Congrats to my brother Dewy and his boys. What a weekend for these guys. Well Done Fellas!
Youth season began for us on Friday night after school and track practice where wrapped up. My boys had all of the gear organized and laid out Thursday night without any prompting from me which by itself was a sign of their excitement for the hunt. Them doing this kind of ticked off their mother because they never do anything in advance when it comes to their daily routine.
My older boy, Jordan, and I headed some ground owned by a friend of mine. He has been gracious enough the past two years to let Jordan and I hunt on his ground and I am greatful for the opportunity to not deal with other hunters...especially when trying to get my son a good experience. My dad and younger son, Tanner, headed out to a spot on public land where I knew there were several toms and I have nearly always had good luck. It was the first hunt for Tanner and I wanted him to have the first crack at scoring on a turkey.
Jordan and I had a slow night only ending up being able to put some toms to bed that roosted around 200 yards from our set up. He made the decision to leave the set up in the same spot until morning as this was the spot where he had harvested his first turkey the year before.
Tanner and Dad had action immediately calling in two different toms. Tanner was able to pull up on one of them but a tree ended up in his way when Dad told him to take the shot. All that he could see was the body as the head was hidden by the tree so he made the good choice not to pull the trigger even though grandpa had told him to take the shot.
Saturday morning Dad and Tanner headed back to where they had the close encounter Friday night. Once again they had immediate action with birds sounding off on the roost and them pitching down in their direction. Unfortunately they would have similar luck as the night before in getting them to come into shooting range. As Dad and Tanner told me their stories I was excited for Tanner as he had two exciting hunts. Those of us that hunt turkeys know that exciting hunts don't happen every time you are in the woods.
Jordan and I arrived to our set up on time which is somewhat amazing. Toms started gobbling off in the distance where they had roosted the night before. I was hoping that one had flown into a roosting silent the night before in an area that was much closer than the other but no luck. Fly down happened on schedule at about 5:50 and it was game on.
I spotted some hens working up a hill about 150 yards out in front of us and went to work with some clucking and purring to try to pull them across the pasture. A tom was trailing them putting on his show and my heart sank as I told Jordan that it was time to put on our patient suits as we were likely going to have to wait this bird out. I kept throwing light calling at the group of turkeys and to my astonishment the tom broke away from the group and started a zig zag strut in our direction closing the distance pretty quickly.
The tom crossed a fence 30 yards to our right not presenting a good shot and starting working into us from our 3:00 side. When he got 15 yards from us he stopped to spit and drum as if trying to intimidate our pretty boy out in front of us. Everyonce and awhile he would let out an ear drum rattling gobble and Jordan would giggle which in turn made me laugh.
Jordan slowly began working the barrel in the direction of the tom when the bird would turn his fan to us. After an agonizing period of time Jordan was finally set in good position and on cue the tom moved into his line of fire. Jordan made a perfect shot and his second turkey was on the ground at 6:32.
Tanner, Dad, and I headed back out Saturday and Sunday morning and had zero luck. The timber was more quite than I have heard it in that area. Dad said that a couple of other sets of hunters had been moving around in the same area and I figured that they had things pretty up tight. That is the risk with public ground but the birds were likely still in the area. Sunday morning we had to quit early to do the Easter thing and headed back to the house a little down in the mouth but Tanner was up beat as usual and talked about the exciting close calls that they had on the previous hunts.
We got home at 5:30 Sunday afternoon and when I asked Tanner if he wanted to head back out his eyes lit up and he said, "yes, I want to shoot a turkey". I was surprised that he still had the gumption to get back out there after some tough hunts. We headed back into the woods and to the exact spot where I have had some great success on public ground.
Nothing was responding and I figured that it was going to be another fruitless hunt in the turkey department. Tanner and I widdled wood in between cluck and purr sequences and talked about school, baseball, how many girl friends that he doesn't have, and I did my best to answer all of his questions. He is an inquisitive boy and can flat out wear you down with his questions. It was great even if we didn't get to harvest a bird.
At 7:00 3 hens flew up to roost 50 yards in front of us! What are they doing flying up already? I was happy to see hens close but worried about the early fly up. Several minutes later I spotted a tom working his way towards us through the timber. I got Tanner into position and he was able to settle the bead on him. If the turkey made to the left side of a big oak tree Tanner would have a clear shot at 25 yards. The turkey went behind the tree, stopped for a momment, and then flew up to the roost. I cussed out loud about that misfortune and felt horrible for Tanner. He was positive and said, "that was cool, my heart is still pounding". Leave it to Tanner to keep me upbeat. I was considering pulling out when I caught movement on the ground again. Sure enough another tom was working his way in our direction. I gave some soft calling hoping to keep this guy on the ground a little longer. Tanner got into position when the bird went behind a group of trees. Of course the tom stayed invisible for longer than we hoped allowing the tension to build and then began his move towards his roosting spot. I told Tanner that I was going to call at him to get him to stop and stretch his neck out. When the tom got to a clearing I called, he stopped, stretched out his neck, I told Tanner to shoot, and the big fella dropped in his tracks 28 yards away. I just about jumped out of my boots. Whoops and hollers could probably have been heard miles away.
These will no doubt be the best memories of hunting that I will have. Spending time with the boys and having them harvest birds on the same weekend is pretty incredible.
