Well I'm bummed that so many had such bad experiences but to lighten up the room a little, here's my opening day success with my newly licensed 6 yo hunter.
Started the morning out trying to figure out why the turkeys weren't in the roost tree like I saw last weekend. Used a coyote howler but didn't get a single gobble so I was a bit down that all the birds left the area. Me and my son set the decoys out as the horizon lighted up and set up a blind in a cotton wood thicket. The early morning fly down came and gone without a gobble but we stuck it out and just blind called here and there to see if a traveling gobbler would pick up the sounds.
At about 0900, I got up and walked a few hundred feet to the property boundary and gave a few cuts and yelps every 20 feet or so using a glass call and my mouth call. Right as I got to the end of the boundary line I heard a gobble waaaaaaaaay off in the distance. I figured what the heck and gave it some more calls to see if he would break. After a keekee and a yelp, the gobble literally went from a few miles out to about 400 yards out and quickly closing.
I began walking back to the blind and cluck and yelp as the gobbles grew closer. I ran into the blind, woke up my son and got us set up for a tom that was triple gobbling every few feet. Because of the crazy amounts of gobbles, I thought maybe it was a jake so I told my son to get ready as the gobbles were literally 50 yards away behind a low ridge. I position my son's field gun pod and get him ready for the bird. all of a sudden the gobbler skirts us to our left and walks in from behind to my left.
As the gobbler comes into view, I nearly crap my self to see a very distinct double beard and a full fan. This aint no stink'n jake... At this point my son tells me he wants me to shoot because he doesn't want the gun to "thump" hard like last weekend when he missed a big longbeard. Unfortunately in order to position my boy's gun, the gobbler can easily see us from his angle so I have my son slowly help hold the gun and pull the trigger together so he can be part of the harvest (butt stock of the 3.5in mag 12ga on my shoulder). As the tom see's the DSD jake and hens, he comes out of full strut and begin clucking and purring, while making his way toward the jake decoy.
I explain to my son that soon as he clears the branch we will shoot the tom right in the neck and head. Before you know it we have a flopping longbeard rolling down a small hill with my little boy in tow trying to catch up to it. I have to say that this was my most enjoyable hunt ever. we spent the rest of the day checking out other areas in search of a tom for my son and my friend. We worked a pari of huge longbeards for 3 hours without any success but had a great time listening to gobbles and using tactics to try and fool weary gobblers.
Started the morning out trying to figure out why the turkeys weren't in the roost tree like I saw last weekend. Used a coyote howler but didn't get a single gobble so I was a bit down that all the birds left the area. Me and my son set the decoys out as the horizon lighted up and set up a blind in a cotton wood thicket. The early morning fly down came and gone without a gobble but we stuck it out and just blind called here and there to see if a traveling gobbler would pick up the sounds.
At about 0900, I got up and walked a few hundred feet to the property boundary and gave a few cuts and yelps every 20 feet or so using a glass call and my mouth call. Right as I got to the end of the boundary line I heard a gobble waaaaaaaaay off in the distance. I figured what the heck and gave it some more calls to see if he would break. After a keekee and a yelp, the gobble literally went from a few miles out to about 400 yards out and quickly closing.
I began walking back to the blind and cluck and yelp as the gobbles grew closer. I ran into the blind, woke up my son and got us set up for a tom that was triple gobbling every few feet. Because of the crazy amounts of gobbles, I thought maybe it was a jake so I told my son to get ready as the gobbles were literally 50 yards away behind a low ridge. I position my son's field gun pod and get him ready for the bird. all of a sudden the gobbler skirts us to our left and walks in from behind to my left.
As the gobbler comes into view, I nearly crap my self to see a very distinct double beard and a full fan. This aint no stink'n jake... At this point my son tells me he wants me to shoot because he doesn't want the gun to "thump" hard like last weekend when he missed a big longbeard. Unfortunately in order to position my boy's gun, the gobbler can easily see us from his angle so I have my son slowly help hold the gun and pull the trigger together so he can be part of the harvest (butt stock of the 3.5in mag 12ga on my shoulder). As the tom see's the DSD jake and hens, he comes out of full strut and begin clucking and purring, while making his way toward the jake decoy.
I explain to my son that soon as he clears the branch we will shoot the tom right in the neck and head. Before you know it we have a flopping longbeard rolling down a small hill with my little boy in tow trying to catch up to it. I have to say that this was my most enjoyable hunt ever. we spent the rest of the day checking out other areas in search of a tom for my son and my friend. We worked a pari of huge longbeards for 3 hours without any success but had a great time listening to gobbles and using tactics to try and fool weary gobblers.
