The CA season opened here last Friday. I recently bought a Sky Archery (Earl Hoyt) longbow I've wanted to get blood on since I bought it. I grew up down the street from Earls shop in Bridgeton and his bow is one link to back my childhood of shooting bunnies in the ditches behind his shop ========================================== Friday I got to Choppers up on the central coast of CA and set my blind near a roost area where I called one in last year. Headed off to scout some for other roosts. Saturday morning about 2am I wake up to the howling wind and sideways rain out the cabin window. Not looking good for killing turkeys. Some of the guys pig hunting at the cabin decide to head out in the gale around 6am. I crawl back under the sleeping bag and hope it will break for some hunting before Sunday. Later I hear calls on the radio for a rescue, some of them brave folks who went out are now huddled up under cedars going hyperthermic. We send rescue. Saturday late the rain stops and I get out for some scouting. I should have checked my blind to see if it was still there but it was late and I didn't want to be near that roose at fly up. Big mistake I would find out later. :bangin: Instead I do some varmint shooting with Kirk. Sunday I park and hike in only to find my chair tossed up in a bush with a 1/4" of ice on it. That should be comfy. I look around and no blind, it's gone. I knew them cheesy little stakes you get wouldn't hold well in the loose soil in a strong blow. I start circling with my flashlight and nothing. I finally see it blown down in the creek near the roost. I gotta decide now, fetch the blind so I can have better odds with getting the longbow drawn and make a lot of noise next to the roost or stay without the blind and hope for a shot without it and less noise from fussing with the blind. I want that blind bad so I drag it out of the creek and up to where I had it. It was full of ice too so it sounded like I was doing dishes with all the clanking and cracking sounds. I finally get all set up and set my butt down in that frozen chair and whoeeeeeeeee that thing was cold. I let the woods calm down as it gets blue light. I mouth call a couple real soft tree yelps hoping tommy has forgotten all the ruckus of me setting up. No answer. I'm not sure which tree their in but I know they're close. About 10 minutes later I hear a hen way off, 2 ridges away. Crap, it can't get any worse then this. I've got a frozen butt and a hen looking for love about to wreck my first setup of the year. She walks back and forth on the far ridge pleading for a gobble. "Kelp, kelp, kelp, kelp, kelp, kelp, kelp, kelp, kelp,. On and on. I'm hoping Tommy won't answer so she'll go away but after about 5 minutes of her non stop kelping a gobbler sounds off right next to me. Drat. Naturally the hen started down the ridge to come on over, kelping the whole way. Tommy wouldnt answer so I just sat still and waited. About 150 yards out with the hen still yacking away another tom gobbles. The hen goes to their roost tree and pleads with them to fly down. I'm laughing now cuz them toms must have know I was there because they wouldn't fly down, they kept eyeballing the little clearing where I was at. I figured I'd better get in the game and stated talking to the hen. She came up and walked around my deke still kelping like crazy. She went back over to the roost tree and started in on them two poor toms again, really pleading her loneliness. About 25 minutes after fly down the toms finally hit the big wings and when they hit the ground the loud mouthed hen fnally put a cork in it and that was the last I saw of them. I stayed till 9am and then headed out for plan B. Over by Choppers house Kirk and I had seen a huge tom with either a monster beard or two big beards, we couldn't tell. Only problem was he had 3 hens with him when we saw them. I head to the cabin to see the other guys off who are leaving. Plenty of pork on ice going home with them. :wave: Then Chopper and I headed out for some longbow run and gun........
Good story Spectr....I've shot one of those longbows...good stuff there!!! I would like to have one to add to my collection someday....good luck to ya, hope ya draw first blood with a REAL bow!!!!! Just say NO to TRAININ WHEELS!!!!!hehehe
This one's a long one..... Then Chopper and I headed out for some longbow run and gun........ We went back over to where I had set up that morning and got a gobble from 2 toms. They were above us so we hiked up the ridge a bit to cut them off. The toms passed in front of me at about 20 yards but it was so thick I couldn't get a shot. We tried another hasty ambush further up the ridge but the toms seemed more interested in getting bugs and fresh blooms in their bellies to warm up from the cold night before. About 1pm we bounced over to near Chopper's house and got some toms gobbling over there. We set up on top of a ridge with a couple dekes out. After a long time calling them in 4 jakes popped out of the brush below us and just out of range. One was fanned up and his head was as white as a snowball. The others were doing the usual sneak and peak since we had another group of toms gobbling to our left. The jakes passed us and then turned to come up the hill a bit more but they still passed out of range. When they dropped down the hill I motioned to Chopper I was going to go down to the flat below and see if we couldn't call them jakes back up for a shot. I got down to the flat and a third group of toms started gobbling like crazy behind us. I was in a little bowl and with 3 groups of turkeys gobbling and it was like a concert. I had to chuckle as I could tell who was pissing who off when they gobbled. A showdown was coming and I was standing right next to the O.K. Corral. About this time the jakes were 60 yards out in front of me in a pretty open hillside, I was picking spots to slip closer, tree by tree but with 4 sets of turkey eyes it's one of the hardest things to do in the woods. With the sun now out it made it even tougher to pick shady spots to land in. Suddenly those 2 far off toms from behind were now right at the top of the hill where Chopper was and they were letting it rip. I could see the panic in the jakes when they all bolted their neck and heads upright to look up the hill, butt whoopin time was here. One of the big toms puffed up like a beachball and then charged down the hill toward the jakes. The mad running tom reminded me of Pete Wysocki from the Philadelphia Eagles who used to run and then jump feet first into the wedge on kickoff returns. Kamikazee all the way. When that big tom hit them 4 poor jakes they looked like bowling pins flying from a perfect strike. Feathers were flying and jakes were running around in circles pleading for the large tom not to stomp them. Tom #2 then joined his big buddy to help show who was boss when the jakes then rallied and circled the big toms. That's when the spurs came out and it was on. Fighting purrs and hard cutting sounds from the battling turkeys alerted the woods to a brawl, and if anyone cared to look the fur was flying. All this time I'm trying to tip toe closer to hoepfully catch one tom with his back to me. No such luck, they were running around like school kids on recess and then they would hit the stop action button to check for danger and then it was game on again. Like someone with a finger on a remote button. Fight.............. stop. Fight....... stop. Frustrating as heck to be so close and no shot. Finally the big toms ran the 4 jakes up the hill next to Chopper and into the next county. Asses and elbows going over the top of the ridge was the last I saw of them poor whooped jakes. I'm sure they'll have to lay low for awhile after that public humiliation. I looked up Chooper's way to signal "oh well" and he was doing the "Get you butt up here right now" wave and point. Redemption I though maybe. My luck was about to turn,,,,,,,,,,,,
