Jesse is tagged out!

Jesse could only hunt for about two hours before work, so he grabbed his bow and decoys and headed for the woods. He knew that to make a short hunt he would need to get close to the birds on the roost. The birds hit the ground at 15yds. If he had a gun they would have been dead, but that's not the case. The birds worked off to the right, he drew back -busted!!!
Within 15 minutes the birds were out on the field, time for a stalk. Jesse ran 600yds and got in front of the bird, got in a brush pile and waited for the ambush. The birds came by at 10yds, he took the shoot, the Tom got up and flew out into a near by marsh, not good!! Ninja to the rescue! He was able to catch the wounded tom and hold him for Jesse. A great end to a 3 hour hunt. Lucky for Jesse his boss is such a nice guy about being late to work.

Austin's Turkey Bow Kill

The morning started out with lots of excitement. I had birds shock gobbling very close to my set up before sunrise so I knew that I was on the "X." Just after sunrise the resident boss gobbler strutted in with five hens. He was huge and he guarded the spot for over an hour. I came to full draw on him a couple of times but he never quite presented a good enough shot. After he left the area, several hens and jakes worked their way within bow range.

At 10:00 a.m. I pulled up the binos and saw a nice tom at 70 yards but he was moving away from me. I hit the slate call and then yelped softly with my diaphragm call. He came running right in but hung up in some thick stuff just out of range. Things really heated up when he began to strut and fight with two other toms nearby.

At around 10:30 a.m. he worked himself up into quite a frenzy and decided to walk into the field to go after a live hen. He gave me a broadside shot at 24 yards. I drew my bow and touched off a shot. My arrow passed through him like butter and he folded in a few seconds.

This hunt was all about redemption for me. I made a few mistakes on a previous hunt with Jesse Swann and I was pretty down about it. Jesse convinced me to stay focused and to keep my head in the game. I definitely appreciate all of his help and encouragement!

Shed Antlers!

It was another busy year after trapping season searching for sheds. As usual we like to do some post season scouting and see which bucks survived and what we may have to look forward to last year. Trevor has been working with his dog Belle for the last couple years on finding this exclusive ivory of the woods. He pushed hard and walked many miles, many days to beat his previous record set last year of 31. This year he found a total of 34, so far. Hopefully we'll see some of these deer next year in the woods!

Brian's Tom 2011

After chasing the gobblers hard with the Goldey twins for a couple weeks, Brian was getting discouraged by close calls and no pulled triggers. After roosting some birds on Friday evening he deciding to head out on Saturday May 14th, with gun in hand, to try to bag one of the birds that had been so frustrating. Trevor was behind the camera and the plan came together perfectly as a tom in full strut came in right off the roost with two hens. He pulled the trigger at 45 yards and the bird dropped, sealing the deal at about 6:20 in the morning! It was an awesome hunt!

Trevor's Tom 2011

I hit the season hard this year with a trip to Virginia to kick off the turkey season a week early. I had some great hunts down there but wasn't able to bag a bird. Luckily, during a early morning hunt before work during opening week I was able to put the sneak on this old Tom on the eastern shore. He was delicious in the deep-fryer for Easter!