Good luck to the rest of you.
Jordan
Tanner
Youth season began for us on Friday night after school and track practice where wrapped up. My boys had all of the gear organized and laid out Thursday night without any prompting from me which by itself was a sign of their excitement for the hunt. Them doing this kind of ticked off their mother because they never do anything in advance when it comes to their daily routine.
My older boy, Jordan, and I headed some ground owned by a friend of mine. He has been gracious enough the past two years to let Jordan and I hunt on his ground and I am greatful for the opportunity to not deal with other hunters...especially when trying to get my son a good experience. My dad and younger son, Tanner, headed out to a spot on public land where I knew there were several toms and I have nearly always had good luck. It was the first hunt for Tanner and I wanted him to have the first crack at scoring on a turkey.
Jordan and I had a slow night only ending up being able to put some toms to bed that roosted around 200 yards from our set up. He made the decision to leave the set up in the same spot until morning as this was the spot where he had harvested his first turkey the year before.
Tanner and Dad had action immediately calling in two different toms. Tanner was able to pull up on one of them but a tree ended up in his way when Dad told him to take the shot. All that he could see was the body as the head was hidden by the tree so he made the good choice not to pull the trigger even though grandpa had told him to take the shot.
Saturday morning Dad and Tanner headed back to where they had the close encounter Friday night. Once again they had immediate action with birds sounding off on the roost and them pitching down in their direction. Unfortunately they would have similar luck as the night before in getting them to come into shooting range. As Dad and Tanner told me their stories I was excited for Tanner as he had two exciting hunts. Those of us that hunt turkeys know that exciting hunts don't happen every time you are in the woods.
Jordan and I arrived to our set up on time which is somewhat amazing. Toms started gobbling off in the distance where they had roosted the night before. I was hoping that one had flown into a roosting silent the night before in an area that was much closer than the other but no luck. Fly down happened on schedule at about 5:50 and it was game on.
I spotted some hens working up a hill about 150 yards out in front of us and went to work with some clucking and purring to try to pull them across the pasture. A tom was trailing them putting on his show and my heart sank as I told Jordan that it was time to put on our patient suits as we were likely going to have to wait this bird out. I kept throwing light calling at the group of turkeys and to my astonishment the tom broke away from the group and started a zig zag strut in our direction closing the distance pretty quickly.
The tom crossed a fence 30 yards to our right not presenting a good shot and starting working into us from our 3:00 side. When he got 15 yards from us he stopped to spit and drum as if trying to intimidate our pretty boy out in front of us. Everyonce and awhile he would let out an ear drum rattling gobble and Jordan would giggle which in turn made me laugh.
Jordan slowly began working the barrel in the direction of the tom when the bird would turn his fan to us. After an agonizing period of time Jordan was finally set in good position and on cue the tom moved into his line of fire. Jordan made a perfect shot and his second turkey was on the ground at 6:32.
Tanner, Dad, and I headed back out Saturday and Sunday morning and had zero luck. The timber was more quite than I have heard it in that area. Dad said that a couple of other sets of hunters had been moving around in the same area and I figured that they had things pretty up tight. That is the risk with public ground but the birds were likely still in the area. Sunday morning we had to quit early to do the Easter thing and headed back to the house a little down in the mouth but Tanner was up beat as usual and talked about the exciting close calls that they had on the previous hunts.
We got home at 5:30 Sunday afternoon and when I asked Tanner if he wanted to head back out his eyes lit up and he said, "yes, I want to shoot a turkey". I was surprised that he still had the gumption to get back out there after some tough hunts. We headed back into the woods and to the exact spot where I have had some great success on public ground.
Nothing was responding and I figured that it was going to be another fruitless hunt in the turkey department. Tanner and I widdled wood in between cluck and purr sequences and talked about school, baseball, how many girl friends that he doesn't have, and I did my best to answer all of his questions. He is an inquisitive boy and can flat out wear you down with his questions. It was great even if we didn't get to harvest a bird.
At 7:00 3 hens flew up to roost 50 yards in front of us! What are they doing flying up already? I was happy to see hens close but worried about the early fly up. Several minutes later I spotted a tom working his way towards us through the timber. I got Tanner into position and he was able to settle the bead on him. If the turkey made to the left side of a big oak tree Tanner would have a clear shot at 25 yards. The turkey went behind the tree, stopped for a momment, and then flew up to the roost. I cussed out loud about that misfortune and felt horrible for Tanner. He was positive and said, "that was cool, my heart is still pounding". Leave it to Tanner to keep me upbeat. I was considering pulling out when I caught movement on the ground again. Sure enough another tom was working his way in our direction. I gave some soft calling hoping to keep this guy on the ground a little longer. Tanner got into position when the bird went behind a group of trees. Of course the tom stayed invisible for longer than we hoped allowing the tension to build and then began his move towards his roosting spot. I told Tanner that I was going to call at him to get him to stop and stretch his neck out. When the tom got to a clearing I called, he stopped, stretched out his neck, I told Tanner to shoot, and the big fella dropped in his tracks 28 yards away. I just about jumped out of my boots. Whoops and hollers could probably have been heard miles away.
These will no doubt be the best memories of hunting that I will have. Spending time with the boys and having them harvest birds on the same weekend is pretty incredible.
Good luck to the rest of you.
Jordan
Tanner
