deerhunter93
Well-Known Member
It was another great spring of turkey hunting for me even with adding a second kiddo to the family. I was able to get out for a quick hunt during second season and had to make an audible when they roosted in a different spot. I snuck through the timber as it was getting light and saw them roosted in the tree so I backed up a bit and was able to get setup. They stayed in the tree for a bit so I decided to test my luck and see if I could get my decoy out. I got about 8 yards from the tree and all the sudden a turkey landed in the opening I was hunting. It was a bearded hen and she could tell something was up but didn't spook. She worked out of my sight and I snuck back to my tree. Shortly after, more birds pitched down and the tom was last to fly down. He followed them behind me into the woods and I could hear him drumming behind me. Soon I heard a gobble across the creek in front of me and saw two toms about 150 yards away. They were heading my way. They made their way to the creek and flew across. Game on. However, they made a beeline towards the strutter and the strutter headed towards them and proceeded to fight for a minute or so. Then all three headed my direction and put the beat down on my decoy at 8 steps. Only two of them made it out of there. Ever since my first kiddo was born two years ago it's been fun getting to show him the turkey and take some pictures with him.
Fourth season rolled around and my Dad and I were able to get our schedules lined up to go together which unfortunately doesn’t happen too often anymore. The plan was to split up in hopes of covering more area and upping out chances. The plan of splitting up was confirmed while walking in and hearing gobbles in two separate areas. Dad was able to drop a big-spurred tom in a clover food plot around 6:30am. The tom I was after had headed a different direction so I went to the plot to celebrate with Dad and hear the story. While we were in the plot talking and taking pictures we heard a gobble north of us a little ways. A few minutes later he gobbled again and it was significantly closer. We grabbed our stuff and made a bee-line to a tree we just cleared for future hunts and were in the process of getting set when I looked in the corner of the plot and could see a tom strutting. Dad was still standing up so I told him to not move. Dad was able to sit down and we just waited to see what the tom was going to do. He maintained full strut and worked his way towards the jake decoy. He was within 30 yards and I had brush about 3 yards in front of me that I was waiting for him to come out behind when he seemed to get a little spooky. I had to sit up high and lean hard right but was able to drop the hammer.
We got up to the bird and were shocked dropping two birds in the clover plot within an hour of each other. This one also had some hooks! The absolute best part of the hunt was being able to share it with my Dad. I’m 27 years old and now have two boys of my own (one is 2 years old and the other is 2 months) and one day I hope we all three can enjoy a turkey hunt together.
The other neat thing was my Dad got a phone call shortly after I shot my bird from my cousin who took my grandpa out that morning. My cousin put my grandpa on the phone and told my Dad he shot one around 6:30am as well. It was quite the morning for the Jackson family!
Fourth season rolled around and my Dad and I were able to get our schedules lined up to go together which unfortunately doesn’t happen too often anymore. The plan was to split up in hopes of covering more area and upping out chances. The plan of splitting up was confirmed while walking in and hearing gobbles in two separate areas. Dad was able to drop a big-spurred tom in a clover food plot around 6:30am. The tom I was after had headed a different direction so I went to the plot to celebrate with Dad and hear the story. While we were in the plot talking and taking pictures we heard a gobble north of us a little ways. A few minutes later he gobbled again and it was significantly closer. We grabbed our stuff and made a bee-line to a tree we just cleared for future hunts and were in the process of getting set when I looked in the corner of the plot and could see a tom strutting. Dad was still standing up so I told him to not move. Dad was able to sit down and we just waited to see what the tom was going to do. He maintained full strut and worked his way towards the jake decoy. He was within 30 yards and I had brush about 3 yards in front of me that I was waiting for him to come out behind when he seemed to get a little spooky. I had to sit up high and lean hard right but was able to drop the hammer.
We got up to the bird and were shocked dropping two birds in the clover plot within an hour of each other. This one also had some hooks! The absolute best part of the hunt was being able to share it with my Dad. I’m 27 years old and now have two boys of my own (one is 2 years old and the other is 2 months) and one day I hope we all three can enjoy a turkey hunt together.
The other neat thing was my Dad got a phone call shortly after I shot my bird from my cousin who took my grandpa out that morning. My cousin put my grandpa on the phone and told my Dad he shot one around 6:30am as well. It was quite the morning for the Jackson family!
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Good stuff.