2011 Shed Season

As everything is starting to green up, and new horns are growing, I’m throwing in the towel for the 2011 shed season. This shed season has been by far my best to date, as I collected 78 horns. I was fortunate enough to find several match sets, and at least one horn off of every deer I’d hoped to. I should have several mature deer this year, which are signs that my hard work of putting in food plots and creating cover is starting to pay off. In the next few weeks, I will be putting in my last few food plots, and starting the countdown for the first part of August, so I can start running cameras again.

Piling them up with the HUD!

As you can see from Garrett's last post, the HUD turkey decoy has been a deadly weapon this spring. It has been the same around our household. My wife, Jerri, started it off killing the first bird with the HUD. The birds were headed to roost and weren't too fired up, but we were able to intercept a nice tom using a creek drainage and the decoy for cover. Jerri was able to arrow this 20 pounder that had 1 1/4" spurs while I held the decoy.

I was proud of Jerri arrowing a great bird without a blind. An accomplishment that many would consider one of the hardest feats to pull off. However, the HUD evens the odds and is very effective. With her on the board I took the opportunity to hook up with Garrett and chase birds. We headed out early and had action immediately. We were moving towards a couple of stutters but decided to stop and call a few times in case they had moved. We were cut off by a couple of gobbles. Within minutes we had several jakes approach our location in the 8" alfalfa field. I have no problem filling a tag with a jake and was already planning what we were going to do for the rest of the day since we had only been hunting for a half hour. Unfortunately I rushed the shot and missed low and watched the jakes run away unharmed. I couldn't believe it!

The wind picked up and we stuggled to find birds for the rest of the morning. I was really kicking myself for missing that bird, but it turned out to be a blessing. We finally found a couple of strutters with some hens in a hay field. We used the creek bottom to get close but ran out of cover and were several hundred yards away from the birds. I crept up the bank with the deke in the bowmount and showed the decoy. The birds immediately spotted the competition and started heading my way. As they neared, they started running. The birds broke into strut when they were 12 yards away. They didn't even flinch when I drew and I took my time this go around. The arrow hit its mark and the bird was down within seconds! Video Link to Matt's bird: HUD at 12 Yards!

I was tagged out in Kansas and had a Friday off so I headed to Nebraska. I spent several hours in the pickup and filled my tag after 10 minutes of hunting. I located a lone tom in a pasture. I tucked in behind a yucca plant and showed the bird the decoy. He came on a string. As he approached he came right at the yucca. I held my ground and he finally cleared the plant when he was 10-15 feet away! I came to full draw and he took a few steps away, but I had time to send an arrow into his vitals. He was less than 5 yards when I shot him. This is becoming a common result when hunting gobblers with the HUD. While quick, it was an awesome hunt!! I am contemplating spending a few more dollars and heading back to Nebraska so I can try to lay down another one.