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Formerly “teen”bowhunter’s 2019 season

teenbowhunter

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
First warm morning I’ve had here. Tom was gobbling his head off pretty close behind the house. I set up and called twice but it sounded like they were moving off so I did what I’m good at and snuck into 30 yards. Problem is... the same brush I used to sneak made it impossible to shoot. And then of course he circled past and walked within feet of where I’d been set up.

Went back to where I’d found two small sheds right next to each other and found three more within 50 yards.


Found these two within 30 yards of where I messed up on some huge deer back in September (if you remember the story where I threw a stick instead of a rock).


I got all caught up on homework and fixing fences so I’m planning on putting the full day to finding fresh elk sheds in the neighboring park. Turkeys can screw off until tomorrow.
 
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teenbowhunter

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
In three days of hunting, I had seven hunts for the same Tom and two jakes. Three times I got them inside 50 yards but never got a shot through the brush. Yesterday, after the seventh hunt, my uncle walked past the birds on his hike up to the Mesa. They were just below the cliffs but were close enough he thought he could’ve shot. I decided to take off my camo, put on some blue shorts and a t shirt, and go for a hike with my shotgun.

I passed below them on the road but they were clumped together waking away into brush just below the cliff so I decided to follow the road up above them and try and shoot off of the cliff.



I got up to the Mesa and looked at the ground to start rock hopping up to the cliffs edge. I looked up to see the Tom in full sprint along the edge of the cliff away from me. The jakes were just popping up into the Mesa. I raised the gun up and said screw it and blasted the jake with his head up. The jake ran along the cliff for a few paces then took flight. I ran up thinking I’d missed to see the jake flopping on the ground. Just as I reached for his neck he flopped off the edge of the cliff down into the woods below. I kept a bead on his head until he stopped flopping.

I heard thrashing in the woods around the corner of the cliff so I ran around to look over. I couldn’t see anything, then I thought I saw a small blue head fall to the ground with a wing next to it. I wasn’t too confident because I left my glasses in oregon.

Here’s the first jake down the cliff, he’s just above the center of the rock and a little to the right.


I ran down and around and grabbed the first bird. I took him down to the road and went to look for the potential second. I hiked up to the bottom of the cliff and didn’t see anything. I climbed onto a huge rock and looked for a few minutes but saw nothing. I started hiking down and found him tucked beneath a big log that I’d just stepped over.



I also found a decent fresh elk shed yesterday morning. Here’s all of the finds from the last 2.5 weeks and my beautiful lucky hunting outfit [emoji23].
 
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teenbowhunter

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
Back in Oregon. Yesterday I called in two nice toms twice with Chad’s call. The second time I got a nice frontal shot. I let her rip and ripped the window of the blind in half. I thought I was high enough to clear it but I was not. Pretty frustrating waking up at 2 am for that bullshit.

I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Does anyone have any warnings against setting up decoys they can see from the roost? Going to be borrowing my friends tom decoys. This flock seems to just be 4 toms and 4 jakes.
 
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teenbowhunter

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
Yeah I generally get in here around 3 and sleep in the blind. I was just curious if they would get spooked by seeing decoys not moving for that long or if they’re too dumb to think about that.
 
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switchhitter

Junior Member
1,604
140
Knox, hocking and Vinton counties
I think they are probably too dumb to realize they are dekes. look at the videos stressless has posted, birds spending 15 minutes beating up a decoy, or birds trying to breed decoys. Turkeys can be really stupid, I think they are hard to kill because they are on the bottom of the food chain. everything preys on turkeys.
 
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teenbowhunter

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
Well I got there at 3 am and my blind was gone. I got myself soaked trying to find it. Took me over an hour to get set up in a different, much worse spot. After a few hours I had a full flock of toms and jakes all around me but none would get close enough for a shot. I have a huge project due in the morning so I decided to sneak in on them. I passed up a 50 yard shot at four jakes, only to realize one had a huge beard as they were running away. I snuck in on the other half of the flock, guessed a Tom at 40 that saw me and shot over his back. I ranged another that followed behind at 48 and sent another arrow. I must’ve ranged grass because I shot under him. Pretty frustrating day but I’ll kill one soon enough...
 
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teenbowhunter

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
switchhitter said:
Did someone steal the blind or did wind carry it away? I set a pop up on a water hole in Wyoming antelope hunting right on the edge of BLM and private. The blind disappeared and I thought maybe someone took it. turns out the wind carried it away.
Click to expand...

Wind blew it lol. Found it right beneath their roost tree.
Here’s the flock in action.
 
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teenbowhunter

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
Called in a great Tom to ten yards. Somehow missed again with the bow. In eight shots with a bow I’ve only taken one Tom and with 4 shots from a shotgun I’ve taken five birds. I think I’m going to stick with shotguns for a while. I need some meat and a bit less frustration.
 
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teenbowhunter

teenbowhunter

Junior Member
1,059
72
Delaware County
switchhitter said:
Man that is a bunch of strutters
If that is public I am surprised you don’t have some competition


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

Yeah it’s a very odd little spot that’s attached to a big patchwork of publicly accessible logging land but I think people head to the larger chunks and don’t realize this is part of it.
 
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