Happy's hunt log

[Happy]

Ok. I will try and keep things somewhat up to date, but here we go. Youth day opens tomorrow, and my youngest boy asked to go. Of course, I went all out and located some gobblers and had grand plans of taking him to an area that holds a decent amount of gobblers for a serious hunt. I drove out this evening and found a gobbler, but on the drive back, I scrapped the idea of going after it.
Other than squirrels, this is his first real hunt. I ain't gonna get him up at 3:30, drive an hour one way, and then walk him a mile and a half just to be where we need to be in the morning. This is going to be a fun hunt. I know of a gobbler on public land near the house that likes to roost close to the road. It's an easy walk, and with a little luck, we will be pretty close to him come daylight. The downside is it's public. But since it's youth only, I am gonna take the chance and see what we can do. Hopefully, he gets to hear his first gobbler light up the morning from the roost. With a little luck, he will lay eyes on him, with a lot of luck he will get to pet him. Either way, fun is at the top of the list. Snacks are packed, and clothes are laid out. We will see what the morning brings.

[crow]

Ok. I will try and keep things somewhat up to date, but here we go. Youth day opens tomorrow, and my youngest boy asked to go. Of course, I went all out and located some gobblers and had grand plans of taking him to an area that holds a decent amount of gobblers for a serious hunt. I drove out this evening and found a gobbler, but on the drive back, I scrapped the idea of going after it.
Other than squirrels, this is his first real hunt. I ain't gonna get him up at 3:30, drive an hour one way, and then walk him a mile and a half just to be where we need to be in the morning. This is going to be a fun hunt. I know of a gobbler on public land near the house that likes to roost close to the road. It's an easy walk, and with a little luck, we will be pretty close to him come daylight. The downside is it's public. But since it's youth only, I am gonna take the chance and see what we can do. Hopefully, he gets to hear his first gobbler light up the morning from the roost. With a little luck, he will lay eyes on him, with a lot of luck he will get to pet him. Either way, fun is at the top of the list. Snacks are packed, and clothes are laid out. We will see what the morning brings.

[lacire]

All kidding aside that sounds great, good luck.

[Happy]

Update: Up at 4:00 made some homemade breakfast burritos. Had rain move in at 4:45. In a holding pattern at the house and letting the boys sleep some more. He said rain was a no-go.

[JeffC]

Good luck this morning, showers are scattered and moving thru our area also. Havent heard any shots around me ..yet. Hope my backyard flock is hiding somewhere.

[Happy]

Well...... we came close. My boy was a trooper. We waited until the rain subsided a bit and went after them. We found two gobblers that would answer consistently on private but not budge. With a bit of maneuvering and work, we finally got them to break, and when they broke, it was fast. It caught me in a bad position for having a rookie. When they went silent about 75 yards out, I knew we were being flanked. Was trying to get the boy swung hard right about 100 degrees when those warty heads crested the roll in the hill at about 30 yards. We needed about 10 more degrees to get the shot, and there was too much movement. They knew something was fishy and walked off putting. We didn't scare them badly, but it was over for the morning. The boy felt terrible, but I explained that the way we were hunting takes a lot of screwing up to get good at, and he wasn't the only one who screwed up today. By the time we were halfway home, he was vowing revenge, though. He doesn't want to hunt tomorrow as he has  breakfast with his friends scheduled for the morning. He has asked to be able to go again this year, so hopefully he will tag one.

[JeffC]

You were both in the game, thats a great hunt!

[crow]

Fun hunt and a great start.

There's other lessons to teach before getting back in the woods, going to have to learn to ditch most of  his friends until the season's over, cold turkey, clean break is easier.

the select few friends that are left after the first ditching he'll have to work on evasiveness in answering questions, learning to tell partial truths, half truths and sometimes zero truths, about where he's been, what was seen and how things were done.

[Happy]

Thanks guys, it was fun. Up until this fall he never really showed a desire to hunt much. It's starting to shift now, but I ain't gonna push him. It might be a good thing we buggered those gobblers a bit. Come Wednesday, there's gonna be guys stacked in there like sardines and it ain't gonna be pretty.

[Happy]

Pushing back my hunting till later in the week. Weather isn't looking favorable and I can take care of work and hunt in better conditions

[TauntoHawk]

Good luck! Thanks for the hunt log

He's going to be hooked when the first one comes strutting down the barrel

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[Happy]

Took some time and went out for a few hours this morning. Heard a few on the roost, but they were on private and had no intentions of leaving it. So I went exploring and covered some ground. It was steep country and I spent a good bit of time climbing mountains. On the bright side, I am glad I have been exercising a lot. On the not so bright side, out-of state hunters have flooded the woods. I can avoid them easy enough, though. Tomorrow, I will get a little more serious. Work Friday and try and help a buddy get one on Sat.

[JeffC]

Wouldnt want to drag a deer out of there. Why I gave up on public around here. Good luck. Is your son getting back out?

[Happy]

He says he will. I told him to say the word when he is ready. I may wind up taking him down to my buddies farm. It has a lot of gobblers. We will take inventory of it on Sat

[Happy]

Went out this morning. It was gorgeous out, and I just made it to my listening point when I heard two gobblers about 500 yards out from me. I ain't gonna give any details,tips, or tactics, but it ended badly for one of them.