| 2007
Triple Double Grand Slam Bowhunt
Bowhunts In: |
Florida
| Texas | Nebraska | Tennessee | Missouri | Illinois
To
The 2007 Grand Slam Home Page
BOWHUNT
IN NEBRASKA
"Longbeard"
Coffee Cups = Real Good Luck
Through my barely open eyelids
the daily outlook was "plenty sleepy" at 5:30am and I made a bee line for
the coffee pot. Fred was already there and he said, "Look at this!" Our
host Mr. T had set out the early morning coffee cups and fixed them up
with turkey fans, gobbler heads, and long beards. How cool is that.
It was a surprise start to
a surprise day in the turkey woods of Nebraska.
We walked to the hill above
the farm and set up. The first sighting was of some deer in the corn field
below us.
The cloud cover broke and
sunlight lit everything up for the first time in two days. At 7:36 some
hens entered the cornfield, followed by a few strutters.
8:14 - We heard hen noises
behind us and a big hen came into my view on the opposite side of the fence
where we had the blind set up. It's attention was riveted on our realistic
decoys.
The hen ducked under the
fence and went to the hen decoy and stood up. It hovered over the decoy
and walked around it.
Pop! It began pecking the
decoy's head and grabbing its face, head and beak.
Fred's hen decoy was not
popular with this Nebraska Merriam's hen. Below is a close up of the fracas.
ALSO, I clicked my camera on Video mode and here is the VIDEO of this
Hen
Pecking our Decoy. The other hens stood around and clucked
and made hen talk.
Because of all the hen noise
the longbeard down the hill returned. All we could see was its red head
through the weeds as it stood watching. I put the range finder on it, 35
yards away. It was my turn to shoot and I waited for the longbeard
to come closer. But he began walking to our right -- in a few steps he
would be out of the weeds and in the clear. But I would no longer be able
to shoot. I told Fred and he quickly picked up his bow and nocked an arrow.
The longbeard took a few steps into the clear and stopped stretching his
neck out, looking in our direction.
"How far is he," Fred whispered.
I put the cross hairs of my range finder (Nikon 880) on him and clicked
the yardage button, "43 yards," I said softly.
Fred had practiced at 40
yards and instantly set the sight at 40 yards and came to full draw. He
lined the Triad pins up and held on the longbeard's neck. I was still looking
through the range finder when Fred shot. The arrow flew to the gobbler
and we heard the thunk of a solid hit. It flopped 40 yards down the hill
and we saw its wings flap for a moment and stop.
Talk about pumped, we were
triple pumped. Fred had the video camera running but he wasn't sure if
the gobbler had been on screen when he shot. But he wanted me to video
the recovery and we hurried down hill to the gobbler. It was laying by
a cotton wood tree. We took several pictures and went back to the blind.
Fred told me jokingly, "Since this was your turn to shoot now it's my turn."
I grunted and we went to the house and ate breakfast.
At this point in the day
we figured we had all the luck. But our luck was just beginning.
FRED LUTGER'S EQUIPMENT COMMENTS
"Choosing the right equipment
is as vital in turkey hunting as in any other type of bowhunting."
"43 yards is a long shot
on a turkey but I've been practicing daily at 10, 20, 30 and 40 yards with
the TRIAD Double Adjustable Pin bowsight from Kingsway
Archery. I chose to leave the sight at 20 yards because when I
shoot at 10 yards my arrows are only an inch high and I like to shoot turkeys
at 20 yards or less. This sight has one pin and you set it for different
yardages with an adjustment lever. To adjust the sight and practice using
it I shot at 30 and 40 yards from a sitting position."
"Because of the flat trajectory
of the Diamond
Black Ice bow I was not worried about this shot. When practicing
I kept extremely tight groups with the combination of the TRIAD bowsight,
100 grain Grim Reaper RazorCut broadheads and Carbon Express
Maxima 350 carbon arrows Due to my practice at these yardages
I felt confident in my equipment and my shooting ability to take the 43
yard shot, especially after Robert told me the exact yardage. Without knowing
the yardage I would have never taken the shot. The RazorCut Grim
Reaper Broadhead flies like a field point with no wind planing.
It opens to and inch and 3/4 and did maximum damage on this Merriam's gobbler."
|
