Just got home from a hunt but we managed to get a real old, smart tom to cross the road. I will have details soon but my 8yo son out did me this season and got his limit. So far the bird has a 10.5in beard, 1.5in spur/1in spur, and weighed in at 21 pounds and a couple pennies.
Limited out... Well my son did.
- Thread starter Matagi
- Start date
Gen,
When I saw who was calling me at 6:30 am this morning, I knew it had to be good news....
....Congrats to Yusuke and to you.....I'm sure despite you not shooting a bird yourself, that it has been your best season ever!
You are teaching Yusuke the right way.......Again congrats to you both....... 8)
When I saw who was calling me at 6:30 am this morning, I knew it had to be good news....
....Congrats to Yusuke and to you.....I'm sure despite you not shooting a bird yourself, that it has been your best season ever!You are teaching Yusuke the right way.......Again congrats to you both....... 8)
Well we had an amazing morning. I'll try to make this a readers digest version but I'm still on cloud 9. So I woke up at 0300 this morning and sat in bed while listening to rain drops hit the window. I wanted to sleep in since I have to work tonight but something told me to get the kid up and get going. The spot where we were going to hunt is a hard spot to hunt. The single long beard roosts in a reservation and in order to legally get him, he would need to beat feet across highway 79 to huntable land.
Once me and my son arrive to our destination, I put up a popup blind in a area where the tom comes closest to the road. Now this was our first time turkey hunting in a popup blind so I wasnt expecting much. I get everything set up and put a DSD jake decoy with two DSD hens out about 15 yards in front of us. We wait for first light and I give out a couple jake gobbles from a Haint gobble call. I get a nice "FU" gobble back from the old bird that I and many other MCC members have attempted to call across several times before. I give him a reply "FU" gobble back at him and he get even more fired up. All this time my kid has a big grin from ear to ear and tells me that today is the day.
We settle in and begin to hear soft tree yelps from hens. Now usually I wait to call until the birds are off the roost but for some reason today I decided to mimic exactly what the hens were doing. As the hens fly down, I get a little louder with my yelps and around 0600, I get a single hen reply back to me with nice angry yelps and clucks. I continue to yelp back at her when all of a sudden she comes flying towards me. She lands past my decoys and begin yelping loudly. Now all this time the gobbler is slowly moving near the road gobbling off and on. As the hen and I continue our yelp battle, I get a loud gobble right on the road. My son tells me "dad, they're crossing the road!" and I see a big strutting gobbler with a red head running towards us.
The gobbler drops into a dry creek bed and emerge no less than 20 feet from our blind staring right at the DSD jake decoy. As he approach the jake decoy, he give it a few angry purrs and beat the snot out of it. As the tom sits on top of the jake, I get my son ready for the shot. I ask him if he has a good sight picture on him and not soon after the 870 20ga barks with the tom flopping on the ground. For a brief moment, I just sat there in disbelief especially because I couldn't believe the gobbler came across the road. I gave my boy a big hug and let him run out to claim his trophy. For being 8 years old, my son really hung in there this season and was rewarded for his efforts with a limit of turkeys.
Once me and my son arrive to our destination, I put up a popup blind in a area where the tom comes closest to the road. Now this was our first time turkey hunting in a popup blind so I wasnt expecting much. I get everything set up and put a DSD jake decoy with two DSD hens out about 15 yards in front of us. We wait for first light and I give out a couple jake gobbles from a Haint gobble call. I get a nice "FU" gobble back from the old bird that I and many other MCC members have attempted to call across several times before. I give him a reply "FU" gobble back at him and he get even more fired up. All this time my kid has a big grin from ear to ear and tells me that today is the day.
We settle in and begin to hear soft tree yelps from hens. Now usually I wait to call until the birds are off the roost but for some reason today I decided to mimic exactly what the hens were doing. As the hens fly down, I get a little louder with my yelps and around 0600, I get a single hen reply back to me with nice angry yelps and clucks. I continue to yelp back at her when all of a sudden she comes flying towards me. She lands past my decoys and begin yelping loudly. Now all this time the gobbler is slowly moving near the road gobbling off and on. As the hen and I continue our yelp battle, I get a loud gobble right on the road. My son tells me "dad, they're crossing the road!" and I see a big strutting gobbler with a red head running towards us.
The gobbler drops into a dry creek bed and emerge no less than 20 feet from our blind staring right at the DSD jake decoy. As he approach the jake decoy, he give it a few angry purrs and beat the snot out of it. As the tom sits on top of the jake, I get my son ready for the shot. I ask him if he has a good sight picture on him and not soon after the 870 20ga barks with the tom flopping on the ground. For a brief moment, I just sat there in disbelief especially because I couldn't believe the gobbler came across the road. I gave my boy a big hug and let him run out to claim his trophy. For being 8 years old, my son really hung in there this season and was rewarded for his efforts with a limit of turkeys.
Way to get that bird! He is always strutting around on that Rez land. Did u get him to jump the silver cattle fence. I don't want to post the unit but 95% I know exactly where u got him. That one was a tough cookie to crack glad your kid took him down. He is a really vocal bird in the mornings. But like you said I went after him a few times and all I got was him screwing with me.
Thanks! I tried for him several times early on but all he would do was go back and forth along the fence gobbling his head off. Today he was vocal all the way until he got to meet my son. He actually went to the right of the gate (if you're facing the res side) and went under. He jumped over the fence on MCC side and pretty much gobbled and strutted his way in. When I do calling demos I always teach folks on matching what the hens are doing and that sure paid off today. Other than being cloudy and damp, it was actually a nice morning.
Matagi said:
Made my day....Tell Yusuke at 8 years old, I bet he's the youngest kid ever to limit out on turkeys.....
Thanks everyone! The only thing I wish I could have done was to at least film the hunt a little with my phone. It was a challenge to keep my eye on th hen, gobbler, and my kid and make sure everything was timed just right.
That's exactly what I told him Steve lol. I told him I didn't get limits on turkeys until I was in my 20's. I'm just happy to be able to teach my kid the right way of turkey hunting. Now soon, his little brother will be joining in on our hunts.
That's exactly what I told him Steve lol. I told him I didn't get limits on turkeys until I was in my 20's. I'm just happy to be able to teach my kid the right way of turkey hunting. Now soon, his little brother will be joining in on our hunts.
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Thanks Gen, Sadly I'll be away working as I do every weekend this time of year but stop by anyway and say hi to Ruth. She would love to see and hear about your dog and the breed. Yusuke can handle some of the puppies she has, That'll get you in some trouble about getting a new dog !