Went to Nebraska for a long weekend a couple weeks ago. Went out Friday morning in the light on-and-off rain and got set up with my blind close to a roost. Heard at least 4 toms gobbling close to me, then a hen or two started yelping more than I've ever heard before in my life, and the toms all flew down the opposite direction and were never heard from or seen again.
Later that afternoon, I set up in an open field and had a nice tom work his way to the decoys slowly. When he got to about 10 yards, I let a bullhead fly at his head and missed low left by about 8 inches. I was pretty bummed, but just stayed put. With about a half hour of hunting left, I had two toms come in and beat up my strutter before taking aim at one of their heads. Another shot about 6" low and left and got to watch them run off. I packed it up and headed to the hotel.
Later that evening, I noticed my bowstring had been nicked by something and about half the strands were cut. Not sure if it happened before or after missing the two birds earlier in the day, but it would definitely seem my bow wasnt shooting like it should have been.
The next day was raining all morning and was pretty miserable hunting. Nobody had any luck. The rain eventually quit and was a decent afternoon, but nobody seemed to have any luck being where the birds were at the right time. The birds were all on one side of a property and we were on the other, and vice versa - one of those days.
Sunday was 35+ mph winds all day long, and I set up down in a bottom out of the wind where I have had success in the past on windy days - sat there all afternoon and never saw or heard a thing.. another long day.
Monday morning was much cooler and calmer, but we only got to hunt until about 8:30 before needing to head back to the hotel and packing up, and nobody had any success that morning either.
All in all, it was a fun trip. Saw a lot of birds, just couldnt get anything to work for us. Had a great time visiting with all our friends and landowners out there, and that area is always a blast to hunt. Even though it was a discouraging weekend, you can bet we will be back next year! I'll have to upload some pics and maybe some of the video later on when I get time.
I guess I'll see if I can have any success back in Iowa...
Bow hunting them def changes the game for sure.
Sounds like our trip last year but we had fun too. Bowhunting can be like that.I would ditch the Bullheads and use good flying heads. If you look up the leg and shoot the upper third you will watch em drop in sight. Good luck
Quote from: fallhnt on April 29, 2015, 01:18:31 PM
Sounds like our trip last year but we had fun too. Bowhunting can be like that.I would ditch the Bullheads and use good flying heads. If you look up the leg and shoot the upper third you will watch em drop in sight. Good luck
Never had any trouble with bullheads in the past..have killed a few birds with them and they fly true while practicing with them, so I dont think that was the issue. Im still unsure whether I was dropping my arm a little and not following through, or if the nick in my bowstring occurred Thursday evening (when I found out that a small tackle box in my case had come open and a bunch of stuff was floating around in my case) and I just never noticed until Friday night.
I decided to switch to the bullheads after wounding a couple birds, and then killed a bird with a mechanical but he ran about 60 yards before piling up and didn't give me a chance at the other two toms that stuck around to beat him up. I wanted either a clean kill or a clean miss, and I wanted them dead right where they stood.
I didnt take many pics, but heres a few I thought I would share..
(http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/jakeduehn/B08ACF6C-3D4B-4713-A7BE-3C083CC56D09_zpsx8xgk6w1.jpg) (http://s807.photobucket.com/user/jakeduehn/media/B08ACF6C-3D4B-4713-A7BE-3C083CC56D09_zpsx8xgk6w1.jpg.html)
(http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/jakeduehn/A50305CD-EA50-4960-9B55-498A5ECAC32D_zpsxruoqh1o.jpg) (http://s807.photobucket.com/user/jakeduehn/media/A50305CD-EA50-4960-9B55-498A5ECAC32D_zpsxruoqh1o.jpg.html)
(http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/jakeduehn/C885E62D-52C6-4AAC-9E94-0930D1B8FE1F_zpsng92qwbo.jpg) (http://s807.photobucket.com/user/jakeduehn/media/C885E62D-52C6-4AAC-9E94-0930D1B8FE1F_zpsng92qwbo.jpg.html)
(http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/jakeduehn/AC428680-522F-47DA-B2BF-5E847BF339E2_zpso5wrczmh.jpg) (http://s807.photobucket.com/user/jakeduehn/media/AC428680-522F-47DA-B2BF-5E847BF339E2_zpso5wrczmh.jpg.html)
(http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/jakeduehn/1A2857D0-3E6B-4708-A34F-F13294376D6F_zpscyclrg6s.jpg) (http://s807.photobucket.com/user/jakeduehn/media/1A2857D0-3E6B-4708-A34F-F13294376D6F_zpscyclrg6s.jpg.html)
Cool photos. Would love to make it out that way.
Nice pics! Good luck in Iowa.
I'd have put an arrow in that flippin decoy!
Heres a little of the video..Not much production value, just thrown together quick.
I edited out a bunch from the first bird, but from the time I turn the camera on until I took the shot was over 9 minutes. He definitely wasn't too sure about stepping up to my strutter.. Make sure you turn it on HD.
https://youtu.be/e39u8ATIaHU