Toxie Givens

I recently went hunting with a good buddy of mine because he wanted me to video him shooting his first turkey with a bow. As some of you might know, shooting a turkey with a bow is a very challenging endeavor. It was foggy and raining that morning and we both situated in a tent blind. As you can see in the video, my friend shot over the bird into the turkey’s left wing. Afterwards we talked about it and he said he had shot his 20 yard pin and that is why he was high. Another thing we neglected, was to run out when the bird hit the ground and make sure he was dead. We were both caught up in the moment not realizing the turkey had just been stunned and that there was not a lethal shot. It happened so quickly. Even though we did not harvest the bird we still had a great time.

For the past 2 years, I have been giving a free turkey hunt away at our Sunday school Christmas party. At this party last year, 2 guys fought hard to get the hunt. I felt bad for the guy who lost, so I decided to take both of them. Bobby’s hunt came up first and we headed to my FL club. It had just stopped raining and the weather man called for it to be clearing up.

We got settled in that morning and we did not hear any gobbling off the roost. We had some hens come by our setup. One stopped to peck my hen decoy in the head. Then about 9:30, we heard a gobble down the road. I called to him for about 30 minutes and he would not commit. I changed to a different box call and he came in like on a string, as you can see in the below video.

One thing interesting about this hunt was the fact that this 2 year old came to the real hen decoy and tried to breed her. I have never seen that before. Normally they try to go over and beat up on the Jake decoy first.

Anyway, Bobby made a great shot and bagged his first turkey. You can tell he was a happy hunter in the video.

I took a deer hunting buddy turkey hunting for his first time to our club located in middle GA. Now hunting Easterns during the early season in GA is some of the hardest turkey hunting out there. We spent three days chasing them. The only ones that were gobbling were staying in a big cow pasture on someone else’s land.

Since they were not working the calls, we decided to setup a tent on a trail they like to travel. As from the video, you can see my tent is not the best. We were very cozy in this small tent. I am going to have to buy some better tents next year.

Anyway, we had a nice gobbler come through but he hung up and never gave us a good shot. There were a couple times we could have pushed it but decided not to. So, in the video, you can see him ease around us. I am not sure if he was wary because of the tent or just a subordinate bird afraid of my decoys.

We were very disappointed about not getting this bird and with all this regret built up, we decided to go back in the morning and try to get him. Sure enough, he popped out where we last saw him leave the evening before. I could not get the camera over to film him. He was showing that same distance wariness so we decided to shoot him. Well, Bill decided. In the video I was trying to suggest that if he goes back in the woods shoot him but I think he will settle and come to the decoys. I did not get that all out when BOOM, Bill shot the turkey. Bill had a lot of pent up anxiety and he let it fly with his Beretta and 3 ½ inch turkey load. It is not great video but the story is great.

I would have loved for him to have shot one off the call that was strutting away, but sometimes you take what you get. This hunt was very unique. I will remember this hunt always especially since it was his first bird and the fellowship shared.

Have you ever been so smart about something that you talked yourself into doing something dumb? Well, this video is my personal occurrence of this principle.

This happened on the afternoon hunt of opening day after my son had killed his bird. It was the same situation as the morning; a mad Tom trying to beat up on our Hazel Creek real decoys. He charged the decoys so fast it was hard to get ready. He was literally gobbling mad as you can see in the video.

I talked myself into shooting high and catching his head with the bottom part of the pattern so not to hit the decoy. Well, I did and he jumped to spur the decoy and as you can see the majority of the shot missed him. Then I shot him high with second shot and missed with a third. I tried to chase him down, but he was too fast. This whole situation makes me sick to hurt an animal and not harvest him, but if you hunt long enough it is going to happen. My dumb smart thinking still makes me mad and it will not happen again. Don’t laugh too hard at the video.

My 10 year old son, Tad, shot his first mature gobbler opening morning here in Florida. He shot a Jake the previous season but he really wanted a “big ole Tom”. Boy did he kill one. This gobbler had 1 inch spurs and a double beard measuring a total of 16 inches (main 10 inches, second 6 inches). Those are really good measurements for an Osceola.

The video below shows the hunt. As you can see, real decoys are the way to go. The gobblers we have killed over them get so mad when they see the Jake decoy puffed out with a hen. We use the real decoys from Hazel Creek (www.hazelcreekinc.com). Go to their Website and let Cally Morris hook you up.

Anyway, in all the excitement I did not see the gobbler knock down my hen decoy so when he shot I thought the feathers flying were her’s. Instead they were the gobbler’s after Tad had strategically put his #4s from a youth model 20 gauge shotgun into the turkey’s vitals. This was a really fun hunt one that I will remember forever. Enjoy.

I was doing some more scouting on my Osceola Hunt Club, located in Hastings, Florida, when I saw this gobbler bringing up the rear of 9 hens that were feeding at the wildlife feed station. He strutted a little but they have not yet started their full mating ritual as of this date of February 27. It had been raining so some of the footage was done free hand until I could get the camera back on the tripod. Still pretty cool footage. I zoomed in trying to see how big his spurs were and I concluded he is a 2 year old bird. Enjoy the video.