Just curious how most of the bowhunters over here hunt turks. Me....I use a P/DB Dark Horse, mainly because a lot of the properties I hunt are fields with small woodlots where the birds roost. If I had more ground to work with I think it would be fun to move around on them with the bow....just doesn't work out that well at the places I hunt due to lack of cover. Let's hear how and why you do it.
I have a lot of cover to work with where I hunt. Usually what I do is I will "run and gun" with my bow in the morning, but as the pace slows down later on in the day I will sometimes sit in one of my DB blinds. I've had GREAT success sitting over dusting holes during mid-day. It can get boring but when you have several turkeys frequenting a specific dusting hole, things can get very interesting.
ack, I,m more of a runner and gunner too. I don't own a blind per se but take a piece of camo burlap each time out. If need be I'll throw it up and use it but I prefer using natural stuff like backing up into blowdowns or using root ball from blown over trees.
I do enough sitting at work and in a tree stand...I'd rather be moving. Been busted a few times using this style but killed a few too. Besides, makes good exercise for this old guy :D
It depends on the area and cover I'm hunting , if its primarily fields I will use the blind and i love hunting from one when the birds cooperate .
I tried for 7 years or so to get one with my bow and no blind. I had lots of close encounters but got caught drawing everytime. I usually gave up and got out the shotgun. Two years ago I had a blind and had a nice tom come into 10 yds. I was using the magnus bullhead and he stopped in some thick stuff. If I had my snypers I could have slipped one through and got him. But with the bullheads I didn't want to get a deflection so I let down. He eventually turned and walked off. Good part I didn't get caught drawing. Last year I blew out my rotator cuff so I couldn't draw.This year I am going to try again year with blind. I will get one with the bow eventually. :bike2:
I stopped at a army/navy store and picked up a 5x8 ft piece of mesh netting with the idea of maken a lite weight camo somethin to hide behind, I figured it mite give me some wiggle room so to speak, I need to get on the ball with it because spring aint gett'n any farther off.
Gonna try with out a blind this year. Plenty of steep brushy hillsides I can post up on and whack one as he comes down a gas road.
My grandson and I will be sitting in a popup blind in the Kansas youth season. He'll have my 20 ga. and I'll have my Mathews Conquest 3. All we need is a big gobbler or two and we'll be set! :icon_thumright:
On private land, I will put out the Ameristep Brickhouse. On private land, I just stick a few palmetto fonds in the ground for some cover.
I've arrowed a few fall hens and jakes without the use off a blind, but didn't get my first gobbler with a bow/no blind until last spring. That is definitely the hardest way to kill a gobbler.
I hope to spend a couple of weekends in OK and KS with my bow this year... leave the shotgun under the seat of the truck as a last resort. ;D
I set up the blind last year in Western OK without staking it down. The next morning it had rolled like a tumbleweed into a gulley nearby. Note to self... use the stakes. This same setup offered a wild plum thicket that I could set up in with a clear view of a 4 wheeler trail the birds used to skirt the perimeter of the property. I may try to set up in there instead of dragging the blind that 1/4 mile back across the property.
My blind is one of the predator den blinds by primos. The price was right, but I would love to have one of the matrix 360 degree type blinds instead... just didn't have the extra money.
When I was a kid I used to find a big tree top left behind by the loggers, you could find one with some tall branches stick'n up they made some good blinds with some work, you could build a seat to get ya off the ground a few feet but you had to be carefull about shake'n the whole thing if you moved around, it was the only draw back.
I bought a Double Bull matrix a few years ago for deer but wanna use it to bowhunt turkey this year. I need to get up the courage to do it. It's just so much easier with a shotgun.
Use a blind if you own one. They are the cat's a$$..........
My one buddy says it's cheating. If that's the case, I told him he should be hunting naked.
On second thought......... looking at him, that's a bad idea for all involved. lol
Always hunt out of my blind. Mostly field edges and open areas in the timber. Maybe some day I'll try it with out a blind if the challenge of getting one gets to easy.
On public land in IL. if I'm not at the roost,just yards away in a blind,in the A.M. to start my hunt the gun hunters will be there shortly after .END GAME.I have shot many birds in the A.M.,took them home and put them in the freezer and was at work at 8:00 A.M.
Ack my A.T. bud how are you doing? Good to be over here and see you here, a friend told me about this site and then bigsho mentioned it so here I am.
I mainly use a DB Dark Horse as well which you already know, although I have killed birds without a blind it is still my preferred method of bowhunting them. Good luck this spring.
Quote from: GSLAM95 on March 14, 2011, 11:37:16 AM
Ack my A.T. bud how are you doing? Good to be over here and see you here, a friend told me about this site and then bigsho mentioned it so here I am.
I mainly use a DB Dark Horse as well which you already know, although I have killed birds without a blind it is still my preferred method of bowhunting them. Good luck this spring.
same here... :z-guntootsmiley:
Ive never taken my bow out for turkey this year but after doing a "blind hunt" with my wife last year for the first time, Ive decided to try and make it happen with the stick and string and leave the shotgun at home a few times...
