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Reflect on each post as if it’s a live feed into the life of a “365 day a year whitetail & turkey fanatic”!

PSE Daily Double

M2E23L64-65R386B307This hunt was different for a lot of reasons. First I was being dropped off at one of my local hunting honey holes by my beautiful wife Sara. Almost always I drive myself but she was along for the ride because after I was done hunting we had plans to go see longtime friends that we hadn’t seen is a few months. It had been raining lightly all day and I was ready for it, the rain never stopped me from hunting.  What I hadn’t planned on was thunderstorms in Iowa in November! Now, the heavy rain I can deal with I’m a big boy, but lightning is a whole different ballgame. Before the hunt was over I’d be forced out of my stand twice by lightning.

I got to my stand at 12:30, I bumped a few deer on the way in, but for this stand that’s normal. At about 1:30 pm I spotted three turkeys working my way. They were feeding, as they did I thought to myself “I wonder how long it will take them to peg me”. I have seen a ton of turkeys while deer hunting this year and even had a failed shot attempt. If you have spent time in a tree stand you know all too well how easy turkeys can pick you off. I have been spotted and won’t have even been moving. One reason this happens is because turkey instinctively look for predators from above. Deer in most cases don’t look for predators from above thus the advantage we have by hunting from a stand.

1426220_10202378746654518_1497701222_nI was in luck the turkeys didn’t spot me and I was able to draw my bow, with them at 35 yards. I picked out one and my point of aim was the wing-butt of the turkey. My PSE DNA sent the Rage tipped arrow slamming into the turkey’s wing-butt, the turkey went only went 5 yards. To my surprise the other two didn’t run off but instead they jumped on the dead turkey. I nocked another arrow, took aim. I figured I may as well fill my other tag if I could. In the excitement I missed high, miss judging how much closer they had come, in the aftermath of the first shot.

I got down out of the stand and found I had shot a young of the year male turkey. This explains why others felt the need to kick ‘em while he was down. This was mostly likely a small group of young jakes.

I claimed back up in my stand and set my sights on filling a deer tag next. Now I have never killed a turkey and deer in the same hunt and because I had to wait for a ride home I was in the woods for the rest of the afternoon. Sounds great! I sent out a few text messages telling of my successful hunt so far, and promptly ran down my cell phone battery.

DSC_0051_LBLThat’s when the fun started! I heard a low rumble off in the distance, I remember thinking to myself, “thunder.?.?… Nah can’t be” Man was I wrong, it got closer and closer and then I could see the flash of light. I claimed down out of my stand at that point and found a safe spot next to a stump. Wasn’t too bad it passed to the south of me and all was clear. I claimed back up and hunted for about an hour. In that hour I had a buck and a doe make their way by my stand. Then the rumble returned and this time I spent the better part of an hour on the ground. It poured and the lightning blasted away. It was unnerving to say the least, had it been a normal day I’d had headed for the truck. If there is one thing that will keep me from hunting it’s lightning. Knowing that Sara wasn’t due back for a few hours I just waited it out.

DSC_0073DeerThe storms pasted and I was able to get back up in my stand. In the last hour of the hunt I had an opportunity to fill my doe tag and I did. I shot a doe who just hung around too long. I took the shot at 15 yards and she didn’t go 40 yards. My PSE DNA had been broke-in with its first and second kills in one of my weirdest, yet most successful hunts ever.

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