Lost an Animal!

[North Idaho Stickbow]

I was putting out some bear bait on Sunday and happened to run into a flock of about 40 turkeys on the way out. There was a giant Tom in the bunch and I have a turkey tag burning a hole in my pocket, so I figured why not?

I took a shot at him about 20 to 25 yards and center punched him right through the middle. It took me a while to find the arrow, but I found it, along with a really good blood trail. Sadly, there was nothing at the end of that trail. I looked for probably 3 hours with a dog and couldn’t find the thing. That’s the first animal I’ve lost.

Moral of the story: carry a head made for turkeys in the quiver I suppose.

 

[TaterTot]

That sucks man. It's never a good feeling to not recover an animal.

 

[oldgoat]

Center punch him side to side or front to back?

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

Side to side

On the bright side, I was really proud of that shot, especially with the hill-style bow I decided to carry in.

 

[oldgoat]

I lost one on side to side center punch too, shot Texas Heart shot next time and he face planted in 20 yards, that's all I'm going with in the future!

 

[Wrench]

At least the sumbitch didn't bail with your arrow.

 

[Fatcamp]

Did it. Hurt my feelings.

 

[Rob5589]

At least the sumbitch didn't bail with your arrow.

Those big blue grouse have done that to me more than once.


With turkey, grouse, etc, I aim higher than you'd think to get into the vitals. Sometimes that doesn't even put em down immediately.

 

[Page Master]

Lost a very nice deer Friday evening. I missed him at 21 yards entirely, perfect left and right but below his heart by 3''. Shaved some hair, He jumped back and then circled in front of me and went from my left to my right and I took another shot at 22. Elevation was perfect but he spun and I went in mid body. Terrible blood and a very stomachy looking arrow. Waited 18 hours to look, found minimal blood then came back with a dog and looked again. Discerned he was probably still alive after finding some fresh blood spots and backed out.

Terrible feeling. Spent the weekend like I had been kicked in the nuts.

 

[Beendare]

Delete

 

[GLB]

That sucks. It amazes me how tough turkeys are.

 

[Broomd]

Yep, tough birds indeed. He probably flew off where the blood ends.

 

[Btaylor]

Bummer.

Personally, my minute of pieplate accuracy needs work with my recurve. Im darn good on game animals but lost at least 5 arrows this fall on grouse. Oh, I got feathers in all of them but didnt kill a one. I need to refine my pinpoint accuracy even on close shots.

Cut feathers off the one I shot at on my elk hunt this year. Tried to head shoot it and cut neck feathers, bird left like something was after it.

Tried to head shoot a rabbit last weekend and pulled a swing and a miss.

 

[Bad habit]

I was putting out some bear bait on Sunday and happened to run into a flock of about 40 turkeys on the way out. There was a giant Tom in the bunch and I have a turkey tag burning a hole in my pocket, so I figured why not?

I took a shot at him about 20 to 25 yards and center punched him right through the middle. It took me a while to find the arrow, but I found it, along with a really good blood trail. Sadly, there was nothing at the end of that trail. I looked for probably 3 hours with a dog and couldn’t find the thing. That’s the first animal I’ve lost.

Moral of the story: carry a head made for turkeys in the quiver I suppose.
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Turkey’s are very thought birds

 

[BOFF]

Just getting drawn in a turkey is a hard feat. Tough birds for sure. I’ve seen tracking dogs for deer, but didn’t know they had them for turkeys.

God Bless,
David B.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

Just getting drawn in a turkey is a hard feat. Tough birds for sure. I’ve seen tracking dogs for deer, but didn’t know they had them for turkeys.

God Bless,
David B.

Well, to be fair, my dog has never tracked a turkey a day in his life lol!

He’s my partner (a police K9), and he does plenty of tracking for bad guys, which is done mostly by ground disturbance that is different from the environment. I used him to successfully track an elk a couple years ago in muzzleloader season. He did fantastic!

He gave it a half-ass effort on the turkey, then just kinda looked at me like “now what? This is stupid.”

 

[BOFF]

Well, to be fair, my dog has never tracked a turkey a day in his life lol!

He’s my partner (a police K9), and he does plenty of tracking for bad guys, which is done mostly by ground disturbance that is different from the environment. I used him to successfully track an elk a couple years ago in muzzleloader season. He did fantastic!

He gave it a half-ass effort on the turkey, then just kinda looked at me like “now what? This is stupid.”

One of my goals is to take a turkey with my longbow, but for some reason, our turkeys here in Alabama are difficult to kill even with a shotgun.

We have a trainer here (Rickey Farley) for K9s, that trains dogs from all over the world. He's top notch in what he does.


God Bless,
David B.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

I know Rickey! Alabama K9. He sells some great dogs.

Come up to Idaho. There’s turkeys everywhere around here. I guarantee we could get you one with a bow in a few days.

 

[Beendare]

He gave it a half-ass effort on the turkey, then just kinda looked at me like “now what? This is stupid.”

ok, that was funny….you made my day NIS!

 

[BOFF]

I know Rickey! Alabama K9. He sells some great dogs.

Come up to Idaho. There’s turkeys everywhere around here. I guarantee we could get you one with a bow in a few days.

You haven’t even seen me shoot!

Thank you for the offer!
I may take you up on it if it is ever a convenient time for us both.

God Bless,
David B.