If your bowhunting a blind for sure as for cover put that blind right in the middle of the field or were there is sign. Set out some decoys and those birds dont have a clue your there
I have killed a few gobblers without a blind and a lot more with it. My best method without a blind is to put the decoys in front of a small pine or cedar and stand behind it. When the gobbler gets to the decoys I draw and then lean out and shoot around the small tree. I have made it work a few times.
I use a DB dark horse. My advice is don't try to hide the blind for turkeys. Put it in the most open spot in the woods or plain view in a field. Put decoys close.
A blind is the way to go if you are bow hunting turkeys.
Blind. Can't give them turkeys all the advantages :lol:
If the terrain allows, I love to hunt w/o a blind.
I too use a blind.
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Double Bull all the way
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I've only been turkey hunting 10-12 years. killed 20 birds. 19 with shotgun. Last year I killed my first with a bow and no blind. It has to be the ultimate challenge. If you're not just in to "killing" turkeys......going blindless is a rush!!!!!!!!
Both.
I'm an avid bowhunter for deer and am planning on trying turkey hunting this year with my bow from a ground blind. Will use a new Jake Mobile with a real jake fan and a hen decoy. Mainly because archery opens about 10 days earlier that shotgun and I CAN'T STAND WAITING that extra 10 days anymore.
One of my spots is a small cornfield along a creek and I am seeing birds walking on the field edge near the creek off and on all day...I'll set up in the corner of the field where I see them most often and see what happens.
I think I'll really be hooked if I am successful....but will probalby always be a shotgunner on turkeys at heart.
Quote from: Mike Honcho on March 23, 2012, 02:57:28 PM
I'm an avid bowhunter for deer and am planning on trying turkey hunting this year with my bow from a ground blind. Will use a new Jake Mobile with a real jake fan and a hen decoy. Mainly because archery opens about 10 days earlier that shotgun and I CAN'T STAND WAITING that extra 10 days anymore.
One of my spots is a small cornfield along a creek and I am seeing birds walking on the field edge near the creek off and on all day...I'll set up in the corner of the field where I see them most often and see what happens.
I think I'll really be hooked if I am successful....but will probalby always be a shotgunner on turkeys at heart.
Allow me to go on and warn you that bowhunting for turkeys can be VERY addictive. Like you, I bowhunt deer throughout the deer season. Haven't picked up my rifle for deer in years. I've turkey hunting for many many years but just started bowhunting them about 2-3 years ago. After I killed my first one with my bow, it's been nothing short of a passion for me to want to take my bow every time I go. I do carry my shotgun, but mind is always playing out scenarios, when I'm in the woods with my shotgun, as to how I would hunt this bird with my bow. My kills have been from ground blinds as well. Now my passion to take one without a blind. I've came close several times, but no cigar as of yet.
You have been warned ;) ;D
Anyone try one of those HIP bow mounted blinds yet?
Ducks
Last year I killed my first bird with my 835 early in the season and thought it was too easy. So I tried it with my bow for the rest of the year without a blind. I had a great time.
One day that sticks out in my memory, I had a big tom strutting around my decoys for five minutes and I couldn't draw. I had ten deer staring at me from 10 - 15 yards the whole time. This year I have a blind and will try that.
Ask the question next year and I'll have an answer for you. :funnyturkey:
I like hunting without a blind. It is more challenging, but in my mind at least (and maybe only there) it is more rewarding as well.
06 - It's all about the chase! I agree. I haven't scored yet with a bow and not blind, but I keep trying too....
I must be hunting in the wrong places!! Around here if you put a blind up your guaranteed to not see anything..these darn birds have learned over the years or something..they will skirt you by atleast 80-90 yards looking all nervous and i can't count how many times I've had them come through the woods and get where they could make out the blind and either turn left,right,or just turn and go back the way they came!! Seriously I've only killed a handfull from a blind over the last 7-8 years..have to do it the hard way..startin this year I'm gonna start brushing it in like i do for deer or leave it at the house!!!
Killed one with a bow last year without and one this year out of my DB. I enjoy hunting out of the blind sometimes and running and gunning when I get the opportunity.
I purchased a blind just for trying to take one with my bow this year been practicing shooting out of it and like it I like the run and gun with my gun but I'm a large guy and couldn't imagine trying to sneak a draw at 10 to 15 yards on one and getting away with it
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Two here so far with bow and no blind, woods birds. First bird was on land where I had to use a bow. Second bird was an hunt "attempt" to not use my last tag too early. Turkeys were made for shotguns IMO but those hunts were as exciting as it gets. Three toms last season inside 15 yards for a while, finally got drawn as they drifted away and center punched a double beard at 25 yards. The real miracle was keeping my composure to do so.
I do both. Depends where I'm hunting mostly. At my dad's place in Missouri he has several blinds set up on his property already. In Kansas, where I live. I mostly public land hunt and I don't set up blinds.
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