Al33
Senior Member
I went to my club last Wednesday afternoon despite weather warnings of high winds for the evening but even so I would be there for a Thursday morning hunt. I got in my blind at 4:30 and the winds were calm. After about a half hour I let out a few clucks from my glass pot. No response but I continued with a couple of clucks about every half hour and about 5:30 I got a gobble, not real close but not real far either. I added in a few purs and real soft yelps and it wasn't long before I had about 8 hens come from my left and walked right past the front of my blind. Just for your information I can shoot only out of the front of the blind and even that is limited to only a few spots. Watching and hoping the tom I heard gobble would be following I kept watch through a small hole in the left side of the blind and soon saw not one, but two long beards coming my way in full strut. They stopped at 20 yards putting on a show for a lingering hen that was with them. She sat down between them and I knew what that meant. It didn't take long for me to figure out which one of the toms was the boss and he mounted the hen. This was a first for me to see in real life and the tom stayed on the hen for 6 or 7 minutes. The other tom moved closer to within about 10 yards of the blind and started drumming as he pounded the ground with his feet and making mating motions. When the breeding tom let the hen up she shook herself off three times then ran past me to catch up with the other hens that were now 40-50 yards out. I'm thinking boy oh boy, if the toms will just take the same route. The boss tom started my way while the lesser one continued his antics but the boss tom didn't like it and jumped on him to get him to quit.
Both folded up and hurriedly came into view out in front of me at 17 yards with the boss leading the way. I had had plenty of time to coach myself about picking a spot and did just that as I let the arrow with string tracker line head his way. He was already walking kind of fast and took off like a rocket. The string was spooling off about as fast as my heart was beating. Everything looked good but I know better than to assume it is. After a good run the string stopped and I thought I heard him doing the dying flop. I had been texting Crispen (chenry) earlier who was hunting one of his places also and told him about what happened. I gave the tom some time before going to look for him then started following the string. After about 150 yards I came to the end of it and the tom wasn't there. 
After a lot of searching I went back to where I shot him and found my arrow which only had a smear of blood on it and there was only a single body feather on the ground. This told me without a doubt it wasn't a vital shot. After over 50 hours in the blind I finally got a shot and blew it.
I was disgusted with myself to say the least. I continued to hunt Thursday through Saturday morning but no opportunities for redemption came my way. When I got home Saturday evening I played back a video of the shot in very slow motion and could see my arrow went low. My only consolation is that I had a perfect line. I am very confident I only pierced his skin and he is alive and well. Nothing would please me more than to get a tom and discover a cut scar at bottom end of his breast.
After a lot of searching I went back to where I shot him and found my arrow which only had a smear of blood on it and there was only a single body feather on the ground. This told me without a doubt it wasn't a vital shot. After over 50 hours in the blind I finally got a shot and blew it. I was disgusted with myself to say the least. I continued to hunt Thursday through Saturday morning but no opportunities for redemption came my way. When I got home Saturday evening I played back a video of the shot in very slow motion and could see my arrow went low. My only consolation is that I had a perfect line.
