Well my 12 year old son the apprentice hunter was really excited for this years turkey season , he took the Turkey course a few weeks ago and has been practicing with his 20 gauge and was ready for the opener. The day started with a wake up shake from dad about 4:15 and we were out the door by 4:40 . We were set up and we both realized that we did not prepare enough for the cold wind and dampness. First gobbles at 5:35 and we soon realized we were surounded by hens and the tom was about 400 yards away , A few tree calls and a fly down kackle and the boy hit the ground and was heading our way gobbling with every series of calls I through at him. Once he got to about 200 yards or so the hens did not want any part of this new hen in their area and as he approached they flew done and started to really cut me off and were very aggresive with their calling and sure enough with them between him and I , he went with the sure thing. They took him straight away from me and we could barely hear him gobble when 3 Jakes suddenly appeared about 200 yards away and were gobbling to every call I gave them. Hit record on the Go Pro and the show was on , we had the 3 of them to within 15 yards and they were loving it , but a Jake we were not after so they got a pass. Then all of a sudden this 1 hen comes running past us yelping and cutting really hard and she pulled those jakes away from us. Man it was a tough crowd out today , a little jealous was she.
So we moved to another area and set up , and were not really having much luck with any gobbles and my son was trying hard to convince me to move and I almost gave in , but I said to him to trust me , that they can hear me and they know I am here and they will come eventually , that just because they are not gobbling to us does not mean that they are not around close to us. But after another 15 minutes or so he was trying hard to convince me to move again and I almost agreed when I looked up and this guy was walking striaght into us. He had somehow slipped through are openings and was just about to leave when I said to my son get the gun up there is a nice long beard about 20 yards straight out in front of us. He pulled the gun up and was asking if it was ok to shoot , I said hold on im trying to get the go pro fired up , I got it on and hit record and gave him the green light and POW a load of number 6's was on the way. Down the bird went and I looked at the camera and realized I hit the camera function instead of the video function , so no video of the shot , oh well maybe next time.
He is a great bird weighing in at 22.36 pounds with a 9 inch beard and matching 1 1/8 spurs. I just love being the guide and passing on the hunting experince to my son , he is and will be hooked on hunting hopefully for his whole life. To see his excitement in his eyes is reward enough , I just love it.
Job well done.
