Story about the youth turkey hunt..... Sorry for the delay, LONG READ, and poor video quality. It is video from a phone off of the screen of the video camera.
So, Youth Season has come and gone but I learned some valuable things about hunting with a six-year-old. Saturday morning rolled around and I found myself in the blind with my good buddy Brady and my son Easton. We only had a short time to hunt opening morning due to my son having baseball game at 9. We had until about 7:45 but I was confident that the bird I had scouted would fly down into the small field and hopefully give us an opportunity. I had found a nice long beard the previous two weekends and knew the area he was using first thing in the morning.
We got in there an hour before first light and had the blind setup and everything ready to go. It was a chilly 44 degrees. My son was bundled up laying down on the floor of the blind trying to stay warm. As the sun began to come up the woods came to life. Birds started chirping, crows started calling, and the owls hooting. It wasn't long after that and the turkeys woke up. First two hens letting off a couple of clucks and then the sound we hoped we would here. The gobbler we were after hammered down a mere 80 yards away from us.
It wasn't long before the first turkey flew into the field. It was him. The big gobbler we were after. He landed 60 yards away from us. The only problem was he couldn't see our decoys from where we had positioned them in the dark that morning. We sat there and watched him strut in the field. 8 more jakes and 3 hens proceeded to fly down near him. He had his whole crew in the field with him now and had no need to separate from them. Every once in a while he would gobble at our calls but showed no other interest. We sat there and watched as it got later and later and knew our time was running out.
7:45 came and we knew it was time to go. The birds still in the field in the same spot they were in. Our only option was to sneak out the back of the blind and try to slip out without being detected. The birds were still there so we were going to have to leave the blind and the decoys out in the field and come back for them later. After we got back to the truck and left we drove past the field and they were still there. We didnt spook them.
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances we didn't make it back out for the afternoon hunt....... Brady said he would go back out and make sure my blind and decoys were still there. As he got to the field there was no sign of the blind. He could still see the decoys in the field though along with the turkeys from the morning. Go figure. Strange why would someone steal the blind and not the decoys. He slipped to the edge of the field to where the blind was. No sign of it. He walked a little further and there is was 20 yards away from where it was that morning half collapsed in the palmettos. The wind must have blown it over. He moved the blind and set it up where the birds were that morning and put the decoys in there for us for the following morning.
Sunday morning rolls around and my buddy Ryan and his son Bradon come with is this time. They are the same ones Easton and I hunted with last year when Bradon shot his 2nd turkey of youth season.
We get all set up in the blind and the decoys out. It is 42 degrees and cold. I brought a fuzzy blanket for the kids to lay down on and sleep seeing we had a little over an hour until first light. The 2 boys lay parallel with the front of the blind and are passed out within minutes of closing their eyes. 2 days of getting up at 3:15 has taken its toll on Easton and he is out like a light. Ryan and I sit back and BS about the day before and past turkey hunts.
As the woods start to wake up and the light starts to peek out the first sign of the day begin. Birds chirping, crows and hawks calling, but unlike the previous morning the sounds of turkeys are non existant. Ryan says we should wake the kids up and get them ready but as I look down the 2 boys look so peaceful sound asleep. I suggest we just let them sleep a little longer seeing it appears there is an absence of turkeys.
As it gets lighter we can see some hens roosted in the tall pines a couple hundred yards away. We hear a few hens yelp in the distance but still no gobbles. Sunrise comes and the sun begins to rise above the horizon. No signs of the gobbler or then hens we saw in the distance earlier.
Easton finally shows some sign of life as he tosses and turns, he sits up groggy eyed and says he has to pee. I tell him to go to the back of the blind and pee out the back of it. I figure while he is up I might as well do the same. He finishes and goes to lay back down and that's when it happens. I look up and there he is, the big gobbler. He is 40 yards away as he rounds a myrtle bush. My heart begins to race like it never has before. It is about to happen......
This is the beginning of what we call "90 seconds of chaos." I grab Easton and tell him to get up. I grab the gun, I grab Braden and tell him to get up. He doesn't move. I shake him more and nothing. He is for all basic purposes in a coma. Lol. The gobbler sees the decoys and is coming in looking for a fight. At this point I can't find the shooting stick nor do I have the tripod set up with the rest for Easton to shoot off of. I try and have him rest the gun on the edge of the blind but it is too low for him. I put my hand on one of the supports to use as a rest a little higher. At this point the gobbler has kicked the dsd jake over and is on top of the decoy breeding it. I am on my knees, Braden still in his coma, my knees on either side of him and me basically sitting on top of him. I try to get Easton comfortable to shoot but he still can't get situated. The gobbler is now sitting still on top of the decoy and I tell him to put the red dot on his head and shoot. Easton is still all leaned over and cant get positioned right. He says I can't shoot dad. With all the commotion the gobbler knows something isn't right and hops of the decoy. I am frantically trying to get Easton on the bird as he starts to walk away. I tell him again, put the red dot on him and shoot. He tells me I can't get on him and I watch him walk away.
I sat back in the chair, put my hands on my head and my heart sank. I have never felt a level of disappointment in my hunting career like that, ever. If only I had his tripod up and ready. If only I had moved my hand up higher on the support. I can't help but think, what if?
We hung out for a little bit to collect our thoughts and then decided to pack up shop and ride around to see if we could find another strutter else where. We rode around to some other fields and stopped and called at some other hot spots but turned up nothing. We checked out and headed home for a little while. I had some carpet to pull out as we are getting our floors redone and it needed to be out by today. Ryan came and helped so we could get back out there to try our luck for the afternoon.
3 hours later and we were headed back to the WMA. We check in and head back to the field to set up shop. As we pull up on the field guess who is there? Yup, the same long beard from that morning but with all the jakes and the hens from the day before. Go figure. We snuck in to the edge of the field and tried calling to him with no luck. Finally they moved on and we went in and set the blind up but they never came back.
Easton's first youth turkey hunt came and went without firing a shot. I learned a lot about hunting with a 6 year old. Unfortunately, with only a 2 day hunt on public ground, that requires a permit, that might be his last shot for the year. Maybe we will get lucky and score another permit or get an invite from a friend on some private land. Either way we had a blast and he is already asking when we can go again.
VIDEO0137~2 by
Eric Orlando, on Flickr
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