My turn to brag

[deltaV]

I know I'm kind of a new guy around here but over the last 2 weeks I have read / learned a lot about 20ga and about taking my son out for his first hunt.

Wisconsin DNR recently enacted a new policy that allows kids as young as 10 years old to hunt under direct control / supervision of a licensed adult.  I know you guys down south get to take your kids out very young, but you wouldn't believe how many people disagree with our new law.  

Anyway here's the story....   We arrived to our hunting area (3 hours from home), at about 8 PM on Friday, hoping to put some birds to bed.  The woods were DEAD quiet.  So we went to the motel where we stay and talked to the owner who is also a turkey hunter.  He told us the birds were still really henned up.  This didn't help my already rising level of stress.  I got real worried that we wouldn't be able to pull even a jake away from real hens to get them close enough for my son to get a shot with his 20ga.

We went to bed that night at around 10 PM, and I stayed awake (the whole night) playing through every scenario in my head.  I was especially worried that my son would jerk a shot because of his bad experience with his first 3" mag load. And because of the fact that he insisted he wanted to use 3" mag for his turkey hunt.

I woke the boy up at 4:15 and fed him before we headed out to the woods.  We arrived at 5:00 and I helped my son get his vest on and we began walking to our spot.  It is about 1/4 mile walk down a forest road which separates a dense hardwoods and a deep valley.   Where I was sure the birds roost.  My son was pretty quiet, but as you know at 5 AM every broken twig sounds like a firecracker.

When we got to our spot, where I got my bird last season (yes we only get 1 here), I set up two hen decoys.  A bobbing head feeder and an inflatable sceerey decoy (sentry hen), which I love!

We then got settled under a pine tree.  I had my son sit between my legs so I could call any shot that might come our way.  I then took some measurements with my range finder.... yes I was still worried about the 20GA, since I have always used a 12 GA.

When the sun came up, there was a ton of noise from other birds but not even a single gobble.  I did some soft yelps and a flydown cackle and still nothing.  At about 6:10 AM, I heard the first gobble way way off in the distance from private land.  I marked the direction and let out a loud assembly yelp.

Every 5-10 min I clucked and purred a little bit and I could hear the gobbling, from our right, getting a little closer.  Because it was from our right, I had my son turn his body to the right and lean up against my knee.  I also showed him how to rest his gun on his knee so he wouldn't make a lot of movement if the bird does in fact come to us.

At about 6:35, there was a loud gobble about 30 yds away.... that scared the ever loving crap out of me and I almost screamed like a little school girl.  

I asked my son if he could see the bird and he still couldn't, because it was in some real thick stuff.  A couple minutes later he told me he could see it and he did identify that it was a tom.  I told him that I couldn't see the bird because it was still way off to my right and told him to wait until the bird came out to the trail, 17 yds.  I also told him to slowly start to point his gun at his target.

After a couple minutes and some more thunderous gobbling, the bird came out on to the trail in full strut.  It was still slightly off to my son's right, but he could see it between a couple trees.  I told him I still couldn't see it but that if he had a clear shot he could take it.  To my surprise he whispered that the shot wasn't open enough yet so he was going to wait.  A couple minutes later, my son whispered that he had a clear shot.... then BOOM!    the old bird never took another step!

Here's a couple pix....  Thanks again for all the help around here!

[deltaV]

Here we go...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17555816/Evan%202/IMG_0002.JPG

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17555816/Evan%202/IMG_0014.jpg

[CB on the run]

   Nice job!

CB

[gophert]

That smile says it all!!!! Congrats to you both.

Sent from my HTC Evo via tapatalk.

[Hardtime_NC]

Man that is awesome!  Congrats to both of you.

[Mainer]

Outstanding!!!  Great bird, congrats go out to your son.

[njdevilsb]

Awesome stuff.  Looks like a happy young man.   

[mr meat]

very nice congrats!and chock up another for the 20g

[jayjay]

Good job, congrats to both of you.

[dawei]

Congratulations to your son! What gun and load did he use?

[surehuntsalot]

congrats to the young man

[deltaV]

Congratulations to your son! What gun and load did he use?

Thanks everybody!   We had a great hunt and I couldn't be more proud of my little man!


As far as my son's gun, he used a Mossberg 500 Super Bantam with an undertaker choke and Federal 3" Mag copper plated #5 shot.  It was more effective than I would have expected.

[lmbhngr]

 

[dawei]

Thanks everybody!   We had a great hunt and I couldn't be more proud of my little man!


As far as my son's gun, he used a Mossberg 500 Super Bantam with an undertaker choke and Federal 3" Mag copper plated #5 shot.  It was more effective than I would have expected.

#4 & 5Pb in 20ga guns ROCK!

[hookedspur]

 

That smile says it all!!!! Congrats to you both.

Sent from my HTC Evo via tapatalk.