Thought I had a jake...

[lowell]

Had a hen hanging around the blind this morning and was looking real hard to see a beard but decided it was just a ruffled feather.  Though I better look around and see if anything else was around....saw 2 jakes running in from  about 100 yards.  They stoped at my first hen decoy where I could not take a shot.  Kept calling and moving fanned jake Pretty Boy.  They finally started to walk in front of blind at about 12 yards.  Took the shot and it really felt good.

 Hit him in the wing..... I thought??   Waited almost an hour and found the fletched half of the arrow right away and found the blade half of the arrow where the bird hopped the fence. Blood on both pieces at the break. Thought he would be just inside the fence but not there!!

 Son offered to look with his yellow lab but we never found him. It just felt so good but somehow missed that "spot"!!

[mullet]

 Man, that's too bad. When they get hurt they can really bury themselves in leaves and are hard to find. I had one I blood trailed last year for about 50 yards through thick brush. Finally the blood just quit.

[sailordad]

thats to bad man,been there myself more than once
i hit one in the winf one time at 10yds,herd the bones break,saw the wing drop.even seen blood spurt.
thought for sure he was mine.he ran 4 steps jumped in the air and pumped that one good wing untill he was out of site.never did find him either

question for ya though
why did you have a decoy in an are you couldnt take a shot?
i always place decoys where i want to kill the bird at.
i also use them as yardage markers and never place one any further than i am comfortable shooting at accuratly.

[chasing crow]

That does stink. Sounds like you did it right. Too bad, he got away. Nice job, You'll get em next time!

[lowell]

sailordad... I was set up in a narrow strip of hay between 2 corn fields.  The hay/grass was getting kind of tall and I wanted a decoy that was very obvious so I put it in the bare ground of the recently planted corn field.  I questioned myself when I did it but I wanted a decoy to be seen easily by any turkey that stepped into the corn field.  She ( the decoy) was in my range but I didn't have the windows open to her.

 Most of the mature toms I've had show any interest came to the strutting Pretty Boy but the jakes seemed to feel intimidated by him and were not looking for a fight.....just love!!

[PeteC]

Sounds like a good hunt.Sorry you lost your bird. God Bless