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Greg
Ballard (aka aBowhunr)
Greg Ballard Adds His Hunting
Cap To The 2007 Grand Slam Hunt
At the Florida Osceola hunt Greg Ballard
(chat name aBowhunr) said he thought he could put things together to join
the Grand Slam hunts. He did, and below is his hunt report for his Eastern
bowhunt in . (In Greg's words...)
 May
1, 2007 found me winging my way to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I stayed
the night in Sioux Falls and then got a rental car and made the final drive
to my hunt location the next morning. I was hunting at Double K Guide
Service in Gregory, South Dakota on this hunt for my final bird of the
2007 Grand Slam.
I arrived at the lodge for
Double K around lunchtime and was met shortly after by Dave Keiser who
runs this operation. Dave quickly arranged for one of his guides to pick
me up and get me out into the field sooner rather than later.
You got to like an outfitter
who wants to get you into the field the afternoon before your hunt is actually
supposed to begin. Dave is all about you getting the best chance
for your turkey and he knows that time afield is a big plus to doing this.
Guide Tanner picked me up
and we drove to our first hunt location. He said we would hunt here
for a while before moving to a roosting location for the evening hunt.
We sat for a while giving out a few soft yelps on the box call every few
minutes. After about an hour we heard yelps responding back to us
-- and the yelps were very close.
I looked out the side of
the Double Bull Matrix and saw a gobbler and two hens about 25 yards to
our side. They were not in a viable shooting location so all we could
do was watch as the two hens dragged the gobbler up the hill away from
us. After they left we sat for a while longer and Tanner said it
was time to head out to get to our evening hunt location.
The evening hunt was near
to a possible approach route taken by turkeys to get to their preferred
roosting trees. This was to prove to be a very interesting sit for
me. It was only a little while when I saw turkeys coming into the
field near us.
There were 12 hens and two
gobblers working their way across the field towards our location.
The hens seemed to have intentions of passing us by and taking a different
route to the roosting trees and the gobblers were not about to leave them.
This didn't appear that it was going to work out for a shot, but still
was a good show to watch. This show was going to get better soon, though,
as a gobble sounded off from across the creek behind us.
I looked out the window and
over the hill in the distance come no less than 8 gobblers with a whole
flock of hens heading toward the roosting trees. I might not get a shot
this evening, but the show was second to none. More and more turkeys
came into view. When all was said and done I believe there were at
least 15 gobblers strutting and gobbling across that creek waiting for
their fly up time. To watch 50 or 60 turkeys fly up to roost within
50 yards of me was an experience I will not soon forget. We had to
sit in the blind till way dark so as not to spook any turkeys so we stayed
put until 10 PM.
The next morning found me
with a new guide named Don “Wing” Nguyen. Tanner drove Don and me
out to our hunt location, which was near a different roosting location
than the previous night. We went out into the dark and setup the
Matrix blind near the corner of a fence next to a small grove of trees.
As daylight approached the
gobbles started from the trees immediately behind us. We heard several
different gobbles and a lot of yelping.
Don got out a Woodhaven Red
Wasp diaphragm and made a few soft yelps of his own to get the hens fired
up. Don and the hens exchanged a few insults back and forth and then
Don shut up and we waited.
Soon we heard the fly downs.
I glanced out the side of the Double Bull blind and there about 3 yards
from my face is a big red turkey head. I looked down and could see
it was a jake. And this jake had 3 buddies with him as well as 3
hens. I pointed out the birds to Don and he made some soft calling
on the Red Wasp and the jakes came right to the hen decoy and made several
circles around the decoy while we watched for a longbeard to appear.
No longbeards were to be
found. The jakes walked off with the hens and Don said, “I guess
you are trophy hunting?” I told him with all the longbeards I had
seen the previous day I was not going to shoot a jake. He said well
there should have been a longbeard here, but since not we will let those
birds go over the hill and then we will sneak off and find one.
All of a sudden we hear a
big gobble. Over the hill ... like two rising suns ... full fans
topped the hill and headed for the jakes. A big fight ensued and
the longbeards let the jakes know just who the bosses were today.
I guess the real bosses are
the hens though, in this game, and the hens lead the gobblers up and over
the hill with the jakes in near proximity, but far enough away to not rouse
the big gobblers. Don said, “I think I know where they are going
so lets break down fast and get moving.”
We broke down the blind,
grabbed our gear and started moving fast. Tanner had been watching
all this unfold through his binoculars and headed our way to pick us up.
We piled our gear into the truck and drove off to try to intercept the
group of turkeys on their travel route.
When saw the turkeys off
in the distance, working their way down a drainage, Don and me got out
of the truck and headed off towards them. A strip of trees and a
small hill gave us cover and we got to a location where we might intercept
the approaching birds. We got the Double Bull Matrix set up and a
decoy set out and waited to see what would happen next.
Tanner hid the truck and
positioned himself so he could watch from a nearby. We heard the yelps
of the hens as they got closer and when they were pretty near to us Don
let out some yelps on the Red Wasp diaphragm and got a gobble response.
This picture was taken
by Tanner as the turkeys worked their way towards the blind. You
can see the top of the Double Bull over the hill ... where we were sitting
in wait.
The turkeys sounded close
-- just over the hill. Then we saw red heads -- and a lot of them.
All four of the jakes and the two longbeards started in for a look see
at the new hen, our decoy.
The longbeards went into
full strut and started spitting and drumming. They were not at a
good angle for me to shoot as I would have to shoot through the narrowest
opening of the blind near the hub.
Don said, “They are 20 yards
out, Shoot one now”.
I drew back and sighted on
the first strutter but could not get a shot. They were strutting
straight to the blind but no shot could be found. I stayed at full
draw and the first strutter turned to our right at about 8 yards from the
blind and made the final steps I needed for a clear shot.
I settled the pin right in
the pocket and turned loose a Grim Reaper which punched through the exact
feather I was aiming for. The gobbler jumped straight into the air
and did wing beats about 10 more yards before coming to rest.
The Grim Reaper did it yet
again. Not a single turkey taken this season made it further than
20 steps of the blind and most all of that distance was a dead bird flopping.
I can't say enough about how well Grim Reaper broadheads work for taking
turkeys.
This completed my 2007 single
season Grand Slam and I couldn't be happier. This has been a dream season
for me and though it was also filled with some frustration and hardships
mostly due to the nightmare of trying to get my Eastern bird, I wouldn't
take it back and look forward to trying it all over again.
Greg Ballard
Greg Ballard (aka "aBowhunr")
with his 2007 Merrim's Gobbler and the last of the 4 longbeards in his
Grand Slam for this spring season.
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