The North Texas storms that ushered in a strong cool front on Friday April 28th were enough to delay my long planned turkey hunt, but not enough to cancel it. By Saturday morning the rain was light and the temperatures were in the low 50’s, so I grabbed my gear and headed to my season lease at Brazos Archery Outfitters in Newcastle.

I found myself in the stand just after noon, but with the strong north winds I was unable to get a gobbler to respond to my Primos Heartbreaker box call. The only action was several lone hens that were obviously nesting. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that two hens and a gobbler moved into the area to feed on the scratch grain I had spread out. The gobbler stayed just out of sight, drumming and strutting for his hens, and after about 20 minutes they all moved off and I feared I had lost the opportunity.

Almost an hour passed when the hens I had seen earlier came back. I had been working the box call, but this gobbler wasn’t talking. I leaned over and looked out the window of my pop up, and sure enough there he was, and he had a rope around his neck! He moved ever so slowly from my left to right, following the hens. Two or more steps would make for the ideal 20-yard shot, but before he could take those steps a doe moved into the area from my right, heading right for him. Fearing the deer would spook him back out of sight, so I choose to take the shot that was offered.

The previous weekend I had missed a gobbler when my arrow failed to clear the window on my blind. That lesson turned out to be valuable in the shot I took at this gobbler. Today the arrow would find it’s mark and the Tom went down. The beard on this trophy measured a respectable 10”, with just over 1” spurs.

Sunday morning the weather was perfect, with a low temperature in the upper 40’s, calm wind, and clear skies. I chose to return to the same stand, and when I arrived the Tom’s were gobbling all around me at break of day, and I just new I would be seeing turkeys soon. At a few minutes after 8:00 am, I heard a gobbler drumming just outside the blind door. I slowly unzipped the door, and dang, this gobbler was 3 yards away and had what looked like a 11” or better beard! Suddenly the two hens he was with appeared and headed for the hen scratch. Surely he would follow!

The Tom eased his way down the hill towards the hens, drumming and strutting for what seemed like 15 minutes, but would not present me with a shot. Finally, as the hens moved off to my left, the gobbler started to follow, giving me a clear shot. I drew back and he hastened his movement and busted into a trot. Nooooo!

Just then I saw what had happened. Three jakes had moved in from my left, and the hen had ran off, causing the gobbler to follow her. Still at full draw, I decided to make the best of a bad situation and settled the pin on the biggest Jake. Again the arrow found it’s mark and the bird went down. The beard on this gobbler was 6 ½” long, and his spurs were, well, not quite as long as the one that got away!

Jim Beadle

Bow Hunter

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