To Blind or not to Blind . . . .the Update.
Well, Friday rolls around and we put the birds to bed. We watched 7 birds roost behind a row of houses in the field. The other 30 plus birds to where we thought they would go. So the decision was to go after the 7 where we knew exact location or the big group with 30 plus and quite a few toms mixed in.
So my son, my buddy, and I head after the big group. We decided no blind and my buddy decides to record the hunt. I took the advice and brought the stake out material that we bought a few years ago and hardly used. In the opening between the two woods that I call the 'money spot' we found three trees in a row. My son takes the lead spot about 5 yards ahead of me, I go middle tree, and my buddy goes back about 3 yards from me. Well, lo and behold birds are right where we thought. We heard them gobble, watched them fly down, and start strutting. Birds are to the front of us, to the right of use, and some ahead and to the left.
A group of jakes comes into the calling. A nice tom from the behind us comes walking in as we were all faced toward the bulk of the birds. Very appreciative of my buddy as he was all about my son's hunt as he passes on the Tom that he could have quite easily dropped. It was 10 yards to the right and walking into gun view. Obviously, I pass and we let it reach my son.
Well, this is where the education begins. His first time sitting on a tree 'alone' and gave him the advice of this is your hunt and you make the decisions when we set him up. He moves his gun to the right. The tom spots movement, not totally spooked, turns and starts walking off at a diagonal. If he was more experienced then he would have dropped it when it walked off or just let the tom keep walking the field edge and thus into his line of fire instead of moving the gun. But hey, this is his hunt and experience. The jakes are still hanging around. A little later, he moves his gun, they kind of spoke, we call to calm them down. They knew something was up and start to walk away. My son lays the boom on one of the jakes and drops him. They get all worried and we call them back in again.
Well, the original tom that my son 'passed' walks diagnol about 150 to 200 yards and I hear a 'pop' and see a bird flopping. Turns out another father Than and his son Parker were hunting the same group of birds. As birds were still in the field we just hung out until the kid came out of his blind with his Dad. We go over and do a meet and greet. Turns out the property owner gave him permission too and let him know we might be there. Both groups oblivious to the others presence.
Well, this is Parkers first bird. A nice tom with 11" beard, 3/4 inchish spurs and guessing 21 pounds. My son gets the Jake. Both boys are pumped. I insisted they get a picture together. We talked for a while.
I was extremely proud of my son. When I asked why he just sat there after dropping his Jake he replied "I remember you telling a story of how you could have had 3 gobblers after dropping one and the other two went to attack it so I figured I better stay still." Well, it turns out this decision allowed Parker to get his bird with the 410.
Overall, an excellent morning with a memorable start to the season for both parties. Oh yeah, just goes to show you safety first as you never know who else is in the woods/fields with you.
