We tried to be patient but after a few hours, calling on and off with no response, we decided to move. We needed to try someplace close by as New York spring turkey can only be hunted till noon.

Jeff and I moved about a half mile away to a swampy area where we had seen turkeys during our 2 weeks of scouting. We knew turkeys were in the area, but they weren't responding to our calls. What we didn't know was that a group of hens with a couple of Jake's were right around the corner. After we spooked them our morning was over.

On the ride home, discussing what we had done to anger the turkey god, we spotted a large tom in full strut. He was in a plowed field trying to impress a hen not more then three miles from our house. We decided that we would go after him the next morning since our prime spot had gone sour. We did some scouting from the truck and called it a day.

The next morning was even nicer than the first. Jeff and I had arrived a little late. We grabbed our bows and pack and started to work our way down a hay field towards where we had seen the birds the day before. We tried a couple of owl hoots as we walked but with no response. The field was about half a mile long with good timber at the end & on one side. There was a large brush pile in the corner of the field which we decided would make a perfect ambush site. With sunrise approaching quickly we set up our blind and placed the decoys in front about twenty yards in the field. We spotted the tom in the plowed field about 1/4 mile from where we set up the blind.

We barely got one foot in the blind when a tom gobbled straight across from us about 200 yards away. Another tom gobbled back in the direction of the truck, then another behind our blind only about one hundred yards away. Finally, a forth tom gobbled out towards the plowed field. We were literally surrounded by gobblers. Life was good again!

After a few minutes we heard one land behind us less than 50 or 60 yards away. Jeff, being a much better caller than myself, and having lost the coin toss, decided to let me take the first bird. Jeff made a few clucks and a hen flew out of a tree directly overhead, almost landing in our blind. We both froze, staring at the confused hen, hoping she didn't ruin our great morning so early. She looked right at us then at the decoys, then at us, then at the decoys and walked away through the decoys and into the plowed field.

Once she moved on Jeff made a couple of clucks and all the toms gobbled including the one right behind us. For a few minutes they all gobbled back and forth at one another with no help from us. This continued for about ten minutes and then slowly settled down. Jeff started to call the tom behind us but with no response. We couldn't see behind us because of the brush pile but we could hear walking in the leaves. They just wouldn't come into the field. After about ten minutes of silence we assumed that the turkeys had moved on through the brush.

I thought that was it. We blew it. Maybe the hen gave us away. Then Jeff made some call I've never personally heard before causing the tom to gobble about 30 yards off to the side of us. Whatwever he said, the tom liked it and was coming back, gobbling all the way. As I drew my 65# Stealth Eagle back a tom gobbled not 20 feet from were I was sitting. All I saw was a head and neck jutting out past the stick pile on my right. He walked out on the side of the pile where we had our blind. Once he saw the decoys he blew right up into to full strut and walked right in front of me only five yards away. (almost too close) Once that red dot found its mark I sent a muzzy 100 on it's way at 280 fps. At five yards that tom didn't stand a chance. He flew some fifty yards smack into a tree and fell dead.

The arrow struck the tom in the wing joint cutting the main wing bone and exiting out the middle of the other side. He started to fly across the field with me in hot pursuit. He only went about fifty yards and flew smack into a tree. He barely hit the ground and I jumped on him preventing him from regaining flight, but it wasn't necessary. The Muzzy 100 did it's job and the bird had expired. The carbon arrow was still in the opposite side of the bird and besides having one bent blade it was fine.

Jeff and I returned home with a 21lb tom with an 8" beard and with 3/4" spurs. It was the first turkey I've taken with a bow and hopefully it won't be the last. After taking some pictures of the bird and patting ourselves on the back we decided to head back out since it was only 7:30am.

Before we went wandering off into the woods we decided to drive around the block. In a field about 3/4 of a mile from where we were hunting, we spotted two toms and a group of hens. After sizing them up we turned the truck around and headed back to our first spot. We parked the truck, gathered the gear & started the long walk to where we saw the toms. Once we came to the back-side of the field, we found a pine tree that had fallen during a recent wind storm and set up the blind. The turkeys were about 300 yards away in an open field. There were two large toms as big, if not bigger, than mine and also 8 hens with them.

For three hours we called with no luck. The toms would stop strutting and look our direction but would not leave the hens. Like they say "Eight in the hand is better than two in the bush". It was about 11:30 and we were ready to call it quits when the hens started towards the woods (I assume to sit on their eggs). That's when the toms really started to take notice of our calls. As the hens got closer to the woods the toms headed our way. It was going to be close to legal shooting time but the two toms were strutting in fast. It was Jeff's turn to shoot so I just got down out of sight so I wouldn't spook the birds.

Once they spotted the decoys they were hooked. A jake decoy set on top of a bedded hen is enough to drive even the most skittish of toms insane. Jeff waited for the perfect moment to draw his stealth eagle so he wouldn't spook the two birds. With the big tom hanging back behind the smaller one, Jeff would be forced into taking the smaller one (although larger than mine). He went to put his dot on the bird but couldn't see it. While holding the bow at full draw he glanced at the power switch on the scope but that was on. What Jeff didn't take into account was when he sighted in he didn't have his thick hunting gloves on. The way a red dot works, if your anchor point is not the same every time the dot doesn't show up in the scope. With the toms only at 15 yards away looking right at us, Jeff tipped his head to the side to locate the dot and when he did the lead tom let out a loud puck! Anyone who turkey hunts knows what a loud PUCK means to a turkey. In the blink of the eye both took to the air and were gone before we knew what happened.

Shooting time had expired for the day but it was only the second day of the season and there would be other days. This was our first experience at turkey hunting with a bow and it was, without a doubt, the best hunting experience I've had to date. If you ever get the chance to hang the shotgun up for a morning and try it with a bow you'll never go back!