pseudonym of a man
Over the years I’ve enjoyed discussing all things turkey with the forum members on Turkey and Turkey Hunting. Unfortunately that forum has all the appearances of a website about to go dark.
For those who would like to stay in contact with charlie elk or willowridge please fill out this contact form.
Centuries ago master archers were able to perform incredible feats of archery. These skills have long been forgotten probably due to the invention of gun powder. Danish archer Lars Anderson has studied and practiced these long forgotten archery skills. If you have smallest interest in archery this is a must see video.
While watching take notice of smooth speed of shooting while moving with No Quiver – Lars holds all arrows in one hand while shooting. He is right handed but shoots the arrow from the right side of the bow rather than the left.
Perhaps your interest in real traditional archery has be been peaked. For more reading visit The Archery Library Book List to begin your own journey of archery discovery.
Old archery books still contain a lot of useful information. They are hard to find and often very expensive. This site is dedicated to preserving them by creating an online repository for the benefit of all archers and as a record of passed times of archery.
The library started when the maintainer thought it could be interesting to put some books from his collection online of which the copyright had expired.
The Library is a non-profit site. The proceedings from advertisement go towards purchase of new books and hosting costs.
The height of the red oaks provided the turkeys a long glide path.
The wild turkeys flew down before shooting light this morning in Wisconsin’s unit 3 area. First the hens pitched off their roosts at 5:15 hitting the ground running like they had somewhere to be. They must have nests they needed to tend to. The gobblers sounded off and pitched off roost shortly after and that’s where things got interesting. Their fly downs were more like long range glides carrying them well out my sight and hearing range. In the “big” woods of areas of Clark County this makes for a challenging hunt because the toms just keep ranging further out all day long while giving the hunter little indication of where and which way they are heading. These toms had a lot of altitude off their red oak roosts so I figured they would have glided out a ways, I took a compass bearing and headed in the direction they went.
A lone gobble slices through the morning silence, distant, as in, across 2 creeks and in the middle of the swamp. There are dry islands in the swamp but the water is too high for causal wading out to them. The trolling box call is put away and replaced with a Tongue Teaser. After a couple of yelps and bionk clucks a gobbler joins me on the trail staring intently in my direction about 40 yards away. Oops, busted and game barely started. Big wings clawed for air as he took flight to parts unknown. Where there’s one turkey usually/sometimes there are more and now it’s past time to get setup.
I select two different Willlowridge tongue teasers calls one built from purple heart and the other made of chestnut are placed in the go position ready for some very robust aggressive calling. On mornings in the big turkey woods I have learned aggressive calling works best to bring in turkeys. Once they get interested a hunter needs to keep them hooked with no slack in the audio line, for if slack is allowed toms will usually get distracted and throw the hook. At this point in the game I’m thinking that distant gobbler or the one who flew away are the best chance.
Alternating between the calls I cast out course yelps, aggressive purrs and clucks for about 15 minutes elicited a gobble which I answered immediately and continued cutting his gobbles off midway at each gobble. The gobbles were getting closer and I must admit I was playing around more than really expecting the turkey to travel all that way across the two creeks to me. Before I knew it, not only did the gobbler arrive but he brought a gobbling buddy. Both turkeys went in and out of strut as they closed the distance, I continue to cluck whenever they could not see me. Only one turkey gobbled the other just strutted along silently.
As the toms cleared brush entering the open red oak woodland they did their final strut and pirouetted. When the fans blocked their heads the tongue teaser gently slid onto my lap as my Remington rose to target… Unfortunately for his buddy, the silent buddy offered the first clear headshot and I took it.
Purple heart and chestnut tongue teasers closed the deal.
Moon giving way to morning.
Every hunt has a certain ebb and flow, plans are made, altered and when it comes to wild turkey hunting altered again. Turkeys are random birds being there one day and somewhere else the next. A turkey hunter is never sure… this was the case last night when a good buddy called to tell me about a gobbler he heard while fishing on the Mississippi that afternoon. When a turkey’s location is offered during the last week of Wisconsin’s turkey season you’d be wise to pay attention and change plans accordingly. An active late afternoon gobbler is likely going to roost nearby.
My buddy got fed up with Wisconsin’s licensing scheme and quit turkey hunting a few years ago. He has no desire to turkey hunt after the first 2 weeks for which, he was never drawn or he’d forget to apply. A late season turkey tag would just interfere with his beloved fishing.
During the fall this buddy loves to bow hunt deer so I had given him GPS coordinates to a particular spot where I figured he’d have a chance at a dandy buck. While fall turkey hunting Vic the Turkey Dog and I would see this 12 pointer, after just a couple of hours my buddy killed his first trophy class buck.
He felt he owed me something in return and knew I would be interested in his turkey report including the coordinates. Besides he figured I was the only one crazy enough to climb that huge bluff in the dark from river level.
My hunting plan ebbed and at 4:40 AM: I found myself at the base of a 500 foot bluff thinking just maybe my friend was playing with me. There was no turkey talk going on, a beautiful but silent morning in an area my boots had never before trod. Up the old logging path, hooting and cawing. At the top- the woods was open, 5:45 not so much as a cluck.
To catch my breath and figure at things I setup on the most comfortable tree of the season, the sun just a red beam peeking over the horizon at my back. Fighting off a bout of tree trunk narcolepsy I made my first calls quiet yelps, rising to cackles and into fighting purrs. Nothing. Let out a series of lost yelps and kee-kees. Quiet.
The most intense sunrise ever?
About 6:10 burning red light reflected off the morning clouds, the sunrise light is filtering and dancing in all around throughout the woods, magically gorgeous and I know not from where he came, the most outrageously beautiful strutting turkey I have ever seen; bathed in the glow of sunrise. His feathers caught and shimmered those colored rays of light back at me as he pirouetted on his toes in a manner that would make any ballerina jealous. I gazed intently over the barrel, usually a natural thing at times like this, but it seemed so out of place on this morning…..
There are times when the quarry has conducted itself admirably and you’ve hunted well. Isn’t that reward enough?
