This is my first post. Gary March told me how great a site this was so I thought I would pass along the adventures of a WA state youth turkey hunt that I shared with my 2 young sons, Cody and Kyle. He said there were some turkey hunters on here that might enjoy it. I hope that's the case. I apologize for the longevity, but there was a lot of action wrapped up in a day and a half of hunting.
We wrapped up another youth turkey hunting weekend on Sunday with a mixture of success and failure. Thor Ostrom (not a member of this site) came along to help me with my 2 sons, Cody and Kyle. Thanks, again for the help, Thor! The turkeys I had been scouting for 3 weeks decided to roost in another location the night before the opener but they still ended up coming to the location I set the blinds the prior day. We had 2 outcast toms that the jakes had been running off come to within 35 yards first thing in the morning but they didn't present a good shot opportunity for both boys who I had in blinds right next to each other. We had a group of jakes and at least one tom come in behind the blinds and they wouldn't work to the front so both boys could shoot so I had Kyle shoot the tom out the back window of the blind. It was Kyle's 1st gobbler after shooting a triple bearded jake last year on his first turkey hunt.
So one tom down and Cody's turn. Kyle had decided to get 2 tags so he could shoot another one as well. I took the boys to another property after Thor had to leave and we found 4 gobblers and 20 hens feeding up an open side hill. I had the boys load 2 shells in the magazine of their autos to be safe on the long hike up the hill to get in front of the birds. When we got as close as we could, we set up and I started calling. I pulled a silent tom away from the group who almost surprised us. Cody raised his gun to shoot without being detected and an ominous "click" sound pierced the air in place of what I thought was going to be a glorious "boom" and a dead tom. You guessed it, I forgot to have the boys load up when we set up. I asked Cody if he loaded a shell in the chamber as I checked to see where the gobbler had gone and he assured me he did. I made a call to see if the gobbler might consider working back in and he responded by going into strut and gobbling so I got Cody in position to shoot as the tom worked back to us. I called the shot when the tom got to 25 yards and heard another "click" as in Benelli "click". Cody handed me the gun and I pushed the bolt all the way shut since Cody had failed to do so and handed it back to him with the instruction to shoot the gobbler who was now moving away from us at about 35 yards. With all the craziness, it wasn't a surprise that Cody missed and the beating up of myself began! How could I forget something so important? Loser Dad!
We went back to the truck to go back to our original spot and I decided to make a sandwich for the road. Another gobbler started sounding off in the canyon below us and I noted it was 2:00. A gobbling bird at this time of day is prime for calling in so I hurriedly ate my sandwich and kept track of his gobbling. We packed up and moved up the hill to get in front of the location he was headed and set up and I started calling. The next time I saw him, he was 300 yards away in another patch of open woods the opposite direction he had been walking. The wind was blowing about 20 so I don't know if he ever heard my calls. I got after it on the box call as loud as I could and the next thing I know he turned and headed our direction. I switched the boys up and had them face towards the direction he would be coming. There was a big branch hanging down from the tree where we were sitting that was going to only allow one boy to get a shot depending on which side the gobbler came in. When he gobbled below us out of sight it became apparent that Kyle was going to get to take the shot. Sure enough, the gobbler appeared in full strut on Kyle's side and worked to 15 yards. I called the shot and Kyle proceeded to miss him and then stood up as the tom moved below us and took 2 more shots - all clean misses. He was devastated as this was the first turkey he had ever missed in his 2 days of turkey hunting.
We roosted some turkeys later that evening on the original property and set the blind on the edge of a pasture for Sunday morning. Thor joined Cody in the blind closest to the roosted birds and Kyle and I set up in another direction to cover the woods in case they headed out that way. The gobbling was insane that morning and Thor called some hens into their setup and watched them pummel my DSD hen decoy while the 2 gobblers came running to them. The toms stopped at about 40 yards to strut for the hens and Thor gave Cody the green light on the shot but he didn't feel confident with taking the shot. So the gobblers followed the hens as they moved away and effectively ended the youth hunt weekend for us. Lots of exciting moments and plenty of lessons learned along the way. It was a blast and I'm looking forward to the regular season getting here now.
I've inserted some pictures from the weekend. I didn't do a good job of taking pictures and forgot to snap some of Cody. It was a crazy weekend, though. I did manage to capture some video of those first 2 toms coming in on opening morning:
http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/SeanCarr_photos/?action=view¤t=OutcastGobblersHangingUpat35Yards_40211-1.mp4
Here's Kyle scanning the terrain from the Double Bull blind in hopes of finding another gobbler while Cody was in the other Double Bull next to us:
He's quite the jokester and makes the time in the blind fun. Here he is hammin' away in typical fashion:
Here's the decoy setup. My taxidermist buddy took the skin off of a bearded hen he shot last year and draped it over a decoy body. He's taking the gobbler Kyle shot and making a mount for a strutting tom decoy so we're going to have a pretty cool decoy arrangement in a few years.
And finally Kyle's 1st gobbler at the ripe old age of 11 which he just turned last week. I didn't get my first gobbler until I was 12 so both of my boys beat me and I doubt they'll let me forget it, either. Kyle also beat Cody and me by being the youngest to shoot a turkey last season. We're not a competitive family, though. This gobbler had an 8.25" beard with close to 1" spurs and weighed approx. 19 lbs.
We wrapped up another youth turkey hunting weekend on Sunday with a mixture of success and failure. Thor Ostrom (not a member of this site) came along to help me with my 2 sons, Cody and Kyle. Thanks, again for the help, Thor! The turkeys I had been scouting for 3 weeks decided to roost in another location the night before the opener but they still ended up coming to the location I set the blinds the prior day. We had 2 outcast toms that the jakes had been running off come to within 35 yards first thing in the morning but they didn't present a good shot opportunity for both boys who I had in blinds right next to each other. We had a group of jakes and at least one tom come in behind the blinds and they wouldn't work to the front so both boys could shoot so I had Kyle shoot the tom out the back window of the blind. It was Kyle's 1st gobbler after shooting a triple bearded jake last year on his first turkey hunt.
So one tom down and Cody's turn. Kyle had decided to get 2 tags so he could shoot another one as well. I took the boys to another property after Thor had to leave and we found 4 gobblers and 20 hens feeding up an open side hill. I had the boys load 2 shells in the magazine of their autos to be safe on the long hike up the hill to get in front of the birds. When we got as close as we could, we set up and I started calling. I pulled a silent tom away from the group who almost surprised us. Cody raised his gun to shoot without being detected and an ominous "click" sound pierced the air in place of what I thought was going to be a glorious "boom" and a dead tom. You guessed it, I forgot to have the boys load up when we set up. I asked Cody if he loaded a shell in the chamber as I checked to see where the gobbler had gone and he assured me he did. I made a call to see if the gobbler might consider working back in and he responded by going into strut and gobbling so I got Cody in position to shoot as the tom worked back to us. I called the shot when the tom got to 25 yards and heard another "click" as in Benelli "click". Cody handed me the gun and I pushed the bolt all the way shut since Cody had failed to do so and handed it back to him with the instruction to shoot the gobbler who was now moving away from us at about 35 yards. With all the craziness, it wasn't a surprise that Cody missed and the beating up of myself began! How could I forget something so important? Loser Dad!
We went back to the truck to go back to our original spot and I decided to make a sandwich for the road. Another gobbler started sounding off in the canyon below us and I noted it was 2:00. A gobbling bird at this time of day is prime for calling in so I hurriedly ate my sandwich and kept track of his gobbling. We packed up and moved up the hill to get in front of the location he was headed and set up and I started calling. The next time I saw him, he was 300 yards away in another patch of open woods the opposite direction he had been walking. The wind was blowing about 20 so I don't know if he ever heard my calls. I got after it on the box call as loud as I could and the next thing I know he turned and headed our direction. I switched the boys up and had them face towards the direction he would be coming. There was a big branch hanging down from the tree where we were sitting that was going to only allow one boy to get a shot depending on which side the gobbler came in. When he gobbled below us out of sight it became apparent that Kyle was going to get to take the shot. Sure enough, the gobbler appeared in full strut on Kyle's side and worked to 15 yards. I called the shot and Kyle proceeded to miss him and then stood up as the tom moved below us and took 2 more shots - all clean misses. He was devastated as this was the first turkey he had ever missed in his 2 days of turkey hunting.
We roosted some turkeys later that evening on the original property and set the blind on the edge of a pasture for Sunday morning. Thor joined Cody in the blind closest to the roosted birds and Kyle and I set up in another direction to cover the woods in case they headed out that way. The gobbling was insane that morning and Thor called some hens into their setup and watched them pummel my DSD hen decoy while the 2 gobblers came running to them. The toms stopped at about 40 yards to strut for the hens and Thor gave Cody the green light on the shot but he didn't feel confident with taking the shot. So the gobblers followed the hens as they moved away and effectively ended the youth hunt weekend for us. Lots of exciting moments and plenty of lessons learned along the way. It was a blast and I'm looking forward to the regular season getting here now.
I've inserted some pictures from the weekend. I didn't do a good job of taking pictures and forgot to snap some of Cody. It was a crazy weekend, though. I did manage to capture some video of those first 2 toms coming in on opening morning:
http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/SeanCarr_photos/?action=view¤t=OutcastGobblersHangingUpat35Yards_40211-1.mp4
Here's Kyle scanning the terrain from the Double Bull blind in hopes of finding another gobbler while Cody was in the other Double Bull next to us:
He's quite the jokester and makes the time in the blind fun. Here he is hammin' away in typical fashion:
Here's the decoy setup. My taxidermist buddy took the skin off of a bearded hen he shot last year and draped it over a decoy body. He's taking the gobbler Kyle shot and making a mount for a strutting tom decoy so we're going to have a pretty cool decoy arrangement in a few years.
And finally Kyle's 1st gobbler at the ripe old age of 11 which he just turned last week. I didn't get my first gobbler until I was 12 so both of my boys beat me and I doubt they'll let me forget it, either. Kyle also beat Cody and me by being the youngest to shoot a turkey last season. We're not a competitive family, though. This gobbler had an 8.25" beard with close to 1" spurs and weighed approx. 19 lbs.
