Took my 10 year old son Cody out for his first turkey hunt this last weekend. We came really close on Friday night after I called a tom and his hen in to about 60 yards, where they hung up and he proceeded to put on an absolute show for us. We were on the ground (saw these birds before we were able to get the blind up) and every time he would gobble, I could see Cody start to shake and then calm back down before the next gobble. To add to the excitement, we had several deer come out, first one being one that looks like he might be something worth chasing come September and the rest were smaller with one small buck walking to within 10 yards before Cody threw in the towel and moved so he wouldn't come any closer. We let the turkeys head towards their roost, scared the other deer out of the opening, and headed back to the truck to grab the blind; the trap was set for the next morning.
We were in the blind 15 minutes before legal shooting time the next morning and about 15 seconds after I was telling Cody that I hoped they were roosted where I thought they were a gobble rang out and we were both confident that we had a solid chance. A few more minutes went by, and the next gobble set off 2-3 more birds that we didn't know were there and our confidence grew from "having a chance" to "smoker or jerky?". They gobbled like crazy on the roost and then went silent for the first hour on the ground with zero action so we double checked that he could get behind the gun okay on the Bog tripod and made some minor adjustments now that we had full light. Not long after the action slowly picked up and it was clear the birds were on 3 sides of us but staying put for the most. When the gobble to our north turned into 2, I got a little more aggressive with my calling. They got quiet for a bit, so I peeked out of the small window on the north side of the blind and saw 2 jelly heads bobbing their way through the woods and directly toward our setup. As I was telling Cody to get settled behind the gun, they gobbled right outside of his view, and I thought his eyes were gonna pop out of his head! He stayed relatively calm and a few seconds later I told him to track the one on the left as he appeared bigger. He did just that and steam rolled him at about 16 yards. After many hugs and high fives, we went out to collect his trophy and take some pics to send to Mom and little Brother at back home. Needled to say, he's hooked, and he's been watching turkey calling videos since and I'm swinging by Scheels on the way home to grab some youth diaphragm calls.
We were in the blind 15 minutes before legal shooting time the next morning and about 15 seconds after I was telling Cody that I hoped they were roosted where I thought they were a gobble rang out and we were both confident that we had a solid chance. A few more minutes went by, and the next gobble set off 2-3 more birds that we didn't know were there and our confidence grew from "having a chance" to "smoker or jerky?". They gobbled like crazy on the roost and then went silent for the first hour on the ground with zero action so we double checked that he could get behind the gun okay on the Bog tripod and made some minor adjustments now that we had full light. Not long after the action slowly picked up and it was clear the birds were on 3 sides of us but staying put for the most. When the gobble to our north turned into 2, I got a little more aggressive with my calling. They got quiet for a bit, so I peeked out of the small window on the north side of the blind and saw 2 jelly heads bobbing their way through the woods and directly toward our setup. As I was telling Cody to get settled behind the gun, they gobbled right outside of his view, and I thought his eyes were gonna pop out of his head! He stayed relatively calm and a few seconds later I told him to track the one on the left as he appeared bigger. He did just that and steam rolled him at about 16 yards. After many hugs and high fives, we went out to collect his trophy and take some pics to send to Mom and little Brother at back home. Needled to say, he's hooked, and he's been watching turkey calling videos since and I'm swinging by Scheels on the way home to grab some youth diaphragm calls.
