Youth Hunt Success in Bama

[harleytom]

Guys, I don't know if I'll get a bird this year, and right now that would be alright with me. My oldest grandson and I opened youth season in style this morning. Been watching a strutter and his hens past couple of weeks with plans to get on him today. Now, I can't speak for all of you but my best laid plans usually don't turn out very well, especially with turkey hunting. I took this grandson to Nebraska last spring but he froze up when 2 jakes came within 10 feet of our blind. Hoping another year would help, we spent more time at the range getting him more confident shooting the Mossberg mini 20 gauge I recently bought him. We sighted in w/ some of the new Federal TSS #9s I picked up at the NWTF convention. I felt confident that he would be able to be effective to 40 yards with this combo. I put a blind on the edge of the field the birds frequent so that we could cover at least 3/4ths of the field. Slipping into the blind before daylight I put out a decoy set w/ a feeder, lookout and breeder hen and my DSD jake about 15 yards from blind. Heard distant gobbles both from front and behind blind at first light but nothing that sounded very close. I ran a couple of short yelp and cut sequences and thought I got at least one answering gobble in return. Around 6:10 I saw a hen pop up on the far end of the field, the another and another. Finally I saw a white head pop up behind them. Now, I've had mixed experiences with jake decoys on this property so I had hesitated to put one out on this hunt. As soon as the gobbler saw the decoys he went into strut. I knew then we might be in business so I made sure the red dot sight was on and placed the gun in the field pod. When I looked back at the flock I couldn't see the gobbler, panic started to hit as I thought he might have shied away from the jake decoy. Suddenly I caught moment out of the corner of my eye, it was the tom coming fast in full strut. He was spitting and drumming as he came and as we hurried to position the gun to intercept he sped by heading right at the jake. When he got there he instantly attacked, knocking it down and pecking and flogging it. This gave us our chance to get everything set for the shot. Finally he jumped on the decoy and seemed to pose for a few seconds, I asked my grandson if he had his head in the circle and he said he did, I then told him to squeeze the trigger when he was ready. Boom, the gun went off and the tom flew backward with the impact and started flopping. After the initial shock at what had just happened we started hugging and yelling, until my grandson told me he couldn't breath(guess I got carried away). We then spent several minutes reliving the hunt, looking at his his bird and taking the requisite pictures. On autopsy the shot was a bit low hitting the bird where body and neck joined but it was probably for the best considering the range, the pattern was the size of a baseball. Bird weighed 22 & 1/2 pounds, 9 & 1/2 inch beard and 1 inch and 1 & 1/4 inch spurs. One of my proudest moments as a hunter. So forgive me if I say my season is deemed a success already.



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[MDbowman]

Not on your team, but have to congratulate your grandson and you!!  Great story and nice work.

[paintbrush]

You give your grandson a very hardy congrats from me! I know how you feel about that hunt, as I was hunting with my grandson when he got his first bird and that hunt was one of the most satisfying hunts I have ever been on. Great Bird!

[Twowithone]

Awesome story of the hunt. Thx for being a mentor.

[xarcher]

Awesome doesn't come close to describing it. Special day for sure.

[buckmark13]

That's awesome....congrats to you both!

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[Sir-diealot]

Congratulations to him, great memory the two of you have shared.

[FullChoke]

I am proud for both of you. It sounds like he was able to keep his cool with a gobbler at close range. That's something that a lot of experienced hunters have a problem with.

Congratulations to your grandson.

Cheers   

FullChoke

[3seasons]

That's awesome huge congrats to all

[Laloom83]

Congratulations on an awesome hunt!


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[harleytom]

Thanks guys for all the congrats. I am so happy he was able to have this experience. Not to give too many details, but my daughter is a single mom and while she does a great job with him, I worry knowing a boy needs positive male role models in his life. I just hope this will further spark the fire of wanting to participate in the outdoor lifestyle as I have found there is much less bad influence there than other places young men can be. I kept telling him about all the congrats from people on this board and how great an accomplishment it was to take such a nice bird at 9 years old. He has had a different vibe about him since yesterday and I hope my small part in it will help provide another positive anchor in his life. I know all of us as fathers, grandfather, uncles and family friends need to do our part to give these kids a chance to take part in the wonder of nature and this wonderful sport of hunting. I pray God will continue to give me the opportunity to be part of his life and that I can be a positive influence in some small way.

[cramerhunts]

What a great story and hunt. Huge congratulations to the young man on taking a mighty fine bird. Huge congratulations to you as well!

[3bailey3]

congrats to you both, great hunt!