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Rainy Day Rios & Ghillie Suits By - Rick Barbee 15 May 2010
I woke up this morning with the full intention of going after pigs at a wallow, that is about 300 yards due south of my house. The bank of the water hole where you see me standing is about 10 ft high, and slopes off to the wallow, that is due west of me. I set up in that spot, because the wind was out of the north northwest, and the pigs usually approach this area from the west. Just after first light (around 6:20 a.m.) I noticed there had not been any pig activity there for several days. This hole is good when it is dry, but it's been real wet here lately, and I guess the pigs are finding water at quite a lot of places, so nothing showed, and I gave up, packed in, and went to the local coffee shop to visit with some friends around 7 a.m.. Yea, I know, I gave up kind of early, but I know these pigs, and their sign, and was 99% sure they were not going to show, and for sure not in the day light. I returned home about 8:30 a.m. , and decided to give it another go before the rain started setting in on us hard, but decided to take a turkey call along just in case. I set there until 9:45 a.m. with no sighting nor sounds of pigs, so I pulled out my triple reed raspy hen mouth call, and started a series of clucks, and purrs, just to see what I could stir up, and it wasn't long before I had hens talking back from just southwest of me about 50 yards away in the brush. In less than 15 minutes of calling I had 5 hens at the water, followed by 3 jakes. Today is the next to last day of spring turkey for us, and I made up my mind, since I would not get to hunt tomorrow, I would shoot the first gobbler, that presented an opportunity, if the opportunity was presented.
Well, as you can see, the opportunity was presented !!! The hens came all the way down to the edge of the water you can see in the lower right of the above picture, which is about 15 yards from where you can see me standing in the top picture, but the jakes held up at the edge of the clearing at the top of the water hole. If you look closely, you can see the turkey laying just below the brush at mid frame of the above picture. The shot was exactly 24 yards from the spot where I sat. This is not a trophy bird by any standard, but he is definitely a trophy to me due to the way I went about getting him. From the ground, no blind, using only the ghillie, and natural cover to get the job done., and this is my first gobbler using the ghillie, so to say I am a little excited about it would be an understatement. I didn't weigh him, but for size reference the arrow is 33.75 inches in length from the end of the nock to the tip of the broadhead.
Some years ago, I decided to only shoot at the neck, and head of my turkey attempts, because if I make contact, the bird is down instantly. If I miss a little low I still have the possibility of a good clean kill, and if I miss left to right, the bird escapes unharmed to live another day. As you can see the 175gr VPA terminator did it's job quite well, and this bird did nothing more than quiver a few seconds after dropping to the ground where he was strutting.
5.5 inch beard measured from skin to end. 0.5 inch spurs both legs.
Gear Used: Bow - 64" Blackwidow PMAX 64# @ 29" Arrow - 7595 Goldtip Traditional sporting a 175gr VPA terminator broadhead. Total arrow weight is 655gr. Quiver - Tred Barta 8 arrow. Made by Thunderhorn, and purchased from 3Rivers. Turkey Call - I don't remember the brand, but it is a triple reed raspy hen, that I have used, and had good luck with for many years.
Ghillie close up.
The little bird once again.
The victory shot.
Until next time - Good luck, have fun, and be safe out there. See Ya. ~Rick Barbee~
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Disclaimer - We try to maintain a high level of accuracy of each article we publish, but the views expressed within are those of the author of each article. The Traditional Archer's Gazette, nor any of it's owners, or representatives necessarily reflect, or agree with those views. ©2009 The Traditional Archer |
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