Funny experience while on the hunt?

[Timmer]

My kids reminded me of a funny turkey story so I thought I'd share it, and see what your experiences have been.  A few years ago it was at the height of Covid and spring sports were canceled, so I was fortunate enough to have 2 of my older kids join me on my spring hunt.  All three of us were in a large blind.  Shortly after sun up, a red squirrel started jumping around and chirping and barking at us from the trees right around the blind.  I'm sure he could hear and/or smell us.  He did it non-stop for well over an hour when all of a sudden we hear a big WACK noise on the side of the blind, followed by the long and steady scraaaaatch noise of little toenails sliding down the side of the blind all the way to the ground.  The little bugger tried to jump onto one of the "tree limb" pictures imprinted on the blind.  We could just picture him all splayed out with 4 legs spread eagle trying to hold on while he slowly slid down.  We broke out laughing so hard I'm sure we scared away all the turkeys for a mile.  It was a priceless memory.

What all have you experienced?

[tal]

Bow hunting deer in an old stand up only climbing tree stand I had a squirrel scampering up the tree I was in use my BDU pants for a hop. I was concentrating on scanning around, didn't see him, and I about jumped off the blasted thing. His nails never touched me, just that quick hop and jump back to the trunk did it

[Tom007]

Deer hunting in my stand when a squirrel climbed up the back side of the tree, came around and was walking on my shooting rail. He was right in front of me sitting up munching on an acorn. Did not have a clue I was there. I decided to say "BOO". He jumped 18 feet to the ground, the nut flew out of his mouth. I believe he's still running! I laughed so hard, never saw a deer, but I had a great evening.......

[btomlin]

In 2004, my son was 3 yrs old.  I was "bow only" during that time.  I packed my bow, blind, snacks, drinks, etc...and basically him up into a small block of timber for an evening sit.

I would call and he would follow with some sort of "erk, erk, erk" with his mouth.  He was having a grand time.  There was no way we were seeing anything but we were having fun.  Hour or so in and I called....followed by the "erk, erk, erk" from my son...followed by the "Kert Doooooom" of the dumbest tom turkey to ever walk the face of the earth. 

I grabbed my bow and the tom was less than 20yrds and heading for the jake decoy at 7 or 8yrds.  I grabbed my son to have him look at the bird through my window.  His eyes got the size of saucers and suddenly, "HI THERE, TURKEY" come from his mouth.  Needless to say, the turkey was gone.  I still laugh about that day.

[Greg Massey]

Back years ago hunting out of Alton Mo. in the Irish Wilderness for turkeys i came upon a rock made fire pit and trees with these weird signs nailed up on them and fishing line was hanging from the tree limbs with part of headless dolls and parts of doll heads hanging from the tree limbs it was pretty spooky. WE were camped on the Eleven Point River.. WE drove back into town and stop at the small local store and as the people about what we had seen and they said to stay out of that area people were having these CULT TYPE SEANCE and was trying to make contact with the dead. This was out of Hurricane Mills if anyone is familiar with that location. Needless to say we didn't go back into that area of the woods... ON the signs nailed to the trees i can't repeat what all they said ... Years later we still laugh about it ... We also wonder later if they were trying to keep us out of those turkey woods... This was back in the days of hunting in Mo. and you could hear gobblers in every direction and you could walk a circle in trying to decide which gobbler to go after ...

[runngun]

Oh Lord have mercy!!! Several years ago me and my Son was hunting, when we heard a firetruck going up the road past our house.  He said Ugh-Oh something is burning. I told him "It's OK, just your Mama cooking!!!" We both were rolling on the ground laughing.  A few minutes later he tagged out and so did I!!! He was 5 years old!  Of course not as funny when he told Mama what I said!!! After a minute she could not help but laugh too!!!

Have a good one and May God bless
Bo

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[Tail Feathers]

Grandson #2's first turkey hunt.  He was 10.  We were in a small depression that kind of sunk into the top of a small hill.  The gobbler came from behind us and I could see it strut by, down the hill from us but Jace couldn't see it.   The bird had gobbled good and I even pointed over the hill as it strutted by.  But when it popped into view at about 25 yards right down his gun barrel, he seemed quite surprised.

In a rather loud hoarse whisper "Grandpa, a turkey!  Can I shoot it?!?!".  Of course the bird spooked and I was left wondering why he seemed surprised by it all.   

That boy is in college now.  4.0 GPA but I wouldn't have thought it possible that day.   
Oh, and now he's 6'4" so I guess he will be able to see over the edge of that hill next time.

[Cut N Run]

Even though it wasn't funny at the time, it is worth a laugh today....About 20 years ago I was set up on a bird I'd roosted the night before.  Got in there extra early & took my time, so as not to bust anything off the roost.  Come daybreak, he was less than 75 yards away and I could see his head pitch forward on every gobble from the limb.  I squeaked out a few quiet tree calls and he fired back all over top of 'em.  I'd scratch the leaves time to time to keep him interested..  I saw him fly down headed my way, so I popped the safety off in anticipation of him showing up.  Next thing I saw was a white cap on a red & blue head in front of a fan approaching fast through the broom straw.  I clucked on the mouth call to break him out of strut & get his head up.  I settled the bead under his chin and squeezed the trigger.  A loud, sickening "Click" of the firing pin striking an empty chamber was all I heard.  The turkey was inside 30 yards, but surprisingly, he didn't spook.  I waited until he turned and his head was behind his fan to dig a shell out of my pocket and load the chamber as quickly and quietly as possible.  I tried to slide the bolt closed quietly, but it just wouldn't fully close and lock.  Puzzled, I tipped the gun and saw that I'd accidentally loaded a disposable lighter with a round body into my gun.  My ammo was in my vest pocket & not in my pants pocket, where I'd found the lighter.  I couldn't get the lighter out, so the gobbler got a free pass that day.  I tagged him 3 days later in the same area, but this time I'd remembered to load the gun (with live ammo) at the truck before heading into the woods.  I don't carry round lighters anymore and they stay in a zippered pocket in my vest (away from my ammo) from that day on.

