SECRETS FOR BAGGING BOW GOBBLERS WITH DAVID HALE AND MARK DRURY

Hunt In A Blind

EDITOR'S NOTE: A bowhunter truly challenges himself when he tries to take a longbeard with a bow. Instead of bagging a gobbler at 40 yards with the slight movement of a shotgun, a hunter who wants to take a bird with a bow usually must hunt the wary gobbler at 20 yards or less. Then once he gets the bird close, he has to draw, aim the bow and release the arrow at a very small target. To learn the best way to bag your gobbler with a bow, two of the nation's leading turkey hunters, Mark Drury, the founder of M.A.D. Calls, now a division of Outland Sports, and David Hale, one of the founders of Knight & Hale Game Calls, reveal their bow-gobbler secrets.

"I like the Double Bull blind or the Game Tracker pop-up blind," Mark Drury says. "Once you get inside one of these lightweight, portable, total-concealment blinds, you can draw without the turkeys seeing you." When you hunt from a blind, you'll have to patiently wait on the gobbler to come to you, rather than use the cut-and-run tactic, which has become so popular with shotgun hunters. "When I hunt from a blind, I prefer to hunt the strut zones rather than the feeding areas or the roosting sites," Drury reports. "Turkeys usually act more dependable at their strut zones, and they usually remain in their strut zones longer than around their roost trees or in their feeding areas."

Use Decoys:

You really need a decoy to keep the bird's attention off of you. "Most bowhunters prefer to set out two jakes and one hen in their decoy spread," Drury explains. "More than one decoy will keep the gobbler's attention off you. Set up the decoys within 10 or 12 yards of your blind. So, when the gobbler comes in close, you have a much greater chance of making an effective hit." If you'll follow these tips of the pros, you'll increase your odds for accomplishing the formidable task of bagging a bow gobbler this season.

To learn more about John E. Phillips' turkey-hunting books, click here.