So here we are again... still chasing the lone gobbler that appears to be following a hen down the creek. This is about 1/2 mi up the creek from the last video. We had hopped in the truck and tried to make some ground, as we drove by one of my feeders that is visible from the road, I saw birds on it, so we cruised past, grabbed gear in a frenzy and sprinted across the wheat field. Staked a few dekes right on the edge and jumped behind a cedar. Soon as I made some yelps the birds came out of the woods on a run straight to the dekes. Mind you this is YET another group of jakes. Once I saw they were all jakes I was more irritated than anything, we were down to less than 30 mins of hunting time left and REALLY trying to get Greg a longbeard. Once they hit the dekes and WOULD NOT LEAVE despite my entirely aggressive calling at all of 5FT from them, I finally stood up behind the cedar and the walked off to the creek. We grabbed up the dekes and sprinted off for one more set. I wish I could say that we sealed the deal on the next set up but that isn't what panned out, we moved in on the lone gobbler again and he just wouldn't come in, we tried to get closer and he seemed to just keep getting farther. I had assumed all morning that he was with a gal and that pretty much verified it. Yet we still made one last pass on the far end of the farm in an attempt to get a response, by that time though he was tight lipped.
So I will go ahead and lay the ground work for the next video while it uploads.... Matthew had just blasted his longbeard, 9.5 in beard / 1" spurs and just a beautiful rio. I had previously made some homemade guillotines and we discussed that if we continued getting overrun with jakes we would just have to test one out. (Matthew really wanted to see a head roll and so did I) As these jakes came in I passed the camera to Greg ( as you will see his camera skills are even worse than mine) and I knocked an arrow. This bird is at less than 5 yds. As I drew the arrow the blades on the head came into contact with my sight ring and I wasn't able to make full draw, ALMOST but not quite, I could still see through my peep and had the pin on the bird. I shot and totally whiffed. I went to knock another arrow and realized that my rest hadn't dropped, I hadn't reached far enough into the draw cycle to allow the rest to disengage which sent my arrow off the edge of the blind window and into the dirt. Anyway at this point the new Creed is blood thirsty, I knock up a G5 and smoke us some fried turkey, only as you will see in the video the bird almost appears unfazed by the shot. (noticed the lowered and slightly spread fan, leg up, and hunched posture) But the dude wasn't even limpin..... the birds never went more than 20 yds from the blind for around 20 mins or so and I got a chance to review the shot... It was good... more jakes arrived and then began to move off. I finally decided I knew without a doubt which one I had shot originally even though he appeared unfazed. (again the posture, lowered and slightly spread fan, and a broken wing feather) that and all the other birds were making their way down the creek and this bird couldn't figure out how to get through the fence. Finally he came back past the front of the blind (not on cam) and I smashed him again. This time he clearly appeared hurt and the other birds began to beat him. They all moved off some and we just gave him some time as we sat and talked about our awesome experience. Finally we climb out of the blind. Matthew collects his stellar bird and me my arrows. I look for blood and see quite a lot from the first shot, but none from the second. We begin our search and about 50 yds down the creek Greg says,. "Hey I heard a putt". I look over past him and see the shot bird plus a few making their way down a hedge lined fencerow. I don't have my bow so we both take off at a dead run. Greg on one side me on the other hurt bird in the middle. lol Finally I catch up, jump on him, and its over. Both shots good, amazing what those birds can take. tough critters and a hunt we will not soon forget..... that vid is coming soon
Oh and I should mention most of the calling you hear on this next vid is young Matthew with nothing but his voice!!! He is 10 folks!
Good stuff bud, however....what needed filmed was the foot chase lol. Congrats to you all, a rio is on my list!
