This weekend I hosted a disabled veteran for a Hometown Hero Outdoors turkey hunting trip. He wanted to try and harvest his first archery turkey. I advised him with our short window to hunt the success rate would drop and may prove difficult, but he was up for the challenge.

We met on Thursday mid-day and I showed him around the properties, scouted, and some brief hunting but birds were tight lipped and scarce.

This morning we went to a “sure fire” spot. We heard several birds in the distance and finally one close. Although we worked birds hard, they were henned up and would not commit.

Switching gears we checked another piece of property and found several birds in the area. We decided to truck back through the wet, and standing water to a small field. There we began calling.

After two series of yelps I had two birds responding and on a string coming in. The birds worked in but hung up around 36 yards. I told him if he was confident to take his shot. He smacked the first bird sending him whirling around, and leaving his buddy. I began to Yelp the remaining bird gobbled and began to strut again.

I was able to retrieve an arrow, nock it and draw my bow, taking about a 35 yard shot. The arrow hit its mark and the bird went down immediately. After a short retrieval we recovered his bird as well.

What a morning, first bird with archery for him and a double to finish it off.