Jim

[WV Flopper]

 My son was about 7-8 years old, he had dressed up a hot dog with some chili, ketchup, mustard and ready to eat it. He picked it up off the kitchen counter, turned and dropped it on the floor, chili side down. At that point he said "S.O.B.". That was the first time the boy had ever cursed and at that time we found it to be fitting and snickered a little. For several years he did not cuss again.

We went on a youth hunt together and the weather was perfect. Went to a place I have a lot of confidence in!!! Following the law he packed his gun the whole time, its about a mile walk from the truck to my listening position. We get there about 15 minutes before first gobble.

I had to use the outdoor restroom facilities, normal. Came back and explained the normal routine of the woods waking up. It was perfect! The songbirds started tweeting, the crows started hacking, the gobbler sounded off, all on que. I was in no hurry at all, and we navigated to a great, for me, set up.

We laid flat on a berm with the gobbler roosted just down the road a hundred yards with a nice 50 yard open in between us. It was perfect! I was excited before I made the first call.  So... I get to work and the gobbler flies right down, goes up on the bank above the road a little, works his way through the 6" pines into the opening, strutting. His is up on the bank just a little, maybe 5' higher than us. As he comes across the opening I am telling my son that I will let him know when to shoot, we are shoulder to shoulder lying flat. The gobbler hits about the 35 yard line and I tell him to shoot him, nothing. I am telling him to aim where the white starts on his neck....shoot. Nothing.

The turkey struts all the way across the 50 yard opening, parallel to us. He goes past us and keeps on going. I told my son to get more comfortable and situated, that I will bring him back. The gobbler goes beyond us by 75 yards and starts gobbling, then I start working him again. Here he comes. Strutting right back the same path he went out on, right back into the opening. As soon as he hits the opening I am saying to shoot. Nothing. He now is strutting in circles, nothing.

Finally, I say aim at the white on his neck and pull the trigger. Just a second after that I hear "CLICK" the turkey stretches' his neck for a Nanosecond and runs up the hill into the 6" pines as fast as he could go. At the same time my son starts on a rant that would have made any Sailor proud! I am shocked and just stare at him. I rolled over onto my back and just laid there and laughed. The last thing I remember him saying was "Turkeys are way faster than any Olympic runner".

When we get back to camp his mother asks "How was it?" He just shrugged his shoulders and said my gun went click. I had to tell the long version, his mother found it almost as funny as I did. I am sure if she would have been present she would have laughed just as hard when it happened.

My son carried the gun the complete time as the law states in WV. When we left the truck there is a 2' ditch that cuts across the road that has running water in it. I am guessing when he jumped across that ditch with his "Benelli M2 20g" on his shoulder it opened it up out of battery when he hit the other side. The factory recoil spring was changed out later that season.

I made two mistakes on this hunt. (1). I shouldn't have loaded the gun until we were at our listen spot. (2). I am a lot bigger than he, even when laying flat. I could see the turkey the whole time he was in the opening, he could only see it when it started circling, strutting and went up the hill just a tad bringing him into my sons view.

I would have loved for him to have killed that turkey. Either way, I will not ever forget this hunt!

[Turkeybutt]

I took my son out deer hunting when he as about 6 years old. I gave him a wooden rifle which I mounted a scope on so he could check out squirrels, birds, fox, coon and maybe a deer. Anything to occupy his time and keep it interesting. I always carried a plastic tarp in my back pack just in case it rained and on this particular day it started to rain.
I took out some bungee cords and made a makeshift roof to keep us dry. I also put down a tarp so he could sit, be dry and get comfortable out of the rain
So, I'm scanning the area looking for any sign of deer which I figured I wouldn't see any what with a 6 year old fidgeting around. At times the boy was picking up his wooden rifle looking at this or that through the scope and I was just happy to have this time with him.
Suddenly I felt this tugging on my pant leg and looking down I see my son looking up at me saying "Daddy I'm hungry." I replied, " well boy I brought you some snacks" handing him some peanut butter and marshmallow fluff crackers, pretzels, chips and some jerky. He's sitting there intent on snacking when I feel this tugging on my pant leg again.
Looking down I see the boy looking up at me saying, "Daddy I'm thirsty" and I told him, "Son, I brought you some hot chocolate. " So I poured him some hot chocolate and went back to scanning the hillside.
I would look at him from time to time and smile. Once while looking at him he looked up at me with a peanut butter marshmallow fluff cracker in one hand and a cup of hot chocolate in the other and asked, Dad what's wrong"?  I looked at him with snacks spread out everywhere on the tarp and said, " Son I don't think you are deer hunting, it looks like you are on a picnic". The boy looks at me and say's, " but we are having fun aren't we dad?"
All I could do was smile and say, ' Yes, yes we are son".

[runngun]

Turkeybutt, thanks for sharing,  that was priceless!!!

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