Dave Keiser employed a whole flock of stuffed decoys to lure these two last-day toms into bow range.

If I were forced to pick only one animal to hunt for the rest of my life, it would be the wild turkey, hands down. For me, nothing compares to the sight of a tom strutting for his hens or to the booming sound of a gobbler breaking the silence of a spring morning and standing every hair on my body on end.

I've killed plenty of birds with my shotgun, but when it comes to taking one with the bow, I'm snakebit. Every turkey season I begin with bow in hand, high hopes, and "This is the year!" running through my head. But every year myriad frustrations force me to trade my bow for a gun.

Perhaps my run of bad luck could be changed with a little guidance from two guys with an unbelievable track record for taking turkeys with archery equipment.

"I want to bowhunt turkeys with you guys this spring," I told Double Bull owners Brooks Johnson and Keith Beam at the 2005 ATA Trade Show in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"Sure. We're going to South Dakota in April to hunt Merriam's with Dave Keiser. I'm sure he has room, and we'd love to have you along," Brooks said.

As soon as Brooks said the name Dave Keiser, I knew I was in for a treat. Dave's outfitting business, Double K Guide Service, based in Gregory, South Dakota, has a first-rate reputation. Dave leases several thousand acres on dozens of farms, and in 2004 he guided 44 bowhunters to an unfathomable 62 longbeards!

Primedia Outdoors' VP, Group Publisher Mike Carney and Bowhunter Magazine TV cameramen Bob Mussey and Sean Hagen would be joining me on the hunt. Hopefully we would fill our tags and get some great footage for TV.

APRIL CAME FAST, and soon I was on a plane bound for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where I met up with Bob Mussey. It takes three hours to drive from Sioux Falls to Gregory, and for some reason I'd forgotten about South Dakota's reputation as a wingshooter's paradise until I spotted the first ringneck, then another, and then another. My German shorthair would die of a heart attack, I thought.

We met Mike and Sean at a bowling alley in Gregory. Brooks was out trying to fill the first of his two tags, which he did, and he, Keith, and Dave would hook up with us after dark. With time to kill, we grabbed a bite to eat and bowled a few games.

Camp was a short drive from the bowling alley, and after we'd settled in, Dave gave us the game plan for the next three days. We'd start out the following morning and set up on birds Dave and guides Tanner Feyereisen and Chris Mikkelson had roosted that evening. Dave, Tanner, and Chris would keep tabs on us from long distance. If nothing happened after the first hour, they would pick us up and we'd look for other birds to set up on. "We scout all the time, and we pattern birds well. If the initial setup doesn't pan out, we'll keep bouncing around until something works," Dave said.

Continued -- click on page link below.