My 7yo nephew scored on his first bird.........

[Reloader]

My nephew, Chandler, has been anxiously awaiting this year's youth turkey hunt.  I told him last year at age 6 that if he could prove himself on the range, I would take him turkey hunting when he turned 7.  He sure didn't let me forget about it either.  

The only problem was that he is so small, I was afraid recoil from even a 410 may make him a little jumpy when shooting.  I ran some recoil calculations and found that a 7/8oz 12ga load at 1100 fps in a 7.5lb gun produced less recoil than a 410 with 3" 11/16oz loads.  I had a few ideas on loads, so hit the loading bench and loaded a batch for testing. The loads turned out really well averaging 1120fps and printing an average of 113 hits in the 10" ring with Magnum Grade lead #6s at 30yds.  I decided to drop down to nickel plated #7s, which brought the hit counts up to the 150s and provided a nice even pattern with a bit of wiggle room.  The recoil of these loads was ridiculously low and they didn't even make the 1187 action cycle, which was exactly what I needed.  

I knew from past experience guiding kids that the best sight system to go with would be a red dot type of sight, so my 1187 with Burris FF2 fit the bill perfectly.  Next, we had to come up with a way to support the gun and I knew that Stoney Point shooting sticks would work quite well.

It turned out that the little guy was deadly on the range:



Then, it was up to Uncle Ronny to get my little buddy on his first turkey.  I knew it would be a challenge getting the little guy on a tom, but even more of a challenge to get a tom to do exactly what I needed him to do( stand right next to a decoy where I have little man aimed).  

Friday evening he was raring to go as soon as he got home from school.  I picked him up and we headed for the camp to do some scouting before dark.  When we got to the camp we drove around to a few of my favorite spots looking for tracks.  Chandler had not seen turkey tracks, so he was eating it up.  We had to jump out of the truck and look at every set of tracks we came across.  He learned the difference between "boy" turkey tracks and "girl" turkey tracks.  To make things even more interesting, we went to one of my favorite places to glass and as luck would have it there was a monster tom about 350yds out strutting around a hen. I handed him the binos and he just ate it up.  After all that excitement we headed to the camp and got all of our gear ready for the next morning.  Of course, we had to go to bed with the HS Shell Shocked turkey dvd playing.  I tossed and turned all night, just kept going over strategies in my mind on the next day's hunt.

Little man was fired up and ready to go Saturday morning before light.  We went to our first spot and didn't hear a peep, so we made a move and still heard nothing.  I knew the big guy we'd seen the evening before was wrapped up with ladies, so didn't expect much from him.  After no luck for the first hour of the morning, we headed for another spot where I'd found some sign in previous weeks.  Right off the bat I faintly heard a hen in the distance, so we eased down an old dim road in her direction.  I set up the decoy, backed off  25yds, and set little man up on the sticks.  I threw out some sweet talk and the hen fired right back.  She repeated everything I threw out, closing the distance all the time.  I told little man to get ready as she may have a "boy" turkey in tow.  She came in all by herself, but definitely put on a show.  Little man was eating it up, he turned to me and whispered "This is SO much fun!"  The old girl finally lost interest and went about her way, but it was a great experience none the less.  We packed up our gear and headed back towards the truck.   When we got to the truck I told little man I was going to cut and see if we could get a response in the creek bottom below where we'd parked.  I let out a cut and BAM! A gobbler sounded off about 300yds down the creek.  I told little man "Let's go, he's close!" We took off down an old road hoping to make it to the ridge overlooking the creek bottom, but the tom sounded off again and he was far too close for us to make it to the ridge.  I put little man next to a tree on the edge of the old road and set his sticks up for a shot straight down the road as I figured the tom would hit the road and walk our direction.  No such luck, I threw out some soft yelps on a diaphragm and he hammered straight off to our right and real close.  He was in a terrible spot and far to close for me to move the little guy, so I told him to stay still and not move a muscle.  That big guy came in about 25yds out straight off to our right, he was in full strut and shaking the woods with gobbles.  I just kept silent and finally the tom turned and dropped back off into the bottom.  I turned my head and threw out a few soft yelps and he hammered back.  This time it was going to be perfect, I could hear him walking towards the road right where I had little man aimed.  He appeared in the road, but he was 40yds out, just out of range. This rascal was a monster, I mean a swinger, but I kept that to myself as to not get my little hunter any more nervous than he already was.  I threw out a few yelps and purred a bit on an aluminum pot, but the big guy wouldn't come up the road, he simply walked across.  Now, this big rascal starts up the hill straight for us and again I'm thinking "oh no, I've got little man aimed down the road." I told little man not to move a muscle and just knew he was about to be in our laps and spook.  As luck would have it, that big rascal turned around and walked back down the hill. I turned to the right and threw out a few more yelps and he hammered right back with a thunderous gobble.  I could hear him walking back towards the road and knew it was about to be on again.  That big rascal walked out in the road and again he was just out of range.  My nerves are about shot at this point, I could have killed this big rascal 3 or 4 different times, but I've got to have him in a certain spot and I had no decoy to get him there.  I hit him again with some sweet talk and that crazy rascal insisted to go back across the road to our right and not stay in the road.  Did I mention my nerves were about shot?  I shut up again and told little man to not move a muscle(not an easy task for a 7yo! He'd already made a few head moves this way and that way, but thank goodness we hadn't been busted yet). The tom finally lost interest and headed back down the hill, so I hit him again and he came right back to the road. AGAIN in the same spot 40yds out and I just flat couldn't get him to climb the hill on that road.  I knew we had to do something different, there was just some reason in his little pea brain that caused him not to climb the hill on that road.  I decided to just shut up and let him leave.  The whole experience alone had been amazing to this point, both Chandler and myself had been swamped with adrenalin.  A little while after I went silent, the tom fired off again and he was far enough away in the timber for us to make a move unnoticed.  I grabbed our gear and we headed down the road into the bottom with wild hopes that I could call this big rascal back in.  I headed down into the flat and stuck a hen decoy out in the old road.  I picked a big oak about 25yds from the decoy and set Chandler up on the sticks aimed at the decoy.  I asked him if he could put the dot on the decoy, "Yes Sir, I can see it really good."  I threw out some loud cuts and that big rascal hammered off a gobble.  I threw out some sweet talk and he didn't answer, so I waited a bit and cut down on him again, BAM! He shook the woods and had definitely closed the distance.  I start hearing foot steps in the leaves above and behind us!!!!  That crazy rascal had climbed the ridge towards where we had just come from, but hadn't quite gotten even with us yet, he was still on the other side of that old road.  I turned my head, threw out some soft talk, and BAM! He shook the woods again right on top of us.  That was all it took as he was coming back off the ridge and I knew he would spot the decoy at some point.  We had a bit of a problem, little man is on the sticks pointed at the decoy and I knew the tom was going to walk right past us on his way down the hill.  I'm thinking there is no way possible Chandler is not going to turn his head and look when this big guy walks right past us.  With quick thinking I told Chandler: "Shut your eyes, don't move a muscle, and don't open your eyes until I tell you to."  He did as I said and that big rascal walked by about 15-20yds out, stopping to look right at us, but by a miracle he didn't spook.  About the time he got even with us and stopped to look us over, he spotted Peggy Sue, ripped off a thunderous gobble, and blew into full strut.  My nerves are well beyond shot at this point, but little man was hanging in there like a champ, still with his eyes closed.  A soon as he puffed up and put his attention on the decoy, I told little man to open his eyes and get ready for the shot.  He got to see him strutting towards the decoy and as soon as he broke strut I told him: "Put your finger on the trigger and as soon as that dot gets on that red head, squeeze off." I didn't get the words out of my mouth good and BANG! The gun roared and that big tom toppled over.  It gets even better , Chandler was so shook that the whole "put the dot on his red head" didn't quite work out.  He'd shot him right above the breast in the body and the tom was flopping around like crazy.  That big rascal got to his feet and made a few steps before flopping over again. I'd already jumped up and started making tracks by this point and as I'm headed down this gravely hill, my big belly got a bit ahead of my feet and I did a Pete Rose down the hill spilling calls out of my vest.  I scrambled to my feet and ran on to the tom grabbing him by the head and bellowing out a YEE HAWWW! For all the world to hear.  

