perpendicular set up

[bowmike]

Wondering you guys thought on a gamplan I have for a set up tomorrow with my buddy who wants to try and use his bow.

I am thinking of roosting the toms tonight. I know the general area that they will roost in. I am anticipating them flying down and working a flat right to me. My buddy wants to use his bow so I am thinking of setting him up perpendicular to where the gobblers will come in to my calling. Plan on setting up facing the bench they should come in on. I plan on setting him up about 40 yards in front my me and about 20 yards in from my anticpated path the birds will take. I will place a decoy about 15 yards in front of me.

I think the bird might come in and focus on the decoy and walk right past him, offering him a perfect broad side shot.

DO you think this could work or would I be better off just setup up about 15 yards or so behind him. Not sure a quartering away shot on a turkey would go so well but if the bird would walk past him, to come into my calling he could get drawn a lot easier if the bird is past him.

ANy thoughts? Sounds good on paper.

[Stanley]

A decoy is used to attract a bird in your direction. Calling does the same thing. If you're in a blind you have many options to get your friend a bird. I don't know if you're using a blind or just hiding?

[bowmike]

NO blind.

Should have mentioned this.

My thought process is that if the birds hit that flat and come across to me, he will have a nice broadside shot, or even quartering away to allow him to read the bow.

That is if they read the script. I am tagged out and will only be calling for him.

[bowhunter15]

From the videos I've seen on turkey bowhunts without a blind (mostly Heartland Bowhunter's Full Strut on Carbon TV), they've been successful like Burkhart where they attempt to call the bird into a decoy in front of the well brushed in hunter. The key appears to be waiting until the tom has its fan blocking its eyes to draw, or when they're clearly focused heavily on the decoy and jumping on it, etc. With multiple birds around it's gotta be pretty tough.

[JoeRE]

I have a lot of experience chasing birds with a bow and no blind...a lot of failures and a few successes, its seriously tough!

You are on the right track for a perpendicular setup with two people and a decoy - you can also do the perpendicular setup with a decoy and one hunter, what you want is the bird coming in at an agle not straight toward you. That is because the key is picking a spot to setup with a lot of big trees, thick bushes, brush piles, boulders or similar obstructions in between the tom's anticipated path and the hunter so that a tom will pass behind them as he approaches. That is when the hunter draws and waits for the bird to step out. Starting out I wasn't very good at that but with practice you improve. The shot is also tough without a blind because the opportunities when they appear are very fast. You have to be ready to shoot in a split second. Typically the bird sees you adjust your position if you have to track him very far with your bow, its not like he will hang around for very long. You can wait for a tom to strut facing away from you to draw but that only happens occasionally in my experience. A ghillie suit helps a lot when bow hunting birds like this too.

[bowmike]

nothing gobbled anyway but we did have a great set up. for an ambush.

[Brad]

The key to bow hunting turkeys is good decoys. I use Dave Smiths and they flat out draw them in close and hold them, key word HOLD THEM. A lot of guys use cheap ones and they bring them in close enough for a shot occasionally, but with the premium decoys they hit the spread and spend minutes there vs seconds. I use a blind so I cannot say much about techniques without but either way I would not use a bow if I couldn't use my premium decoys. If they are mesmerized with the decoys they are less likely to see you draw.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Stanley]

nothing gobbled anyway but we did have a great set up. for an ambush.

Sounds like the birds didn't cooperate for you. That happens a lot.