Just Ride's blog: "hunting"

Was walking out(back to the truck) and luckily spotten one through the corner of the grove before it saw me... I wasn't sure at first if it was a deer, bush, stump or what...but I stood frozen. finally it relaxed enought to move its head/neck. Ok, now its on!!! It was walking towards me, not a steady walk, a step here, nibble on something, another step perhaps, taking its own sweet time. There was a group of small trees, probably 3-6 inches in diameter, that hid its head from my view briefly, it was then that I carefully kneeled down and began to position myself for a shot for when it came out into an opening. As it got closer, I say "it" because it was dark enough I couldn't tell if it had antlers or not, it could sort of tell something wasn't quite right, it looked at me, lowered its head, and then as if its neck was spring loaded popped its head back up and looked...it did this two or three times before relaxing again. During all the head bobbing, I thought I could finally see some antlers, doesn't really matter as I can legally shoot a buck or doe. As he came around the corner of the grove he had to pass behind a low hanging branch with still plenty of leaves for cover. This was my opportunity to draw my bow back in anticipation of him clearing the branchy cover. As I was hoping, he did clear the cover, so now it was all up to me. All the while darkness had set in all around, all I could see of the deer was a siloette. I could barely make out the sight pins on my bow, fortunately for me I was out in the open bean field enough that the canopy that the grove provided for shade was not over me. I had to guess at the distance between me and the deer and then from that estimate choose the correct sight pin. I guessed, I chose, and I let one fly...it felt good, sounded good...did I get him? Wasn't sure, looked for sign, called Dad and he brought out a couple flash lights....we couldn't find my arrow, so that meant it was still out there in the field somewhere or planted into my prey. We searched for some time without any signs of my arrow or from the deer, other than tracks. Decided to call it a night and I'd come out first thing in the morning and pick up where we left off from the night before... I walked to the exact location from which I shot. put another arrow in the bow, and let it fly in the same direction as the one I shot the night before...the arrow this time though had a special tip used for hunting small game that doesn't allow it to burrow under grass, or in my case bean stubble. I proceded out to the location of the newly flung arrow, found it with no problem, so I continued along that same path looking for any sign of my arrow from the previous evening.....there it was, laying on top of the dirt... Upon examining the arrow, it is very safe to say that this lucky deer has not been injured... So soundly I'll be sleeping knowing that him and I may meet yet another day ;)

This years shotgun season (revolver for me) produced the following for Nick and I: Burger: 86 packages (approx. 1 lb) Tenderized minute steaks: 18 packages (approx 3 per package) Untenderized steaks: 8 packages (1 per package) Chops: 19 packages (4 per package) Loin: 1 Roasts: 7 I still have a bunch left from last year so had to do some shuffling and plug another freezer in. Gave my neighbor 4 packages of burger and 4 packages of minute steaks today too lol I need to do more home cooking and eat more of this, that is all there is to it. And there is still a rifle season in Jan. we are thinking about doing, we'll have to see, but I've got a little more room and would like to get some sausage and sticks made.

Spring is in the air !!!!

And this episode of Ryan's blog is going to be solely dedicated to
TURKEY HUNTING...

If you've read all my blog entries you will know that I'm going to try
bow hunting for turkeys again this year. I gave it a shot last year, however
the closest I got to a turkey was about 60 yards. I don't think had I had
a gun I would have even gotten one last year.

I need them to come into bow range, and for me that will be 10-20 yards,
30 at the very farthest. Not only do I have to hold still enough while
the turkey is approaching that I don't scare him....I somehow have to get
my bow pulled back so I'm ready to shoot. To aid in my en devours, I'll be using a blind similar to the one pictured below:


If you have ever been on a site that has a hunting forum and want to open
a can of worms, ask them "what's the best broad head for turkeys?". It is
almost always guaranteed to generate lots of opinions. There are many, many
broad heads on the market today to choose from... There are basically two classes: fixed blade and mechanicals. Mechanical broad heads have blades that expand upon impact.

Fixed blades can be broken down into two more classes: chisel tip
Chisel tips have what looks like a chisel at the very tip and then blades that follow.

and cut on contact tips(this is what i have chosen).
The cut on contact's have blade edges that run all the way to the tip of the head.

and there is even one called "The Gobbler Guillotine" (this has a 4" cutting
diameter designed to decapitate).

All the broad heads have their advantages and disadvantages I'm sure...but I've
decided for this turkey season anyway, to use a fixed blade broad head.
I am pretty much using the same broad head I used for deer hunting except that my turkey heads will be four blade instead of two. Note the picture below, the broad head has 2 main blades and 2 smaller blades on either side.

I have a decoy that will be located out in front of my blind, and I'll be doing a little
calling as well. I don't want to over do the calling, I admit I'm not the best at it
nor do i have that great of a call to begin with...just enough to get their attention should
suffice.

With a shotgun aiming is simple...aim for the turkey's head/neck.
Obviously with the my bow i won't be aiming there...unless of course i chose "The
Gobbler Guillotine" as my broad head. so where is the best place to aim at a turkey with an arrow.
The next few images illustrate where to aim for different angles that may be encountered.






So...if i can get one called in close enough, be able to draw my bow back without being
detected by the incredible eyesight of the turkey, place my arrow in a location that
will immobilize...they we will have an very scrumptious Thanksgiving meal next November.