Canada in the Rough is a popular YouTube channel with 614K subscribers and more than 1K videos. The Beasley brothers are the primary hosts, and the guys travel across Canada capturing outstanding hunts for their television show and YouTube channel. They started posting videos to their YouTube channel 11 years ago.
Their production quality and camerawork is top-notch; I highly recommend checking out their many videos. Note: When I wrote “popular” in the paragraph above, I wasn’t exaggerating. Their most-popular YouTube video, “40 Canadian Hunts in 13 Minutes!” was posted a year ago, and it has 10M views!
In the 6-minute video below, Keith Beasley is pursuing wild turkeys in Ontario, and joining him in a pop-up blind is his young son. As you’ll see, the blind is placed near turkeys that are roosted just back in the woods from the edge of a green field. (I’m not positive, but I think the field is planted in winter wheat or winter rye.)
Keith does a good job explaining the scenario to his son, and fortunately the turkeys decide to check out the three decoys (two hens and a jake).
As Keith describes, the live hen is NOT happy with the two strange hens (decoys) in her field. She puffs up and even pecks at one of the decoys. The tom hangs well behind his girlfriend, but soon he’s lured into close range — 12 yards — thanks to the jake decoy.
The big gobbler hustles in to confront the trespasser; he certainly doesn’t want a jake breeding one of his hens. But this is when the situation gets dicey. With a shotgun, it’d be a slam dunk shot, but nothing is easy when bowhunting.
In my experience, most toms that approach aggressively like this one still pause for a second or two after reaching the jake decoy, which is the ideal time to pick a spot and let the arrow fly. Of course, that’s assuming you drew back your bow when the tom was rushing in so you’re ready to shoot.
This tom, however, never pauses for a full second. In fact, the first time it turned away from the decoy, I thought it would slowly start walking away, and Keith would have to shoot it in the back. But the tom changes its mind and wants to drive off the jake, but it’s not brave enough to start throwing punches with its wings. So the tom ends up slowly walking in circles, which is NOT an easy bow shot.
Because I choose a broadhead designed for head/neck shots when bowhunting turkeys over decoys, I wouldn’t have shot as soon as Keith does here. The tom's head/neck never provides a stopped target for a full second. Kieth is using a G5 Megameat mechanical broadhead, which has a 2-inch cutting diameter, and he’s aiming for the tom’s heart/lung area. Keith doesn’t wait, however, and ends up making a lethal hit when the tom is slightly turning away. Good shot, Keith!
After walking up on the dead bird, listen closely and you’ll hear Keith say to his son that it’s not easy getting up at 4 a.m. to turkey hunt. Amen to that! But this isn’t Keith’s first rodeo, and he knew the only way they’d be able to sneak into the pop-up blind that close to roosted birds would be to do it super early. Smart!
P.S. Did you notice how Keith had the jake decoy positioned? Again, it’s a sign Keith knows his business. He jammed two sticks in the ground to ensure the jake decoy couldn’t spin in the wind. A decoy that spins at the wrong time can spook an approaching turkey, and by using the sticks, Keith could keep the jake decoy facing the two hens. Again, smart!
