Ok everyone, here's the scoop, each year there are about 6 of us from all over the province that get together for an annual turkey hunt weekend....late nights, way too early mornings and good friends is what the weekend is all about....every once in a while we trip onto a bird and call it a success....this year is no different.
During our idle time we were still busy shooting segments for the Just Us Hunting tv show that we hope to air.
rather than scout we had to use all available spare time for filming extra's flm
The camp we stay at is a very good friend of mine and staffer that will remain unnamed at this time, anyone who knows me will know him.
The weekend started off great, driving with me was my oldest daughter Erica and John Van Loo, when we pulled into camp Garry and daughter Daphne were already there and Marcel wasn't showing up until the next morning.
After our hello's and getting our gear unpacked, we managed to get a bite to eat and talk about the chores ahead of us for the weekend. Shortly afterwards the owner of the camp showed up and talk quickly changed to turkeys and a plan was laid out, everyone knew where they were hunting the very next morning.
It's funny how when we all get together talk inevitably turns to our moose hunt, and before you knew it, it was 2:30 am and Garry and I were the only two left standing if you will. In our infinite wisdom we determined that 1-1/2 hrs of sleep would probably be benificial so off to bed we went.
I slept like a baby for what seemed like....oh....90 minutes omg1 and off we went on our merry way. Everyone seen birds, not everyone seen toms...I only seen a hen, Erica had 4 toms come by but got busted moving around in the blind trying to get the camera on the birds and focused...the curse of self filming. Garry and Daphne seen a hen and John had a jake within 15 yds but no shot offered.
The evening hunt was no better, but we all were out there trying, along with Marcel who just came in from a 7-1/2 hr drive. Saturday night was a little quieter than Friday's and everyone was counting sheep by 11:00.
The owner of the camp was taking Erica to a spot that he thought for sure would be a great spot and would give Erica a great chance of taking her first bird. 4:00 am and he pulls in to the camp to pick up Erica and off they go.
The rest of us make it to our blinds and nothing extraordinary happens, no birds taken. By 10:00 we are all back at camp and meet up with Erica...everything seems normal, breakfast was eaten and she asks how everyone made out. Then she tells us her story.
Well the two of them make it to this " bird paradise" that has never been hunted before and get set up well, way well before light, as Erica put it and managed to get a few minutes shut eye before the action starts. First light produces nothing, not a sound in the bush. After quite some time Erica's guide and now mentor cuts loose with a few calls and bush comes alive, hens all over clucking, yelping and just carrying on...but no sounds of a tom to be heard.
This goes on for quite some time and once again...nothing...then a cluck is heard behind the blind, he looks through a rear window only to see two nice toms right there, he tells Erica to get her bow and be ready.
In no time both Toms are in full strut, pushing the decoy around while the guide is telling Erica to "take em"
Erica is cool, calm and collected as the Tom is at full strut at 3.5 yards from the blind, she tells me that her pin was burning a hole in the tom and she was never so sure of a shot in her life....then....BOOM!!!! it sounded like a gun going off and both birds just ran away unscathed. The guide and Erica and checking themselves over for collateral damage and blinking at each other like barn owls.....what the hell just happened?
It didn't take long to figure out what just transpired. They found the fletching and about 6" of arrow inside the blind, the bow was fine, but the broadhead clipped about 1/8" of one of the blinds hub rods and just blew up....great....The guide was devastated and Erica just told him that this should have been expected when hunting with her... the turkey curse lives on....OH and by the way....it's all on tape.
That night Garry Labelle put the big hurt on a nice jake, while hunting with his daughter, she is now the future of hunting, as she was amazed there and that memory can never be taken away from father or daughter.
The next morning was our last morning hunt and I was off to try yet another spot that a local farmer told me about and he was seeing birds there the last couple of days. I had set up my blind by a page wire fence the night before.
That morning the wind was something else, 50 mph I'm sure. When I arrived at my blind it lay in a heap as the wind blew it down sometime during the night, so after a quick rebuild, set the decoy out and get the camera gear ready...... I'm primed to hunt.
Yeah right....remember we're about real people here, not the high budget spit and polish shows that go off with out a hitch....Before daylight as I sit in the serenity of a gale....I notice that my strutting tom looks more like John Travolta strutting on a dance floor in the 70's. OK, I can live with that, not much I can do about the wind.....pop, pop....great.... two of my walls on my double bull just popped in and was sending my new $4000 camera on a surefire journey to anihalation, but I caught the tripod in record time and saved the day...I'm a hero....
So I popped the walls out yet again and now I'm sitting there in my chair with both my arms outstretched to have the blind at least look like a blind as I'm trying to film the 3 hens and two toms that are walking by at 150 yds....So there I am...looking like the flying nun inside the blind that wants to go in to orbit when I get this great idea to call with my diaphragm call, my calling sucks at the best of times so it won't hurt....yelp yelp, cluck cluck...gag, cough.....the perfect combination as the two toms stop, look at the decoy and start walking in towards the space capsule. Aw &*^$, so I let go of the one hub, get the camera on the decoy, focus, hit record and back onto holding the space shuttle in place, but not before the hub blows in again and once again tries to wipe out my camera. One more lightning quick grab and I save me $4000 once again...hell I'm saving money this way....do this a few more times and I'll be able to retire.
Ok, I saved the camera, now back to holding the blind down, I reach out to grab the blind, as I look back out towards the toms that are now at 5 yds, full strut and nudging my decoy....great...it's show time. I grabbed my longbow, nocked my arrow with the stealth of a bull in a china shop. I get to full draw and less than a nano second before I release all hell breaks loose, both walls collapse in on me and my arrow just brushes by the side of this great bird....lovely...just lovely...the birds as far as I know are still running and may just be approaching your area around now.... my only saving grace is I will have the whole mishap on tape.
Back at camp I went to review the footage only to find....NONE... what we think happened is when I reached out and saved the world for the last time I must have hit the on/off record button on the remote...lovely...just lovely
ERICA, THE APPLE DOESN'T FALL TOO FAR FROM THE TREE BUDDY