin Pat!! You would think at some point those birds would just sense the death laser inside that blind!! :laf: :laf:
Great job on the double - zipper and turkey. I have never harvested a zipper yet, but possibly I will in time.
Jerry
Nice job, Pat!
Great job on the hunt and on the telling. I enjoy your turkey stories, the only way I will likely ever hunt them.
Pat, I thought that you are left handed. Do you normally shoot the crossbow right handed?
Quote from: Okanagan on December 31, 2015, 10:50:55 AM
Pat, I thought that you are left handed. Do you normally shoot the crossbow right handed?
I am left handed Clyde. I do almost everything left handed, except shoot long guns. When I got my first BB gun as a kid, I could wink with my left eye, but not my right, so I just learned to shot right handed. It is just natural after all these years, and handy since most long guns are built for right handers. I shoot a left handed compound bow, but shoot the crossbow right handed.
Pat
Interesting. I shoot long guns right handed but started out shooting a bow left handed without knowing anything other than that it felt right. Now I shoot a bow right handed. I fly fish left and run left hand bait casting reels but right hand when it comes to big saltwater reels and spin gear. :shrug: One of my sons is strongly left eye dominant but right handed.
Anyhow, you did some good hunting and good shooting.
Quote from: FinsnFur on December 30, 2015, 11:04:23 PM
I woulda appreciated a hero pic with the zipper Pat. :huh: :laf:
Here you go :sneer::
(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg115/rlageman/Hunting/123015%202_zpsi7amykfa.jpg)
Quote from: FinsnFur on December 30, 2015, 11:04:23 PM
Let us know how Roy does too.
No luck this morning. We saw a few fly down at a distance, but apparently my masterful calling wasn't alluring enough to bring them in. :rolleye: Roy can use his crossbow through the end of the regular archery season, so he still has a couple more weeks to try. We may be successful yet. :fingerx:
Pat
Love it! LOL
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:confused: Shouldn't there be a rifle barrel or something sticking up in those pics?? :laf: :laf: