Kids and Turks

[sneaky_pete000]

I haven't had much time to contribute to the forum lately, but I worked non-stop last week so I'm taking my sweet time getting started this morning....

Anyway - Last weekend was Youth Weekend in NY. Ethan is too old, Emma only likes to hunt VT, and Duke is finally old enough to participate in NY. Roosting didn't go so well the night before, and the birds just didn't want to cooperate. But I've grown to love the moment in time when the kids are feeling sorry for themselves, like its never going to happen....This wasn't an exception. Duke doesn't have much quit in him, but I could tell he was feeling it when we heard a jake gobble. He said he'd be happy with a jake if it was a fun experience, so we set up to try it. Instead of "a jake" we had 6 come in strutting and gobbling, putting on a show, and Duke just couldn't stay off the trigger when one walked 10yrds away and gobbled. He was thrilled, and so was I.

 

[Pine-lock]

Hard to beat a morning like that. Congrats to him!

 

[sneaky_pete000]

Fast forward to this week. Roosting went much better on the VT side of the border. I took Emma while Duke went off with some family members Saturday morning. Emma had a fun experience, but it didn't work out. As the tom was working his way into us, he was over a drop off about 60yrds away - meanwhile a coyote decided to sneak in on us, 25yds to our 3oclock. I needed to spook it out of there before the tom got into view, so I waved....I hissed...neither worked. So I picked up a stick and chucked it at the yote, which worked a little. I knew he was going to circle downwind, but I was hoping he'd be far enough away for the tom to come in. I could hear it farting around in the brush behind us when the tom popped into view. He came to what I thought was just under 40yrds, spit, drum, gobble, strut, repeat - so I was convinced he'd come closer. The gun Emma had was really only good to about 35yrds and beyond that it gets a little ugly. But I was so distracted by the yote behind us, I don't think I ever really got a good judge of distance on him. I'm 99% he spotted the coyote and started to putt. I asked emma if she had the red dot on his neck and I could tell by her confidence that she was, so I told her to take the shot. Much of the toms body was shielded by beech whips, so I felt like he would either fall down dead, or be hardly touched. On the shot, the tom flew off and I watched it glide down off the hill and out across one of my fields. Meanwhile, Duke had a tom coming in only to see it get nervous under 40yrds too. The gun he was using is deadly out to about 50, but it just wasn't a shot he felt comfortable with, so I'm glad he didn't take it. Within the next hour, Emma and I had another tom working, and just due to the random stuff turkeys do, we never got a shot. He got in to under 10yrds, but behind/below a ledge, periscoped up and busted us.
Emma had to work Sunday, so Duke and I headed out in the hurricane. What a terrible day to hunt. The wind was howling. Miles and hours go by, and I can see him starting to lose a little hope. We had a couple hours left, and we decided to go sit in a deer blind with a decoy out in front. It got us out of the wind which felt really good, even though it was fairly warm out. There was a very short moment where the wind died down, so I grabbed my slate, stuck my hands out of the blind and called on it loud and aggressively. We both sat back in our chairs to eat some snacks. The blind is on the edge of an old pasture we planted some clover and grass in and its elevated about 10ft. Duke leaned forward and rested his arms and head on the bottom of the window opening when his posture and expression changed quickly. He whispered that there were 3 redheads right below us. They snuck in silently along the pasture end and were literally under the blind and locked on to my decoy. I've never shot a bird over a decoy and rarely take one with me. It took about 10 minutes to get the gun out through the window without getting busted, but we somehow pulled it off...16.5lbs, 10" beard, 3/4" spurs and a really excited 12yr old.

 

[shawn_in_MA]

Great season so far!! Congrats to Duke!!

 

[tobydog]

Nice!

 

[longbow]

Congrats great birds!