| 2007
Triple Double Grand Slam Bowhunt
Bowhunts In: |
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| Texas | Nebraska | Tennessee | Missouri | Illinois
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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 |
Bowhunt
With Rick Philippi
Day 01 - Here Come Da Longbeards
After leaving Nebraska we
drove through a severe snow, rain, hail and wind storm until we decided
to find a motel for the night. In the morning we aimed the Bowmobile towards
Jacksboro, Texas and once there met Rick Philippi and his wife Cathy. From
there we drove to Rick's hunting property and stashed our stuff in the
trailer that would be our home for the hunt.
After a short night's sleep
Rick drove us quite a long ways and parked his truck. We walked half a
mile to an opening with thick woods on one side and scattered trees on
the other. Rick said the gobblers would come from the scattered trees to
the left and front. He was right.
Fred set the decoys out and
I popped up two side by side blinds. Rick and Fred got in one and I got
in the other. The decoys were to the left of Fred's blind and behind it
at the edge of the woods. The intent was to bring the gobblers past the
blind on their way to the decoys. Fred was first up.
Some different gobbles sounded
in front of us and to the left and right. Early daylight came quickly and
I saw a gobbler coming from the left front and took
This gobbler had a heck
of a beard on him. I adjusted the camera's lighting settings and got a
better picture as he cleared the trees in front of my blind.
Holly Cow!!! Look at that
beard. It's dragging in the grass. But something is happening here that
is not good as far as Fred is concerned. The gobbler is walking past my
blind instead of Fred's. It passed on the right of my blind and I peeked
through a slit in the blind and saw it looking at the decoys. Instead of
going to them the gobbler walked into the woods. I thought he would circle
the decoys but he didn't.
Fifteen minutes later, in
better daylight we heard a nearby gobble. Fred answered and I saw the head
of a gobbler in the sparse trees in front of us and took it's picture.
This Tom was definitely
interested. It fanned out and and came a little closer.
It's looking good as the
gobbler hits a full strut.
Another nice longbeard.
It cleared the trees and this time the gobbler was on Fred's side. It walked
very fast.
A little too fast. Fred
couldn't get on him. The gobbler slammed on the brakes when it was behind
the decoys. The angle looks ok here but from Fred's view the decoys are
blocking his shot. He held at full draw. If I was holding the BowTech instead
of the Sony I could have dunked this fat bellied longbeard.
Briefly, the gobbler hung
out where Fred couldn't shoot and then walked away. Fred let down. He was
one Rio Grande gobbler from his Grand Slam this Spring. In the dark we
just
didn't position the decoys as good as we could have.
That afternoon we returned
to the same place but only used one blind and put the decoys 45 degrees
to the right of the shooting window in the blind. A gobbler came through
the area to our right but paid us no never mind and kept on walking.
The next thing we saw was
Rick Philippi coming out of the trees. He had quite a story to tell.
Continued... |
