Hunting Stories

HUNTING MR. TOM WITH A BOW
 

BY LEROY SISCO   Once a year I take a few friends on a spring turkey hunt.  Most have not hunted turkeys so it has become a real experience they look forward to.  Each has been able to harvest a tom over the years.  Now it is in their blood and they love it, to the point of buying camo, guns, calls, decoys and much more.  Being the only bow hunter, I always am able to give them a hard time when I get one, so we have a lot of fun.   We hunt on a friend of mines place at Roosevelt, Texas.  The food and the camaraderie were outstanding.  Even better, the turkey hunting in Edwards County is second to none.  We arrived Friday afternoon and I immediately found my favorite spot and set up my Double Bull Blind and prepared for my ambush.  The next morning at 5:00 am we were up had a quick snack and headed out about 6:00 am.  It was windy and cloudy, not my favorite hunting conditions for spring gobblers.  I like it still and sunny, this seems to really crank up the activity.  In the blind Joe Bowen and myself watch the morning come alive with anticipation.  Joe is running the camera and I was handling the call, decoy and bow.  Mr. Tom was not cooperating real well but we still called in four and they were just not in the correct place for a bowshot.  A friend of mine Pat Willis makes the Devastator call I use and it is deadly.  The poor conditions did not effectively stop the capability of this call it brought them in big time.  We went back to camp and had a tremendous breakfast prepared by Ray Peters, he could make a living cooking.   Relaxing and shooting the bow help pass the time until I was back out trying to release a stick.  This time however Joe did not come with me and I had the camera, call, decoy and bow to operate.  This was fun.  Wind was blowing slightly and the sun was shinning it was perfect.  Twenty minutes in the blind I was getting my call answered.  They’re all types of decoys and I use a remote control one that you can start and stop it’s bobbing when you want to.  It is irresistible to the big toms.  Hunting from the blind allows you to move without being seen and they have no fear of the blind itself.  You can set it up in about six seconds and it is lightweight.  To my right are two big toms coming in fast and then all of a sudden they turn away and start leaving and I can’t figure out why.  At about sixty yards out in front of me they are moving away and barely paying any attention to my call.  I just could not believe what was happening.  Then to my right I catch movement and there is the Boss and the other two wanted no part of the dominant Tom.  The picture on the web is what I first saw twenty yards to my right.  Now to get this on tape, pull my bow and work the call was going to be interesting.  Slightly moving the camera to my right to start the filming was done very quietly.  The bird then moves to my left and again I had to adjust the camera and point it to the front where the decoy was setup.  Backing up the zoom on the camera and picking up the bow, drawing and shooting was tuff.  To get the room to draw I had to pull to the right of the camera on the tripod and then lift it over to shoot.  Big boy was now fifteen yard directly in front of me.  Placing the sight pin at mid body and squeezing it off seemed to come automatically.  Carbon High Country Bows are unbelievably smooth and deadly accurate.  It directed my 100 Grain 2 ½ inch Vortex through Mr. Tom’s chest and took out both lungs and his hart.  My trophy only went ten yards.  I don’t know of a better thrill in hunting then the taking a turkey with your bow.  They are one sharp animal.  If they could smell you could never get one.   The next morning I took one of the guys to my stand and called in four Big Toms and he took one with a rifle.  I want to thank Joe Bowen for a great weekend.  This is an incredible hunting place.  Get in the turkey woods and have a great time.  I am headed out again this weekend.  Good Hunting!!! EQUIPMENT USED: Bow                                                 High Country Carbon Four Runner Arrows                                            Arrow dynamics, dipped, crested and fletched with                                                          Bohning supplies Sight                                               Cobra Micro Adjust Rest                                                Bodoodle Pro Lite Quiver                                            Badger by Boning Brodhead                                       100 Grain 2 ½ Vortex Release                                           Overkill Call                                                 Pat Willis’s Devastator Two Calls in One Decoy                                             Moto-Magnet II Remote by Expedite International Blind                                              5’ 3” Double Bull Blind with light weight rods Camo                                             Sticks and Limbs by Robert Hoague