Finally. . . . . Ker-Plunk, Flop Flop!

Covehnter · April 1, 2007

Before i begin my story, i'd like to introduce you guys to a new friend of mine. I've only known him for 1 full week but he's a heck of a "guy." His name is Scrappy- Barely Mobile. He is the product of a 2 week old Osceola cape, a shot up piece of foam that had seen a few too many arrow shafts, some extra long stakes from wire clothes hangers, and the head of an old feather flex decoy with a little touch up paint job. Scrappy is not the most beautiful of birds but he's proven to be a pretty hard hitter.

Well, here's the star.

Quick background:

After an unbelievable Florida trip and both already having birds in the bag before Ga's season opened my buddy and i vowed to battle the birds on this one particular farm with bow only (my buddy's family farm). Well after opening weekend we were strongly second guessing ourselves since we were covered in birds the whole weekend but they had hens and you just cant make those quick adjustments to close the deal when you're lugging around bows, arrows, blinds, bulky decoys, etc. So we spent most of that weekend bird watching. Scrappy only had one good viewing by a longbeard that weekend from about 150 yards and the bird showed no interest. Maybe the real decoy thing is a joke??

Well, it's that time of year again and for the last week by buddy has been plowing the fields preparing the ground for this next years crop. He had been watching a large group of birds in the same general area each evening but was unsure what they were doing in the mornings. (Same group we juggled opening weekend)

This morning we struck up a plan. We were not sure where the birds would be in the mornings but had a good idea about the evenings. He had to start on the fields again early and i had lots of things to arrange before i leave for OK thursday so the plan left together like this. . . . . I was taking bow, blind and scrappy to the back of the plowed field where he'd been seeing the birds and he was going to sit on a small food plot 150 yards away, still in sight where we'd gotten lots of pictures of the birds on the trail camera. This way if the birds came to the field and did their bird thing like last weekend w/out paying us any attention he could slip out and get on the tractor and if the birds didnt show we'd be back in the blind about 3:00 to wait'em out in the evening. So thats what we did.

I put the Doghouse blind on the bank of the Coosa River, also on the edge of the plowed field and placed Scrappy 12 yards out in front along with a Sceery feeding hen. Having done all this in the cover of darkness i tucked in to the blind just before first light. It didnt take long for the first gobble to echo down the river channel and it sounded nice and close, maybe 100 yards but sounded across the river. After another gobble, i realized the he was in my playing field and definately within 100 yards. I unzipped my back window to expose a small crack to allow me look down the river. It didnt take the hens long to answer their boyfriend but to my surprise they were across the river. Realizing that i needed to speak up against the competition to convince Mr. Longbeard I was where he wanted to be i returned their invites with my own in which he greeted with a lusty response. A few seconds later i spoke up again, this time being a little more "dirty" letting it be known that i was going to be the loud mouthed ole boss hen this morning. He seemed to like that idea too. A flurry of wings caught my eye through the crack i had opened in the back window and i noticed a bird had flown across the river and landed 15 yards beside me. I clipped on the release and watched a nosy jake make his way out into the field and mingle with Scrappy. He investigated contently for several minutes and was in no hurry to leave. Thats when daddy let loose with another rolling gobble at about 60 yards to my right and i could tell he was in the field with me, still out of sight due to the zipped blind window. A second later i heard Pfffffff Dooooommmm, and then i knew he was REAL close. My nerves got the best of me and i had to look. Just as i started to lean my head over slowly he entered the window at full stride, head down and shoulders out like an NFL full back trying to gain those last important yards. He slowed down only once at 15 yards to explode into strut and let another ground shaking ppffffff dooommmm. He proceeded on his journey to Scrappy and went nose to nose, or beak to beak i guess i should say. I slowly came to full draw when he did one of the jump back spin around moves, i some how managed to position Scrappy directly in line with the narrow piece of the blind extending down between the two blind windows. . . so now i'm at full draw on a longbeard who is at 12 yards but i'm only seeing flickers of tailfeathers or his head as he is confronting Scrappy and spinning around only to repeat the process. Finally i noticed his tail feathers staying in one place from the inside corner of my left window, so i carefully leaned over to get an eye full what i've seen in my dreams ever since i started this quest for my bow turkey 4 years ago. . . . a longbeard at point blank range, broadside, with no idea that i'm in the world. So after a quick word to the man upstairs i tucked my 20 yard pin just beneath the butt of his wing and on touching the release, i let the Rocket Hammerheads eat. The shot was followed with a thud and he quickly trotted off 20 yards, to lean down and fall over stone dead. I had finally connected on my bow longbeard and i couldnt have asked for anything to be more perfect!! What an absolutely incredible experience, one i'll re-tell at every given opportunity. Now, i know yall want to see some pics!

Stats: 21 pounds, 11 inch beard, and 1 1/16 inch razor sharp hook with a busted off 3/4 inch nub on the other side.

Covehnter · April 1, 2007