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Nock Out® Field Journal Ep.4 | Bow Hunting Turkeys No Blind

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Bow Hunting Turkeys With No Blind with The Virtue’s TJ Unger

For the fourth installment of Nock Out® Lighted Nock’s Field Journals, The Virtue’s TJ Unger talks about bow practice for turkeys and his setup for bow hunting turkeys without a blind! TJ is committed to the challenge of bow hunting turkeys without a blind. In order to be successful both the shot and the setup need to be rehearsed.

The challenge of bow hunting turkeys comes down to one essential moment…the draw. Without proper planning, a hunter’s body can be positioned in a way that will not offer the opportunity to draw on a close bird. TJ elects to sit on a ground seat with his body turned to the side from where he expects the turkey to approach. The decoy will be positioned 10 yards directly to the side of TJ. This allows him to draw his bow back without hitting brush or his knees, while the birds will be positioned perfectly in his shooting lane. If able, brushing in his side from the approach of the turkeys will give him a wall to draw behind, and enough time to be settled before the tom arrives at his decoy and shooting lane.

Indiana’s season opened Wednesday, April 25th, the first opportunity for TJ to test out this setup. The morning brought an opportunity to shoot a gobbler and TJ capitalized on it. The tom worked its way within 6 yards before TJ let the arrow fly. This turkey bow hunting setup without a blind worked perfectly on opening day!

For more tips or videos on bow hunting turkeys check out the articles below!

Bow Hunting Turkey Tips

      

Nock Out® Field Journal Ep.3 | Turkey Scouting

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Pre-Season Turkey Scouting with The Virtue’s TJ Unger

For the third installment of Nock Out® Lighted Nock’s Field Journals, The Virtue’s TJ Unger and Brady Miller reveal how they are active with pre-season turkey scouting. Scouting turkeys in the pre-season before Indiana’s opener on April 26th means that TJ and Brady have to spend some vital time in the field. This means spending time glassing food sources and strutting areas, installing and checking trail cameras, and scouting roosting areas for sign of activity. 

Bad weather including April snowstorms have plagued Indiana and the majority of the Midwest for the past two weeks. Luckily a break in the weather gave TJ and Brady just enough time to scout a property before the opener.

Glassing, trail camera photos, and scouting roosting areas all paid off for TJ and Brady. Glassing from the comfort of the truck is one of the easiest ways to scout turkeys. It also can be performed during bad weather. Glassing, in particular, can reveal where the flock and stutters spend most of their time. The most obvious areas in the Midwest would include large open agriculture fields. Specific places and travel routes in these fields can be identified by using trail cameras.

A recent card pull revealed travel routes that gobblers were taking between food sources and roosting sites. This lead to spending some time actively scouting the property. Turkey sign and feathers confirmed TJ and Brady’s suspicions of where the turkeys were roosting, the final piece of the puzzle they needed for opening day! Hopefully the latest turkey scouting Intel will lead to a successful season for crew!

Want to find out more about bow hunting turkeys? Check out our other tips and blogs on turkey hunting below!

Bow Hunting Turkeys

Turkey Bow Practice