This is my last year hunting turkeys in California, so I decided to dedicate a lot of time this season...more than I ever have before...to scouting and doing all my preseason homework so I could have a successful season. A good buddy of mine who hunts but never had hunted turkeys...reached out to me and asked if I could show him what i knew and in return I got another hunting partner who would be willing to do all the hard work I planned to do this year with me. We started scouting about 2 months before the season, and ran trail cameras all the way up until a few days ago... and we had quite a few good spots with some promising sign as well as pictures. We were super excited for the season to start!
My buddy happens to have a younger brother with an Upland stamp... so being that I can't hunt the junior weekend anymore, I offered to take him out and call for him and see if we couldn't get him on a bird before all the pressure form the general season hits one of our spots. So Saturday Morning... I'm sitting in a ground blind with a first-time turkey hunter and decoys in front of us around 5:50 am ready to kick off what I hope to be the best turkey season yet.
We sat in the blind til about 10:30...heard a few gobbles and a set of shotgun blasts, but hadn't seen any birds come our way. He was getting antsy, so me and his brother decide to take him for a hike up to one of our cameras we had been running to keep him interested. We hike up to the very first camera, and his older brother yells out "Tom, Tom, Tom...right there". Sure enough, a big longbeard is booking in the opposite direction. I let out a few clucks from my mouth call...and he gobbles, already about 85 yards out. I tell the kid to go sit behind the fallen log to our right while me and his brother drop back a ways to call. One soft yelp on the slate call and boom...gobble, the gobble again. I have my biddy run over to his brother and get in a better shooting position against a rock while I set up a hen decoy in a little clearing to my right. I'm about 50 yards behind this fellas, and they're between me and the bird. I let out another soft yelp and he double gobbles again, this time only 50 yards out from where the boy was sitting. I give it a few seconds and yelp again, and he gobbles only about 30 yards out from the boy. His brother tells him as soon as his head pops up over the rise and he can verify it's the tom to let him have it. Sure enough, the tom sticks his head up out of the ditch he was in and up onto the rise the boy is sitting on and bang....gun goes off and this young guy is hooked on an addiction he will have his whole life. We were all smiles and cheers...practically jumping up and down celebrating. This kids first turkey hunt and he bags a nice tom. I couldn't be more happy to have been involved with this hunt!
My buddy happens to have a younger brother with an Upland stamp... so being that I can't hunt the junior weekend anymore, I offered to take him out and call for him and see if we couldn't get him on a bird before all the pressure form the general season hits one of our spots. So Saturday Morning... I'm sitting in a ground blind with a first-time turkey hunter and decoys in front of us around 5:50 am ready to kick off what I hope to be the best turkey season yet.
We sat in the blind til about 10:30...heard a few gobbles and a set of shotgun blasts, but hadn't seen any birds come our way. He was getting antsy, so me and his brother decide to take him for a hike up to one of our cameras we had been running to keep him interested. We hike up to the very first camera, and his older brother yells out "Tom, Tom, Tom...right there". Sure enough, a big longbeard is booking in the opposite direction. I let out a few clucks from my mouth call...and he gobbles, already about 85 yards out. I tell the kid to go sit behind the fallen log to our right while me and his brother drop back a ways to call. One soft yelp on the slate call and boom...gobble, the gobble again. I have my biddy run over to his brother and get in a better shooting position against a rock while I set up a hen decoy in a little clearing to my right. I'm about 50 yards behind this fellas, and they're between me and the bird. I let out another soft yelp and he double gobbles again, this time only 50 yards out from where the boy was sitting. I give it a few seconds and yelp again, and he gobbles only about 30 yards out from the boy. His brother tells him as soon as his head pops up over the rise and he can verify it's the tom to let him have it. Sure enough, the tom sticks his head up out of the ditch he was in and up onto the rise the boy is sitting on and bang....gun goes off and this young guy is hooked on an addiction he will have his whole life. We were all smiles and cheers...practically jumping up and down celebrating. This kids first turkey hunt and he bags a nice tom. I couldn't be more happy to have been involved with this hunt!
