I've had some pretty crazy things happen to me while turkey hunting, but what happened last week takes the prize. It left me asking, “Why do we turkey hunters have such masochistic tendencies?”

Last week’s column was a brief overview on how to hunt turkey with a bow, along with some mishaps and the story of shooting my first bird with one. I mentioned that this week’s column would be about a turkey hunt that went wrong, but I'm also going to explain all that went right with the hunt, and what you can learn from it. I hope you enjoy my shortcomings as much as I do!

Having harvested a bird with a neck shot while hunting out of a pop up blind, I decided to hunt this year with no ground blind, and that I would only use conventional broad heads. This seems to be pushing the limits of what one can do with a bow, but I'm the type that enjoys completing a nearly impossible task. Harvesting a turkey was hard enough using a broad head with a four-inch cutting diameter out of a pop-up. You may ask yourself why would someone attempt a nearly unobtainable prize? The only answers I could come up with were, because they have a few screws loose, they have become bored with the relative ease of a gun hunt or they like to push the limits of their ability.

I happen to fall into all three categories. I question my sanity when I choose to go toe to toe with an animal that has vision eight times the strength of ours. I then push it even further by not using a blind and bringing the bird to within 20 yards. Throwing a bow into the mix must be a sure sign of insanity. A turkey can spot the slightest movement at 100 yards, and you expect to draw a bow on a bird at under 20. All I can think is good luck, I'm going to need it.

For the most part hunting with a gun has become kind of easy. I film most of my hunts, so it throws a bit more difficulty into the mix, but at this point rarely interferes with the hunt. I have been filming since 1998, and enjoy seeing past hunts so much that it's worth the hassle of carrying camera equipment into the woods. My biggest reason for using the bow is to push and test the limit of my abilities. I think of times past and wonder how our ancestors survived. They had only hand-made bows and arrows, but were able to harvest birds with them. I have hand-made bows and arrows from scratch for several years now. I guess a head shot with a stone point out of my long bow will be the final frontier.

Just not up for that challenge yet.