The Missouri youth season was this past weekend and I had taken my brother out last year and we didnt have much luck. He still wanted to give it a shot this year but we were running a charity 5K on saturday morning and didnt make it back home til about 5 that night. I talked him into tryin to go roost some birds for the morning and we heard a few gobble and had a pretty good idea of where they were. Sunday mornin we got to the woods around 530 and were set up shortly after that in a small food plot not far from where we had roosted the turkeys. around 6 some coyotes down the bottom a ways sounded off waking up the whole forest around us with gobbles. I could see the excitement in his eyes as gobble after gobble came from every direction. with a group not far from us I gave a few tree yelps around 615 and they answered immediately. Once they flew down they werent as vocal and I had a difficult time working them but I knew they were coming. around 745 he was about ready to leave. his butt was sore and he was ready to get some breakfast. just as he said he wanted to go we heard thundering gobbles within a hundred yards. His eyes lit up and he wasnt quite ready to go any more. I worked them and we spent the next 30 minutes watching a group of 8 strut down the ridge into the food plot infront of us. With 3-4 birds strutting, drumming, and gobbling right infront of us I noticed him getting a little nervous. as they cleared the brush, I gave a couple clucks and the biggest one stuck his head up and my brother put the hammer down! Im not really sure who was more excited, me or him, but we were both absolutely pumped. I flimed the whole thing on a little digital video camera and hes working on making it into a little action packed video. Although it was just a jake, it was still a great hunt and a memory neither of us will ever forget. The unique thing about the bird was I was teaching him how to breast a turkey, I was having him pull some feathers off the chest to keep them off the meat and he noticed another small beard just above the main beard. as he worked his way up he found 3 more for a total of 5 beards! although that bird could have possibly been an amazing gobbler in a year or two sporting 5 long beards, Im happy I got to help my brother get his first turkey and it be so unique. He wants to do a display with the beards, feet, fan, and wings. any suggestions?
