Hi everyone,
Its been a while since I been on the forum but hopefully I can start posting up again. Due to work and family, I been kind of just doing the FB thing. I'm glad the forum has grown with a lot of fresh new faces. Anyways, I took the week off to do some turkey hunting as I do every year since 1993. Now that I have kids, Its been more about taking my oldest son out to get his turkey. We have been trying to get him a bird for the last two years without much success. Had a lot of close calls with even a missed shot. But things changed in a awesome way on monday.
We started our hunt early as usual. My son has no problem getting up at 0300 for turkey hunting but cant get his butt up at 0700 for school. Once we get to our hunt spot, its cold as heck, a little drizzly, and 25mph winds. I wasn't expecting much so we set up in a spot where me and Bonejour had a group of long beards and jakes working the day before. I figured out the area where they wanted to be and set up in the spot. The tactic for the day was to sit, put decoys in a good visible area, and make soft talk. Well once we got set up in a group of willow trees, I figured I would see if I can get gobble with my coyotes howler (my favorite locator). One loud howl and instantly I had gobblers in three different roosts gobble back. Needless to say we were excited as I wasn't expecting these birds to gobble in the crappy weather.
As fly down time grew closer we got gobbles here and there but the great thing was we were smack dab in the middle of three roosts and in a area where they are comfortable being in. The closest roost was about 80 yards to our left and once they flew down, I gave them some tree yelps and a fly down cackle which got them gobbling and headed our way. As my son sat there with his 20ga in front of his, I told him to stay still (super patient 8 year old) as I can see 7 red heads trotting our way. As the birds closed the distance to about 60 yards, all of a sudden I hear twigs crack to our right. I slowly turn my head to see about 50 head of dairy cows walking towards to figure out what we were. Unfortunately they flowed into our set up and drenched our decoys in thick cow slobber.
As the cows moved, they walked directly towards the incoming turkeys, sending them to another open field. Now with the weather growing colder, I was contemplating going to the car to warm up a little but my son told me we were setting up in another area. Over the years I have lost my patience when hunting but luckily my son keeps me in the game and helps me staying out in the field. So as I follow my son's advice, we get to a area where the cows cant bother us and find a trail heavily used by the turkeys. I put out a DSD jake and two hens on the trail and we chit chat about hunting, school, and food. As we eat our lunch and make some yelps and clucks every now and then, I tell my son that I'm going to glass the field next to us and see if the birds are making their way back in our direction.
As I get over the ridge and hide in the sage, I glass the field to see 9 jakes and three hens walking in our direction. Now they are about 200 yards away and slowly walking, I get back to our setup and tell my kid that we might get lucky in about an hour or so. We sit and at about the 30 min mark, I see 4 hungry coyotes headed our way. They are about a 1000 yards out but I'm starting to think that they will end up chasing the flock when they get some eyes on them. I tell my son that if the yotes make it to our decoys, we'll shoot us some coyotes. As the coyotes get to the 500 yard mark, my son spots red heads to our left behind a sage brush. As quick as my son spotted the gobblers, they head straight for the DSD jake decoy and start picking on it and beating it up.
I slowly help my son turn on the red dot on his truglo sight and get him ready to take a shot. I tell him to wait until the gobblers separate before shooting. As the flock continue fighting the decoy, one large jake in the bunch separate to the left. I tell my son to slowly turn the gun towards the large jake and take a shot when he's ready. Well before I can finish telling him to shoot, he pulls the trigger on the jake and he goes down like a sack of rocks. Not a flop or a wing beat. My son immediately gets up and runs to his trophy.
As I sat there and watched him run to his turkey, I had a overwhelming feeling of being so proud of my boy and it really hit home and how much he has grown. We will never ever forget giving high fives and big hugs. Seeing the buck fever and the sheer happiness in his face. I have been on a lot of awesome turkey hunts with big gobblers but this hunt trumps any and all hunts I have been on. Seeing my son get his first turkey just put the icing on the cake. It doesn't matter if I get a gobbler this season or not, this hunt made my season. With our state moving in the direction going, it is extremely important for us adults to build our future with the young generation. Take akid hunting or fishing so we may continue this tradition and have many more awesome experiences in the field.
