Took my oldest son (12 years old) out on his first hunt since he got his first hunting license this past winter. He has been going with me since he was 4 yrs old, but this time he was able to hunt with a gun. Yesterday was a real crummy day as far as weather goes. Rain and wind. Had gobblers come in, but hen and the weather had them not so cooperative. They were a little out of his gun range, so he let the tom walk. He held out for as long as he could due to the temps and we almost packed it in before these birds got across the field to us. We heard them finally coming from the other side of the rise in the field, so we decided to wait even though he was shaking so bad from being cold. Let them walk out of site before we moved enough for him to warm up and possibly get around on them. Couldn't re-locate them. Decided to pack it in due to the weather and try again today.
This morning the plan was to get closer to the roost in case the weather was crummy again. Weather was better than yesterday, but still a little windy, but not as cold. After walking to our spot, we arrived around 5am. I quietly put the decoy out and got our chairs situated. The birds were roosted behind us across a gut and on the next ridge. Approx 150 yards.
Just as it was starting to get a little light, two deer decided to enter the field and find the decoy somewhat unnerving. They then decided to blow wind more times than I liked. Fortunately they didn't spook the birds. They began to start gobbling around 5:30 and continued to gobble at a regular pace. I told my son to listen. You will hear the tone of the gobble change when they hit the ground. About 20 minutes later, the gobbles were definitely now from birds coming up through the woods.
The first bird to enter the field was a hen and out of his run range. So the thought going through my head was that if I can't pull these toms off her and to my decoy, he will not get a shot. Thankfully she wasted no time going across the field and out of site. The toms were far enough behind her they never saw her leave.
We now can hear the toms walking in the leaves and could hear the spit and drum, as they came up to the top of the hill. The next series of gobbles they let out are off to our right no more than 12 - 15 feet away. Their gobbles were felt in my chest. If they came up through the gap into the field from where they were, they would have tripped over my sons boots. Thankfully they swung back around a fallen tree and out into the field about 20 yards away. Lead tom is in full strut. Second bird is right behind the other with more pulling up the rear and others further down the field. The first tom stayed in full strut and the other was looking around with his head completely raised. I told my son to go ahead and shoot when he can. He picked the bird with his head raised and squeezed the trigger. A load of #7s Federal HWs dropped that bird in his tracks and with the exception of a few legs kicks, that bird never moved again. My son had just shot his first turkey ever. A tom with two beards! One 10 inches and the other 8 inches (two longest strands). Weighed 21.5 pounds with 7/8" spurs. He was one proud and happy boy!
