Story of the Hunt

 

Upon calling in this beautiful longbeard he became distracted and began ignoring my decoy. I was hunting with a bow and arrow so I wanted him at 20 yards or closer. I was unsure what made him start retreating but soft purring seemed to be bring him back in. To my dismay, he started retreating again.

We went through this a few times. Each time he would take a few steps back toward me after I would call. Eventually he began getting further and further away and began ignoring my calls. What I could not see (I was in a pop up ground blind) was that a real hen had entered the picture and he was choosing her over my deek. At 43 yards away he stopped and it was now or never. I normally don't shoot this far with a bow but for some reason I was really confident.

The arrow penetrated him near the base of his backside and exited the right side of his breast. He went about 10 steps and then fell dead. My son later joined me for the picture.