Its been a while since I been on the forum but hopefully I can start posting up again. Due to work and family, I been kind of just doing the FB thing. I'm glad the forum has grown with a lot of fresh new faces. Anyways, I took the week off to do some turkey hunting as I do every year since 1993. Now that I have kids, Its been more about taking my oldest son out to get his turkey. We have been trying to get him a bird for the last two years without much success. Had a lot of close calls with even a missed shot. But things changed in a awesome way on monday.
We started our hunt early as usual. My son has no problem getting up at 0300 for turkey hunting but cant get his butt up at 0700 for school. Once we get to our hunt spot, its cold as heck, a little drizzly, and 25mph winds. I wasn't expecting much so we set up in a spot where me and Bonejour had a group of long beards and jakes working the day before. I figured out the area where they wanted to be and set up in the spot. The tactic for the day was to sit, put decoys in a good visible area, and make soft talk. Well once we got set up in a group of willow trees, I figured I would see if I can get gobble with my coyotes howler (my favorite locator). One loud howl and instantly I had gobblers in three different roosts gobble back. Needless to say we were excited as I wasn't expecting these birds to gobble in the crappy weather.
As fly down time grew closer we got gobbles here and there but the great thing was we were smack dab in the middle of three roosts and in a area where they are comfortable being in. The closest roost was about 80 yards to our left and once they flew down, I gave them some tree yelps and a fly down cackle which got them gobbling and headed our way. As my son sat there with his 20ga in front of his, I told him to stay still (super patient 8 year old) as I can see 7 red heads trotting our way. As the birds closed the distance to about 60 yards, all of a sudden I hear twigs crack to our right. I slowly turn my head to see about 50 head of dairy cows walking towards to figure out what we were. Unfortunately they flowed into our set up and drenched our decoys in thick cow slobber.
As the cows moved, they walked directly towards the incoming turkeys, sending them to another open field. Now with the weather growing colder, I was contemplating going to the car to warm up a little but my son told me we were setting up in another area. Over the years I have lost my patience when hunting but luckily my son keeps me in the game and helps me staying out in the field. So as I follow my son's advice, we get to a area where the cows cant bother us and find a trail heavily used by the turkeys. I put out a DSD jake and two hens on the trail and we chit chat about hunting, school, and food. As we eat our lunch and make some yelps and clucks every now and then, I tell my son that I'm going to glass the field next to us and see if the birds are making their way back in our direction.
As I get over the ridge and hide in the sage, I glass the field to see 9 jakes and three hens walking in our direction. Now they are about 200 yards away and slowly walking, I get back to our setup and tell my kid that we might get lucky in about an hour or so. We sit and at about the 30 min mark, I see 4 hungry coyotes headed our way. They are about a 1000 yards out but I'm starting to think that they will end up chasing the flock when they get some eyes on them. I tell my son that if the yotes make it to our decoys, we'll shoot us some coyotes. As the coyotes get to the 500 yard mark, my son spots red heads to our left behind a sage brush. As quick as my son spotted the gobblers, they head straight for the DSD jake decoy and start picking on it and beating it up.
I slowly help my son turn on the red dot on his truglo sight and get him ready to take a shot. I tell him to wait until the gobblers separate before shooting. As the flock continue fighting the decoy, one large jake in the bunch separate to the left. I tell my son to slowly turn the gun towards the large jake and take a shot when he's ready. Well before I can finish telling him to shoot, he pulls the trigger on the jake and he goes down like a sack of rocks. Not a flop or a wing beat. My son immediately gets up and runs to his trophy.
As I sat there and watched him run to his turkey, I had a overwhelming feeling of being so proud of my boy and it really hit home and how much he has grown. We will never ever forget giving high fives and big hugs. Seeing the buck fever and the sheer happiness in his face. I have been on a lot of awesome turkey hunts with big gobblers but this hunt trumps any and all hunts I have been on. Seeing my son get his first turkey just put the icing on the cake. It doesn't matter if I get a gobbler this season or not, this hunt made my season. With our state moving in the direction going, it is extremely important for us adults to build our future with the young generation. Take akid hunting or fishing so we may continue this tradition and have many more awesome experiences in the field.