He turned out to be a toad, 11-1/8" beard and 1" spurs.  He had a nice size body as well, but sadly I'd forgotten my scale, so no weight to record.

I not only forgot my scale, I managed to forget my digital camera as well.  I took plenty of pics with my cell and several turned out just fine:







I told Chandler that there's a bunch of turkey hunters that haven't gotten a bird with a rope that long and he was extremely lucky to get one at 7 years old, not to mention his first turkey hunt ever!

We headed down to visit with the guides and hunters at one of the local NWTF chapter youth hunts after our success.  After visiting with everyone and getting a belly full of grub, we headed back to the camp to do a little fishing and finished up with a 4 wheeler ride.  Little man was tuckered out after all the excitement:


It was an amazing experience, one I'll never forget.  

Ya'll have a good one,

loder

[J-Shaped]

Fantastic story. You made that boy some memories he'll never forget and hopefully hooked him on this great sport forever. Congrats to you both!

[VA_Birdhunter]

Congratulations!!  Nothing like it....I look forward to taking my little boys in the near future!!! Hopefully many more to come for this young man!!

God Bless

[JVA54]

    CONGRATS!!

[cannonball]

Congrats to the young man on his first gobbler!

[Reloader]

Thanks Guys! 

For those of you wondering how the lead 7s did, he hit the tom broad side, shattered the wing, riddled the internal organs, and the few shot that made it in the breast went to the far side.

[hookedspur]

Chandler I think maybe you are my new HERO ,Brother that bird is bigger than you are !! I guess all I can say is ,,,,,,,,WAY TO GO DUDE !!!

[drenalinld]

Awesome! You had my adrenaline going with that story!

[njdevilsb]

Awesome story.  I felt like I was right there with you guys while reading it.  Congrats to you both on an awesome hunt.

Let him know I'm jealous.  I've been hunting turkey for going on 13 years, and I still don't have a rope that long.

[BOFF]

Great Job!!!

For the both of you!!

Congrats on some great memories and one heck of a bird!! 


God Bless,
David B.

[REBELYELL]

Congrats to you both Ronnny. Man that is plain awesome. He's hooked for life now.

[handcannon]

Congratulations to you and your nephew!

[RutnNStrutn]

Fantastic story!!!!
That gobbler is bigger than Chandler!!

[AndyH]

Good job!

[chatterbox]

Jeez Ronny, I felt like I was right there with you! My heart was a thumpin' in my chest!
That is flat out awsome! Congrats to Chandler on holding it together. Not so sure I coulda done the same!
That is a hog of a tom! Congrats to both of you, and thanks for sharing your hunt with us!