Harvesting a spring gobbler with a shotgun is certainly exhilarating, however, the rewards from taking one with stick and string are indescribable.
Story and Photography by Nate Skinner

The piercing gobble cut me off halfway through my cadence of yelps resonating from the slate call. The old long-beard gobbler roared a response that screamed, “Ready or not, here I come!”
Either I had magically learned to speak “turkey” or was just plain lucky. No sooner had I heard him than the boss bird appeared — seemingly out of nowhere like a ghost from the brush. As he sprinted into the decoys I hunkered down in the pop up blind concealing my presence, flipped the video camera on record, and reached for my bow. This was “chasing thunder” at its finest.
Bow hunting spring turkeys adds excitement to an already thrilling sport. The close encounters with these emotional creatures are incredible, and there’s definitely something to be said about calling a mature Tom into bow range. This isn’t your granddaddy’s “Run-n-Gun” style of hunting. Harvesting a gobbler with a shotgun can be tricky enough, while the rewards that come from taking one with stick and string are indescribable.
The single most important piece of equipment in an archer’s pursuit of spring turkeys is a pop-up style ground blind.

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