| 2007
Triple Double Grand Slam Bowhunt
Bowhunts In: |
Florida
| Texas | Nebraska | Tennessee | Missouri
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The 2007 Grand Slam Home Page
BOWHUNT
FOR THE RIO GRANDE
Missouri Turkey Hunt:
Day
1 | Day 2 | Day
3 | Hunt Review |
Bowhunt With Rick Philippi:
Day
1 | Rick's Hunt |
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 Rio
Grande bowhunt in Texas. (In Greg's words...)
 I
arrived at the headquarters of Rush Creek Guide Service at about 3:15 PM
on April 3rd. I was met there by Danny Pierce who runs the service
at about 4 PM. Danny took 4 of us out for that evening's hunt to
one of the properties that he controls. It was extremely windy there
in Texas, and we had gusts of winds exceeding 25 MPH. This is not
a good thing for a turkey bowhunter to face to say the least.
Danny took the other three
guys out to their hunt locations and then came back to show me where I
would be hunting. I was going to cover a potential travel route for
turkeys who were wanting to roost in a stand of large trees in the distance.
I set my Double Bull Matrix blind up underneath a lone tree along a fence
line. There was a dim farm road also running along the fence so this seemed
a very likely place to set up to intercept the turkeys on their way to
this stand of trees.
I set up only two decoys
due to the high winds and faced them into the wind to minimize their movements.
I tied the blind to the tree and fence and staked it down so it wouldn't
get caught in the high winds. I settled in to watch for any approaching
turkeys.
About an hour later I noticed
a group of turkeys in between me and the roost trees. A scan with the binoculars
showed them to be a group of 6 jakes. They were traveling away from me
towards the roost trees and since this was my first sit, I wasn't too interested
in trying to call them in, so I let them travel on to the roosting area.
Within about a half hour I saw a group of three traveling in the tall bushes
out in the field in front of me. If they continued on their current path
they would pass about 80 yards in front of me on their way to the roost.
A crow flew over and was
cawing and I heard a gobble from their direction so I knew I had gobblers
on the way. I broke out my Woodhaven Cherry Classic Crystal and gave
them a series of loud yelps. I noticed one of the gobblers periscope
his head up and look my way so I gave him another series on the crystal
and he started veering in my direction. There were a total of three gobblers
coming through the bushes towards my blind. They finally popped out into
the roadbed and could see the two decoys and were coming in for a closer
look.
It was time to lay the Cherry
Classic to the side and use the Woodhaven Doug Crabtree Signature diaphragm
to keep them coming with clucks and purrs. I took their picture in
the dried grass and weeds.
Then I got the bow in my
hand as they got within 20 yards and I began to mentally prepare for the
shot.
As soon as they were crossing
the part of the blind where I could shoot I began the draw. I got
to full draw without incident. The 3 gobblers were now about 8 yards in
front of me and eyeballing my two decoys hard.
I settled the pin high on
the body of the nearest gobbler and turned loose a Grim Reaper RazorTip
1 3/4" cut. Feathers flew and the gobbler started doing a drunk man
stagger as the Grim Reaper took its toll on him immediately.
The other gobblers couldn't
figure out what had just happened to their companion as he staggered over
into the bushes a bit and toppled over. They went over and took a look
at him and after a few minutes lost interest and wandered off to their
roost.
I looked for any other birds
in the immediate area. There were none and then I retrieved my gobbler
and called Danny Pierce up to tell him the news. I broke down the
blind and put it back into the Double Bull Wild Thing backpack with all
my gear and awaited Danny's arrival. The hunt went much faster than
I had anticipated, only two hours total, but I am not complaining any.
Greg Ballard ( aBowhunr )
Greg Ballard (aka "aBowhunr")
with his 2007 Rio Grande Gobbler.
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