“Turkey Heaven”

The stage was set in Gregory, a south-central town located near the Missouri River bottoms of South Dakota, just above the Nebraska border.

This would be the perfect place to stage my very first turkey hunting scene with bow and arrow. Dave Keiser of Double K Guide Service was our host for the weekend, as my husband Mike would also be there in the Double Bull blind with me, hoping to bag a turkey of his own.

 Scene 1 opened on Friday morning, somewhere in a valley of beautiful rolling terrain. 

A few whitetail deer made a cameo appearance just off to our left in a woodlot. It wouldn’t be long before the outline of two tom turkeys were seen on the crest of a hill.  Their surprise performance had them tussling with one another. Their necks would entwine and their wings would spread out as they would dance a dance together in a tight circle. Often, the rival turkey would fall to the ground, which amused me so. This display went on for a good half hour.

http://residents.bowhunting.net/tumble weed/tusslinturkeys.wmv

 I had wished they would come down so we could get a closer inspection but they decided to hang up high on the side of the hill. There were 3 hens with them but they had no interest in coming any closer to us, so they exited the stage off to our right.

The mornings’ show produced no more turkeys so we took an intermission. Actually, we headed back to town and had lunch.

 Scene 2 puts us smack dab in a cow pasture over looking one leg of the Missouri River. Cows were mooing at us in our blind. Of course I had to moo back. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

We had seen all kinds of turkeys that afternoon but unfortunately, they were all over 100+ yards away. We just sat and watched the lead tom strut his stuff for the ladies. Even from that distance, the tom’s fanned-out tail commanded an attentive viewing audience.

Tonight would not be the night for loosening an arrow.

 On Saturday morning, Scene 3 was staged on the upper hill of the Missouri River. This was a different location from yesterdays hunt. We could clearly see the river from here.

The weather had turned nasty over night with whipping winds and temperatures dropping to the low 40’s, a good 30 degrees below normal. To make it worse, it was also raining. We were not properly dressed for this kind of weather and soon found ourselves shivering in our blind. Mental note: wear more clothes for afternoon hunt.

We did spot some turkeys coming up from the brown field behind us. They never came close enough to meet their fate. We ended up heading back to town for lunch and a second (and third) layering of clothes.

For the next outing, Mike and I would split up and hunt in totally different locations. He would see birds each place where he was set up, but never close enough for shots. This is a typical story when you’re bowhunting for any creature.

Tim would be my guide for the remainder of the weekend’s hunt.