Tom and I went out this morning, our first time out together this seaon. Again, we didn't want for action or excitement! Things are just buzzing up at our lease north of town! We unloaded and threw on our camo just as the sun was coming up. As we were getting dressed, we could hear turkeys to the north. As we approached the trees, we realized they were closer than we thought, only about 40 yards into the trees right in front of us! Wasn't long before we spotted them. Limited shooting lanes, but the birds were close and headed towards the opening where we could take a shot. Tom took a shot first, and the arrow went straight through the bird at about 20 yards out! The birds scattered, making all sorts of noise, but returned within what seemed like a minute or two. I was in a squatting position right next to Tom, and it was my turn to take a shot. I drew back, as a nice hen was approaching the clearing. She stopped and hung back in the brush for several minutes. My arms and shoulders were beginning to burn, so I let down for a minute or so when she wasn't looking. Finally, when it looked like she was going to come out into the clearning, I drew back again. She was out into the open quickly this time, about 25 yards out. I watched her through my peepsight for a couple of seconds, thinking about James at the bow shop reminding me how to use my new release properly and squeeze the trigger all the way back. I felt like I had an excellent shot lined up, but it bothered me that I had been squatting for so long and my legs were beginning to fall asleep. I squeezed the trigger on my release and saw my arrow go right over her back! Tom said he saw and heard the arrow travel quite a distance off into the trees. Was bummed out that I lost one of my new arrows and broadheads! LOL! In spite of all of the commotion those turkeys were making, we immediately heard noise to our right and saw two does headed south. About the time we saw them, they saw us and took off east. We proceeded north to retrieve Tom's bird, however, when we got there, we found the arrow laying on the ground, along with several feathers, but no bird. The arrow was covered in blood and feathers. I posted pictures of them in my photo section. We spent a little time searching for her, and within ten minutes or so, the two does were back. We watched them for a little while, but they were headed south and were not going to come any closer, so we would not get a shot. Noting that we only had about another 45 minutes to hunt, we spent a little more time looking for Tom's turkey, stopping to take pictures of the arrow and feathers. We had decided that the area had been disturbed enough for one day and contemplated moving to a different area of the lease. We were making plenty of noise, the velcro on our releases, walking around, taking pictures, talking in voices that were somewhat louder than a whisper...when, wouldn't you know it, I see a buck directly north about 45 yards lit up by the sun and headed west through lots of brush and trees. I pointed it out to Tom, and at that moment we both got a good view of his rack! WOW! He was a NICE 10-point! Not quite as nice as the one I saw yesterday, but a definite shooter none-the-less! We got ready and waited, noting that if he came uphill towards us and jumped the fence, he'd be in an open area and we'd have a shot at him. I was closest, should he happen to do just that, and boy was I READY! He never even looked our way, and once he got close to the fenceline, he proceeded west, along the fenceline away from us, and never did jump out into the open like we hoped! Go figure! ;) Was nice to see another nice buck out there though! We never did recover Tom's bird. We've never lost a turkey before. There were so many birds when he shot. We heard the impact, but then the turkeys made such a racket and there were so many flying and scattering. We expected to see her lying right in the middle of where all the birds had been standing. He was pretty disappointed and a little baffled at not being able to locate her, but we were able to retrieve his arrow and broadhead, so that helped somewhat I guess. It's a good thing we don't strictly determine rather or not a hunt was any fun based on rather or not we get a bird or a deer! LOL! We both had so much fun hunting as a team this morning. I know when things really heat up and the rut hits, we will most likely go our separate ways and hunt both ends of the lease, like we did last year. We can both appreciate the benefits of both hunting alone and as a team. Didn't find any rubs to take photos of this morning. Tom says that section of the property tends to have a lot of doe bedding areas, and the bucks travel through down at the bottom of the ravine that runs through the property. I know on the other side of the ravine last year there were TONS of rubs, so will be interesting to see what's going on over on that side when the time comes. We are planning on saving that area to hunt when the rut hits. That's the plan for now anyway!We won't be doing any more hunting until probably Tuesday night. We are headed out for the weekend. Have a cabin at Big Cedar Lodge reserved on the lake. We've done a lot of traveling lately, but none of it has been just the two of us, so it will be so nice to get out there for some alone time. Going to light up the fireplace, cook most of our meals at our cabin, as opposed to going out to eat for every meal, although they have some wonderful restaurants on the resort. I am most looking forward to the hot tub and the massage therapist that is available to come to our cabin instead of us trecking over to the spa! LOL! We have also talked about doing some trout fishing as well, which I would LOVE to do! Will post pics if we end up doing so when we get back. We are planning on tackling a big part of our Christmas shopping while we are over that way, so it won't be ALL R&R! Have a GREAT weekend! Happy Hunting!
