I got my dad his first bird ever today. But we did have to work for him!
So we walked too the blind today and as we are setting up decoys dad went to go get settled into the blind. Well just as he sits down a gobbler flushes from his roost which was the exact tree dad was sitting under and flew across the river! Needless to say I felt like our season was over for sure. Well I really didn't have any other good morning spots we could sneak into so I decided to just stick it out and not move to another place. Well we heard a ton of birds gobble this morning but none were "callable".
Well all of a sudden the tom that we kicked off the roost let out a gobble and by this time I was willing to try anything so I let out a couple yelps and he immediately hammered back. After about 10 minutes I could tell we had worked him to the edge of the river. My buddy and I finally decided to get really aggressive with the calling. My buddy started off with a fighting purr and the bird just would not stop gobbling. I just happened to look behind me to see if I could see him when all of a sudden I see him fly across the river. I quick tell dad too get ready but he didn't believe me till he let out a gobble on our side of the river.
He strutted right into the full strut and breeding hen setup and dad dropped him at 15 yards! We were pumped!
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss336/Whitetailman/2012-04-21_06-17-38_159.jpg)
Well after taking pictures and just kind of celebrating I decided to go glass a field that I could see from the top of a hill well I looked out across the landowners home farm and saw 4 toms strutting out in a corn field that we had permission to hunt.
So we got to the edge of the field that were on and I could just see 2 toms as they strutted over the top of another hill about 80 yards away. Well I decided to let my buddy call alone since I wasn't really in a safe spot to call from because they would pick me out instantly.
My buddy started off with soft yelps and got no response but when he went loud h they went nuts and started coming in on a string. All of a sudden 5 hens came running across the road to our calling and the toms saw that and came following the field edge toward us which wasn't good because I could only see out into the field and not on the edges due to the thick grass and scrub brush. Well one hen got within 5 yards of me and then started to drift back towards the toms until my buddy let out some soft purrs and that got the toms fired up big time! The hens started coming back towards us and along came the toms. I picked out the lead bird but since he was strutting at a weird angle I couldn't get a shot off. Every time my buddy would cluck to get him to stick his head out they would gobble and go right back to strutting. Finally he left his head out just long enough to get a shot off at 20 yards and I dropped him.
I couldn't be any happier with the way the day turned out. Dad and I both tagged out here in WI and my dad and one of my best friends were with me to enjoy it. I don't know if it's really considered a double but we sure are happy with the results!
(http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss336/Whitetailman/2012-04-21_07-56-45_678.jpg)
Dads bird had 3/4 inch spurs with a 9 1/2 in beard
My bird had 1 inch spurs and a 10 1/12 inch beard
Thanks for reading,
Tyler
Great job, nothing like quality time with Dad, congratulations!!!!
enjoy every minute you have with Dad.
Very nice going,congrats !
:funnyturkey: :z-winnersmiley:
Congrats to you both.
Congratulations to both of you! That was a really cool story. I was kind of surprised when I clicked on the post, because I was expecting it to be a story about someone of middle-age taking their elderly dad turkey hunting for the first time. :)
Congrats!!
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Thanks for the replys guys! We appreciatte it and hope all of you have succes during the rest of your seasons!
Congrats to you both :icon_thumright:
congrats to all
Congrats!
Congrats..