I cannot complain about this season... Tagged out last weekend.
I started off the season by taking my youngest daughter on opening day... We had a lot of action, and after several mishaps (including her screaming "BOO!" to a bug on her leg while working a very close bird, and trying to stand up and feed pretzels to birds, I managed to harvest a bird with her...
No blind (due to a quick set-up and birds coming in on us fast), her trying to stand up (to feed them) when she saw the birds, me holding her down with one hand, holding the gun up with the other, and cutting at the birds that could not decide if they should run or mate... I was honestly dumbfounded that I was presented a good opportunity with all that was going on...
My oldest Kierra is much more patient... She has been out over the last 2 years several times, and heard birds, but has never seen a turkey while hunting...
We had a couple close calls with some "unfortunate" movement at the wrong times... But we still ended up harvesting a bird with several adventures along the way. We had over a mile walk uphill out of the canyon, and I was happy that the only complaining came from me...
On my own, I was able to target the bird that I had tried with both kids... I came close with both children, and had to get a bit creative to harvest him... He was in a large group of birds with other toms, jakes, and a multitude of hens... I had to reposition (crawling on my belly), use some purring, mixed in with some gobbling, and got the boys just interested, and angry enough for a decent shot.
Saidee tentatively checks out the flopper with curiosity:
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/855/27744374518_8d9187e1b4_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/JgFaWN)t-4 (https://flic.kr/p/JgFaWN) by Marc Sorsky (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156737132@N07/), on Flickr
Saidee shows off her the bird with her natural smile, and a gun (stick) she found in the woods:
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/832/26745255447_427d96cd91_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/GKoqDV)t-2 (https://flic.kr/p/GKoqDV) by Marc Sorsky (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156737132@N07/), on Flickr
Kierra offers to carry the bird out for me:
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/813/27744371098_8b71bb2c62_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/JgF9VQ)Kierra-tureky-2018-5 (https://flic.kr/p/JgF9VQ) by Marc Sorsky (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156737132@N07/), on Flickr
Kerria shows off our bird:
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/924/40902592264_a82759e475_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/25jqtE1)Kierra-turkey-2018-2 (https://flic.kr/p/25jqtE1) by Marc Sorsky (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156737132@N07/), on Flickr
Finally got him:
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/832/41573225192_48645a1707_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/26kFDsG)4-21-18-turkey-1 (https://flic.kr/p/26kFDsG) by Marc Sorsky (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156737132@N07/), on Flickr
I used one of Lonnie Gilbert's scratchers for most of the hen calling, and a mouth call to get the birds head up for the shot:
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/916/26745252297_d574034fe1_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/GKopHB)4-21-18-turkey-2 (https://flic.kr/p/GKopHB) by Marc Sorsky (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156737132@N07/), on Flickr
Awesome. Congrats. Great memories made with your girls. Priceless
Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk
Those kind of hunts bring back memories. You'll look back at those pictures in a few years with your girls and wonder how they became young ladies so fast. I swear my son went from a boy to a young man that quick when I look back at mine. The not so perfect hunts bring back the most memories and laughs for me. Congrats on a Great season with your daughters and getting it done under at times not so perfect circumstances.. :icon_thumright:
Awesome memories brother, Congrats to you all :you_rock:
Nice pictures and glad you had a good season. Time with our children is priceless.
congrats on your season
Thank you all for the kind replies...
With both of the kids, the subordinate jakes came back and gave the dead birds a beating... Both kids thought it was extremely interesting and entertaining to watch the jakes attack the flopping dead birds... Unfortunately, both of their birds were beat up pretty bad for the photos...
The bird with my oldest daughter actually had the breast torn open, and the other jakes really went after him... Kierra took my camera to get a picture (unfortunately the pictures did not come out), and they surprisingly were not afraid of her at all as she approached them, and started gobbling at her... (At which point I stood up and sent them packing).
Hunting with the kids is an entirely different experience with entirely different expectations and goals. There is a completely different sense of satisfaction (and relief) with harvesting a bird with the children in tow.
The kids remind us of why we enjoy it... The fascination of seeing a frog, or the thrill of seeing an eagle... The pure joy of finding the "biggest" pine cone... The excitement of riding the quad or sitting on my lap and driving the truck down a dirt road... And hopefully all of this over-rides the astounding boredom of holding still and sitting quietly to harvest a bird...
Great stories and photographs. I never had the good fortune to have kids of my own but have been able to take a few of my friends kids hunting and it has been a blast though at times annoying for the reasons you mentioned above.
Awesome job on getting your little girl hooked on turkey hunting . It won't be too long and she will be the shooter!!!!
Well done