This past weekend was our youth season. I hunted with my middle son that is 15 and my youngest is 8. I have been scouting several places and going out to listen for the last 2 weeks and decided on a spot that I thought would be the best . Friday evening we went out and put up a ground blind for the youngest. I cant tell you how much I dislike hunting turkeys out of a blind ,but Mason can not sit still enough and cant slip around the woods quiet enough(for me) and to make a pleasurable experience for the both of us I opted for the blind.
Saturday morning found us in the blind,and the older son Jamison would hunt down a ridge and eventually end up sitting and watching a old road where they have been strutting around 9 . They gobbled like crazy on the roost and had one work us a bit after fly down but he lost interest quick. We sat in our blind till 10 and Mason couldnt take any more and wanted to go home,so Jamison and I went to another property and ended up getting to close to one and running it out of the country.
We looked over some maps and formulated a game plan for Sunday and we were standing in a field waiting for the first gobbles and had to come up with a new plan cause they were not where we thought they would be. Jamison would go after the closest bird and hunt away from us while Mason and I would go back down the field to were we were hearing the others.
The birds Mason and I tried to get on went away from us after they flew down ,but the bird that Jamison went after was fired up ! I was expecting to hear a shot at any second. After he sent a text it turns out he got down in a holler there were 3 birds and he couldnt decide which one to go after and ended up trying to get in front of 2 others ! My heart sank because he was not on the hot bird,but that left it free game for us !
We headed off down the ridge he was on and when I called he cut me off ! We got a little closer ,I called he cut me off again ,we moved a little more,I called he cut me off but was down in the holler now.We sat down and waited a bit before calling again. After about 20 minutes he called back and sounded closer. We sat as still as an 8 year old can and I called every 20 minutes or so and eventually the woods went silent.
We got back to the truck and went to town for a quick breakfast around 10 . I told Jamison how he should have stayed with the bird that was gobbling the most and he had realized that......to late.
It got cloudy and the forecast was for rain and the birds were not talking so we opted for the "deer hunting" method. Jamison went to a road and mason and I set up the blind in a field . We sat till 1 and didnt see a bird. We did however see a group of hens with 2 toms strutting in the road as we were leaving,yes they made it out alive,
We did have a great time even though no one pulled the trigger.They both learned valuable lessons that they will remember another day. I just wish that our youth season was a week or so latter and that the tag was good for more than 2 days. They will both go during regular seasons,but I think the whole system is jacked up .
