We were hunting out of side by side popups in our little 40 acre patch in Warrick county. The reasoning for the side by sides was to have more room for my son to maneuver as he was hunting with his PSE X Force. He had already killed a gobbler this year in Illinois, so he had switched over to a bigger challenge to take any more birds this year with a bow.
I had 'Ol Betsy - the Remington 870.
THE PLAN - IF two birds came in to our setup My son would pick the one on the right and I should take the one on the left. Since shooting a bird with a bow does not usually flush all the birds at once My son would shoot first and I would cue off of him.
IF a single gobbler came in I would take it as my son had already killed one in Illinois this year.
We walked in about a half mile to our place by taking a rock road and then cutting around a stand of pines that sometimes held birds. My son set out his "stuffer jake" and a rubber hen (Wing Supply $5 sale decoy) and got in the blinds at 5 CST.
We heard NOTHING until about 9am and one bird gobbled in behind us to my son's call and then promptly shut up.
I had just finished the last of my coffee and was glancing up and down the field. I then looked across the field and here comes two longbeards closing the distance. They have come out of a wooded area and were at 40 yards when I saw them.
I get 'Ol Betsy up and ready picking out and aiming at the left bird's head. My son had said that he would take the right side bird when they came in and stay on it even if they swapped places after coming in.
I'm following the left bird all around as they circle the "stuffer" pecking at it. I'm waiting... and waiting... and waiting for my son to shoot. "Ol Betsy is starting to get heavy when finally after a couple minutes - TWACK... My son shoots and hits the right side bird. The left bird jumps and moves around a little and I put the diamond of the Simmons Pro-Diamond on his his head and BOOM. He drops immediately.
My son's bird ran about 25 to 30 yards and was down for the count.
When we got out of the blinds I asked him "what took you so long to shoot"? He explained that he was caught by surprise by the birds as he was texting his wife at the time. When he looked up and saw the birds pecking the decoy he picked up his bow to shoot. He had trouble drawing it in the blind as he did not want to stick his arrow out the front window and take a chance of spooking birds. His blind was open in the front.
When he did get drawn he had to wait until one bird moved so that would not skewer both birds.
It all ended well with two nice gobblers down.
It is nice to double up with my son...
congrats to both of you
Congrats the both of you`s