Take two...!!

[perry f.]

Opening morning of Indiana's turkey season found me and my recurve on a familiar ridge overlooking a deep holler awaiting the first tom to sound off. I had taken the time to do some scouting, and after striking out two weekends in KY, I had high hopes my luck would change.
This was a small patch of public ground which I knew held 3 longbeards.  At first light, the first tom revealed his location with a thunderous call. I wasted no time, and slipped in quietly to set up my decoy and blind. A short while later, I realized he wasn't alone. I clearly heard 2 other toms roosted around him.
I made a few calls and was immediately answered. These birds were hot. Everything I threw at them was met with a very quick response. I didn't call a lot,  but I made sure they knew I was there. Around 7:00am, I heard the he first bird fly down, and by 7:10, I had 3 tom's strutting around me at about 18 yards. I watched as the last bird, a big wide bearded tom, chased the others away. He was definitely the dominant bird, and he didn't want them near my decoy. After a few minutes of putting on a show, he finally got within 15 yards. I came to anchor and let loose. The arrow sailed right over the turkeys back! I quickly nocked another arrow, but in the excitement, I didn't notice a small limb in my shots path and my arrow was deflected and the turkey decided it was time to exit.
Since this was a small patch of timber, I didn't push the birds. I backed out and tried my luck else where with no luck. That night we had thunder storms, so I had mixed feelings about what to expect on the second mornings hunt. I slipped in early to the same spot. Daylight came and there were no birds to be heard. I decided to slip in a little closer to the birds location from the previous morning and try my luck. I set up my blind be and decoy and settled inside. I called softly a few times and after about 15 minutes, I thought I heard something. I looked to my right,and I could see a tail fan coming my way. As he got closer, I could see it was the same wide bearded bird from the previous morning.
This time he came in silently and never made a peep. He strutted back and forth for a bit and finally I took a shot at 10 yards. He went 10 yards and fell over dead. I was ecstatic, this was my first archery turkey. I must say it was quite the hunt.
 
 

[shag08]

Nice!!! Congratulations!

[kevsuperg]

Bravo.  I hit one with my car, does that count.

[Pine]

Way to get it done .    

[OBXarcher]

Congrats ! Nice bird and way to stick with it.

[Keith Zimmerman]

Congrats!

[Charlie Lamb]

Very cool and a nice story too.  

[Chad Orde]

Great hunt and nice shooting! Thanks for sharing.

[Trenton G.]

Congrats! Nice bird!

Way to stay after them!

Congrats on a great bird!

Bisch

[J. Holden]

Great story!  Thank you for sharing your hunt with us.  Congratulations.

-Jeremy  

[rastaman]

Way to go sir!      

[Bill Carlsen]

I like it when it happens like that. Now the ice is broken. Can you shoot more than one?

[perry f.]

Only allowed 1 bird in the spring. Thanks for all the comments

[lt-m-grow]

It is all good but that first one is the best.  Congrats...

[Matty]

Awesome! Congrats on your first!

[Rob W.]

Good stuff brother. You have earned it.

[Homey88]

Great story! Congrats to you!

[Guru]

Congrats!  

[Steve Jr]

Congratulations that's a beauty of a bird!

Steve Jr