I live in a recreational camping/ nature park that is on 246 acres along the walnut river in southern kansas along the olahoma border. It has an elevation drop from top to bottom of about 250ft and feels like your not in kansas. The bluffs over look the river valley and there are wooded canyons that run down to the river. There are pastures on the upper portion and crop fields in the valley. It is excellent habitat and is truely a special place. I am blessed to have the opportunity to live here. I work in the city and have to commute daily. My fuel bill is outrageous but none the less I figure its a fair trade off to live in paradise. Deer, turkey and many other species abound and I am one of only two guys that the land owner allows to hunt. I am considered sort of an over seer and help him with property maintenance throughout the year and the other fella is a wheel bow shooter that pays a hefty fee to hunt during the rut every year. Due to the somewhat regular human traffic that frequent the area throughout the year the animals are not super skittish but try and keep their distance.
I have only been attempting to bow hunt for the last 5yrs and have yet to score on anything other than squirrels, armadillos and fish. I have deer hunted 3 of the last 5 years but with no success. I decided this year that I would try to get a turkey during the fall season with my copperhead osage self bow. I had tried turkey hunting with the bow for the first time last spring but had no sucess other than I did learn to call pretty well and got a couple nice toms to come into about 35 yds but not close enough for a shot. I think if I had had a jake set up with my hen decooy they would have come in closer. Hind site is 20/20 and that will be my set up next spring.
Friday evening I decided to set up my ground blind in a nice bowl and pecan grove about 100yds from the river as I had seen quite a few large flocks working their way through that area foraging before they went to roost in the evening. Most of what was in the flocks I had seen were hens and this years crop of young ones. I was hoping for a shot at a tom.
I was in the blind about 20 mins and I saw in the distance a group of four toms working their way in my direction. I was hoping they would get close enough for a shot but i had my doubts. Sure enough they grazed past my blind at about 25yds. The blind is a little cramped with a long bow but I have been shooting really well in practice and had confiedence I could make the shot so I came to anchor and let fly on the largest of the four toms. The arrow flew right over the top of his back. They all look around as if to say " what was that?" but then not seeing any danger kept on grazing undisturbed. I quickly nocked another arrow and waited for another good shot opportunity and when it presented itself I came to full draw and let it fly. The arrow struck him hard just at the top of his hip and a little below the wing. Of course he erupted in a flurry of flapping and took off running for about 15 yds and then turned around and started limping heavily as he walked back towards his flock mates that were working their way towards the wooded rocky hillside that frames the bowl near my buddy Rocky's camping trailer. He had been watching the whole thing with binoculars from inside the trailer. I called Rocky and he said he saw the whole thing and that it looked like the bird was hit hard and for me to stay put because he could see a large flock working its way my direction.He would walk up the hill and see if it was down. While he was scouting for the tom I had shot, the large flock came by me so close I could have reached out and grabbed one, but I decided I was not going to shoot another until we recovered this one. About 10 min later a bird broke off the wooded hillside and was flying like a bat out of hell right at me. He flew by my blind and into the grove behind me. I wasn't sure if that was my bird or one of the others because I could't see my arrow and he sure had more energy that I thought a well hit bird should have. Must have been all adrenaline. I have heard turkeys are tough and their kill zone small so I had my doubts as to whether this was my bird or not. I sat tight for another 5 min until Rocky called me and said that he had come up on the bird bedded in the pasture on top the hill and got to with in 10yds before it jumped up and took off flying towards me about a 150yds away. Hesaid that he thought he heard a crash but I did'nt hear it as I have poor hearing in one of my ears.
The sun was just about set so we figured we should try and see if we could find him. I grabbed a headlamp just in case and we started looking at the back side of the grove. There is a dry creek bed back there with 8ft banks and heavy underbrush on the other side for about 75yds on the edge of a bean field. We looked and looked for about an hour and could find nothing. By then the light had long faded to darkness, the under growth was heavy and we could see nothing. We decided to take up the search again in the morning.
The morning awoke with the beauty of the beginings of fall with the leaves turning and a soft breeze in our face. We retraced our steps and looked up and down both sides of the creek and then began to work the heavy undergrowth. After about an hour I heard Rockys whistle. Sure enough he had found the bird. Of course not before the coyotes had feasted on him. My arrow was still sticking through his hip bone about 1 1/2 inches out of the vitals area. I am sure that one of the coyotes got his share of the sharp end of the broadhead as it had been pulled almost all the way through to the fletch. I was dissapointed that we weren't able to find him before the coyotes did but I am glad that we recovered what was left of the wing feathers, the beard, one leg and the arrow.
The toms beard measured 10" to the tips but the bulk of it about 8" and the one leg we found only had a 3/4" spur. The broadhead I was shooting was a Magnus SS which is a two blade setup with bleeder blades on it. I think the bleeders stuck in the hip bone and prevented a pass thru. Not sure if I want to use those on a turkey again. I kinda think if it had been just a straight up two blade I might have gotten better penetration on the bone and we might have recovered him quicker, but who knows. I was close on the shot but not close enough.
I think I learned something from this and I hope someone more experienced can chime in and feel free to set me straight if I'm wrong. When a turkey is hit and not immmediatley fatal, he moves in pretty much a straight line. His initial exit was in a straight line up the hill and when he flew down we recovered him the next day about 100 yds behind my blind almost in a direct line from where he flew down. I know I have heard that a deer will circle back around after running off but it does not appear thats what turkeys do. Has anyone else seen this pattern as well?
I will be going again tonite to hopefully harvest a deer and or another try at the tough and elusive turkey I will let you all know how it goes if there is any more excitement.
Like I said in the topic line, "Close but not close enough" Coyotes 1 Sidewinder 0.
Thanks for reading ....Danny
