Video: Can You See Why this Bowhunter Missed a Gobbler at 7 Yards?
Dave Maas 05.25.16
Late-season turkey hunting is often tough. Doing it with a bow is even tougher. And trying to self-film the adventure? Well, that’s off-the-charts difficult.
Even so, Jerrit Parrish, who carries the title of video content coordinator for OutdoorHub and Carbon Media Group, was up to the challenge this past weekend in Michigan.
“Every time I bowhunt,” Jerrit confessed, “I am caught in an internal battle whether to sit in a spot with less cover and more shooting opportunities, or more cover and less shooting holes. Well, I am a huge fan of cover. I’m the type that would rather sit in a thicket and have more close encounters than to sit in the wide open and HOPE for a shot.
“I was hunting with my bow and solo-filming with a tripod on May 22, and the morning was working out perfectly. I got in to my spot a little late, and let the birds yo-yo a couple hundred yards away in an area I couldn’t hunt. Five toms would roar out with gobbles, and the boss tom would triple-gobble to make sure he was the last one to be heard.
“I promised myself that I’d stay until 11 a.m. before calling it quits. Well, 10:55 a.m. came and the gobbles let loose at the same location that they had come from all morning, so I yelped a bit and it was like the flood gates opened. The birds roared in and right into my decoys. I was shaking like a leaf as I tried to get my camera on them without them seeing me. And the rest, as you can see here, is one big blooper.”
Jerrit slowed down the footage at the end of his clip, and you can see where his arrow strikes a twig, no doubt sending the arrow off-course.
Congrats, Jerrit, on a fine hunt. As you learned last Sunday, some of the most memorable and special hunts don’t always end with a kill.
