You may recall the adventure the evening before opening day with the owls, tadpoles, and climbing brush piles. After that outing, I explained that he was not big enough to go turkey hunting with dad just yet. He has reminded me often that he wishes he could but he just isn't big enough. Fast forward to Friday afternoon... I've had a good season in 2 states, with a good chunk of season left, so the "pressure" is pretty low on trying to kill one. I had zero to do on Friday evening and I got off work a little early, so I got a wild hair to take my son Anders out to the lease. The objective was for him to hear his first turkey gobble, and to do a little scouting for the Saturday hunt... worst case we play in the mud, call some owls, etc. I figured we had about a 25% chance of hearing a shock gobble. On the way home, I run through the scenario of what happens if we actually hear one. I can't just sit there and listen, there is no pressure, I've heard enough birds on the lease that a boy-spooked bird wouldn't really matter, besides how cool would it be to hear one AND see one. So I make the decision that we need some sort of light weight blind and he needs some earmuff hearing protectors. Stop by the local sporting goods store and they only have expensive double-bulls, and I ain't lugging my vest, gun, and child with one of those. Hidden behind the dust is a Tree Stand Umbrella... BAM, not the greatest option for hiding but it's better than nothing, super light, and will fit in my vest. I get home and wake my son up from nap and tell him let's go turkey hunting. He jumped at the chance when I explained I bought him some new stuff and I felt he is big enough now. He has no gloves, no facemask, no face paint but oh well.
THE HUNT:
We drive to the lease and I decide I will just drive the dirt roads and stop at likely spots to call from the truck (we have 2 hours before fly-up). If I hear one, I will get him out of car seat and we will get into the woods. Stops 1,2,3,4,5 not a peep. He is getting antsy and wanting to for a walk so I explained we had 2 more spots and then we'd go for a walk. The next stop I get out and yelp loudly on slate, crows start hammering and I thought I heard something. I cup my ears and sure enough he shock gobbles again. I rush to get him out and suit up. We ease into the woods about 100 yards from the truck and he gobbles again and I know exactly where he is (200 yards away in a hardwood drain). We found a decent sized tree, set the camo umprella up, thermacell under that and I opted to use a decoy for the first time in idk how long. I called once and he gobbles and my mind/heart start to race... I mean c'mon, nobody takes a 3 year old, in these conditions, this situation and it actually works out.
BACK STORY on Anders:
I began taking him deer hunting at the ripe age of 2. We never shot anything but saw a few deer and it was a great way to kill an hour in the evening, as long as I brought plenty of snacks. At age 3, I took him much more, due to baby #2 being born and I felt like it was a good way to help mom out
. I slowly taught him the basics of hunting: attempt to be still, be quiet, be alert, track ID, acorns and other important guy stuff. Obviously, every father is going to brag on their kids, but he is wise beyond his years and is good at pretty much all of the above. He's full of personality but when it's hunting time, he goes into hunt mode. We ended up killing 3 deer together this year. Long story short, I have a lot of friends with kids age 2-8 and there is no way in you-know-what that I'd ever attempt a turkey hunt... I'd take Anders 100 times over all of them so I honestly thought we had an outside chance at making this happen.
THE HUNT CONT'D:
I told Anders to put his hands in his overalls, be still, only whisper, and put his ear muffs on. He was outstanding at all of that, except moving his head around observing nature. I didn't have time for a "be still, means everything including your head" talk, so I just let him do it. In the rush of the moment, I'd almost forgotten the main objective (other than fun and QT) and that was to hear the gobble. I'm normally a call less and make him come searching kinda guy, so I did something out of character when I realized he was making his way towards us. I asked him if he wanted to hear him gobble, he whispered yes, so I took off the muffs and made an excited cut/yelp on the diaphragm and he hammered at 75 yards. I said "Buddy, he is coming, put the muffs back on". Then I hear foot steps in the leaves and drumming, directly to our left which is directly over Anders head. The umbrella blind is now useless b/c he didn't follow the script and is going to circle behind us. I see him through the brush and I've got to swing the gun over Anders. I told him he was coming and he knows enough to know that the where the gun barrel points, to be on the lookout. This situation is way less than ideal solo but it was do or die. As I'm swinging the gun around, he whispers "Daddy I see him", in the perfect turkey hunter's tiny whisper (he's 30-35 yards). I'm pretty sure I smiled as I got the dot on him. The turkey saw me and/or that little white face and goes on alert and begins to walk away. Brush is in the way bad and I've got 1 spot that I might be able to squeeze the TSS through and I let him have it on the walk. The turkey went out of sight and I thought I missed b/c there was no flopping. Anders said "Daddy, let's go find him!" I told him I thought I missed but let's go look. I got up and took a step and saw him laying stone dead right where I shot. At that moment, every turkey in a 3-state radius could have heard the screams and hollering of celebration! Anders was PUMPED. I normally don't get to the point of tears in my emotions but the walk up to the bird was testing me.
THE BIRD:
We get up to him and I'm soaking it all in, watching Anders inspect and comment on the bird. I look down at his feet and OMG, was I surprised! This bird was a monster which led to more hollering and jumping, and I think we did some sort of a turkey dance. I explain to him the significance of what we just accomplished, we laughed, high fived, hugged and carried him back out.
WE had just killed the biggest turkey of my life! No doubt, I think we had a little help from the Man upstairs on this day. We took some pics in the field, loaded him up, and went to show Pop, Momma, and anyone else we could find before it got too dark. The bird tipped the scaled at 21 lbs 10oz, 10.5 beard, 1 3/8 and 1 5/16 spurs. I could ramble on and on about the experience but I'm sure most of ya'll can relate. My season was made and I'm not sure how to top this one! I've never full body mounted a turkey but this one will be on display in his room, right next to the big buck we killed in December. This child is starting to rack up a big taxidermy bill and he hasn't even shot a gun yet.
Thanks for reading. Celebratory pics to follow.
