Scott Hesterly
04-14-2009, 12:14 PM
Lets say youth turkey season was an educating experience. I was suppose to head up with Jay, but at the last minute I backed out.
I took our Daughter on Saturday morning, and man did we have a spot. We had 8 or 9 birds gobbling before light and one was in our hip pocket. Me, Mindy and Gavynn were in the blind. Just at light Mindy thought she saw turkeys in the field, but it was way early for turkeys, then one flew across the field.
Upon further inspection, it was not turkeys but other hunters. So out of the blind I go, walk 100 yards down the field, the whole way busting turkeys off the roost. There sit a guy and a kid, I hated to do it but they had to leave, they were tres passing. On the way back I spotted 3 more turkeys on the roost.
Lets just say after those turkeys saw me in the field, they went elsewhere after flying down.
Two hours after daylight a Tom entered the field, but I could not get it to come in. Now guys let me tell you its kind of embarrassing to have your wife call back a turkey after you scared it trying to purr with a mouth call. But it came no closer that 60 yards, so no shot.
That afternoon I took two boys out that are friends of ours kids. We never even saw a turkey. Mindy and Gavynn went back out to the blind. Gavynn called two toms into the field with a wing bone call, but Mindy had out the Pretty Boy and a hen decoy. They saw the tom decoy and wanted no part of it. I guess they strutted around for 45 minutes or so and really put on a show. Side note on tom decoys, I have had them scare more birds then they have attracted.
Sunday Morning found me and Gavynn at a different farm in a blind. Poor turkey hunting weather, really windy and cloudy. About an hour after daylight I called in a Jake and an hen. I was so exicted. 15 yards I thought it would be a slam dunk. I took Jays advice on how to hunt with Gavynn and we had practiced shooting the week before. I had the gun on a tripod, Gavynn on my lap. Gavynn has one hand on the gun and the other is coming up underneath to pull the trigger, while the gun is resting on my shoulder.
Its perfect, the hen and jake are standing together, the jake has its head up, the hen is down. I tell Gavynn to shoot, there is a short delay, the jake drops his head, I tell Gavynn to wait, and the next thing I know the gun goes bang. We missed, but we had fun. Gavynn set a record that morning, it was 10:30 when we got out of the blind.
Around noon I call Jeffery, he is one of the boys I took hunting the day before. Jeffery has been hunting with me for a couple of years. His mom works at the post office and in 2007 she said her son had a bow and wanted to hunt. Neither of his parents hunt so I took him. In 2008 he missed 5 times with his bow and killed his first two deer with a rifle. A spike during gun season, and a doe during late doe season.
I was really hoping Jeffery did not want to go, the temp had dropped to the upper 30's and the wind was blowing mach 1. When I called Jeffery, he had spent the night at his friend Garretts house. Garretts dad had taken them that morning and Garrett had shot a jake, so Jeffery really wanted to hunt.
I picked Jeffery and Garrett up and went to the farm we took Gavynn to on Saturday. When I say farm, I am really being generous. Its 15 acres, thats basically two fields, but there are alot of turkeys. I set out a hen decoy and start calling. After a few minutes, I start wailing on the calls, both a mouth and slate call. Soon a hen calls back, I keep calling and she enters the field. So I pick up the video camera and start filming her. Next thing I know Jeffery is having a coronary and mumbling something about a big tom behind her. I mention something about him smoking crack, but to my surprise yep there is a tom with her.
The toms comes into focus on the camera, Jeffery finally gets the gun barrel out the window. I was afraid he was going to shoot a hole in my blind. At 30 yards, I tell Jeffery to shoot whenever he has a shot. The words no more than left my mouth and bang. The shotgun goes off and there is a turkey flopping in the field, and I capture the whole thing on video.
And what a turkey it was. 26lbs, 11 inch main beard, 3" second beard, and 1 1/8" spurs.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/onestringer/Web%20Pics/JefferyTurkey.jpg
I took our Daughter on Saturday morning, and man did we have a spot. We had 8 or 9 birds gobbling before light and one was in our hip pocket. Me, Mindy and Gavynn were in the blind. Just at light Mindy thought she saw turkeys in the field, but it was way early for turkeys, then one flew across the field.
Upon further inspection, it was not turkeys but other hunters. So out of the blind I go, walk 100 yards down the field, the whole way busting turkeys off the roost. There sit a guy and a kid, I hated to do it but they had to leave, they were tres passing. On the way back I spotted 3 more turkeys on the roost.
Lets just say after those turkeys saw me in the field, they went elsewhere after flying down.
Two hours after daylight a Tom entered the field, but I could not get it to come in. Now guys let me tell you its kind of embarrassing to have your wife call back a turkey after you scared it trying to purr with a mouth call. But it came no closer that 60 yards, so no shot.
That afternoon I took two boys out that are friends of ours kids. We never even saw a turkey. Mindy and Gavynn went back out to the blind. Gavynn called two toms into the field with a wing bone call, but Mindy had out the Pretty Boy and a hen decoy. They saw the tom decoy and wanted no part of it. I guess they strutted around for 45 minutes or so and really put on a show. Side note on tom decoys, I have had them scare more birds then they have attracted.
Sunday Morning found me and Gavynn at a different farm in a blind. Poor turkey hunting weather, really windy and cloudy. About an hour after daylight I called in a Jake and an hen. I was so exicted. 15 yards I thought it would be a slam dunk. I took Jays advice on how to hunt with Gavynn and we had practiced shooting the week before. I had the gun on a tripod, Gavynn on my lap. Gavynn has one hand on the gun and the other is coming up underneath to pull the trigger, while the gun is resting on my shoulder.
Its perfect, the hen and jake are standing together, the jake has its head up, the hen is down. I tell Gavynn to shoot, there is a short delay, the jake drops his head, I tell Gavynn to wait, and the next thing I know the gun goes bang. We missed, but we had fun. Gavynn set a record that morning, it was 10:30 when we got out of the blind.
Around noon I call Jeffery, he is one of the boys I took hunting the day before. Jeffery has been hunting with me for a couple of years. His mom works at the post office and in 2007 she said her son had a bow and wanted to hunt. Neither of his parents hunt so I took him. In 2008 he missed 5 times with his bow and killed his first two deer with a rifle. A spike during gun season, and a doe during late doe season.
I was really hoping Jeffery did not want to go, the temp had dropped to the upper 30's and the wind was blowing mach 1. When I called Jeffery, he had spent the night at his friend Garretts house. Garretts dad had taken them that morning and Garrett had shot a jake, so Jeffery really wanted to hunt.
I picked Jeffery and Garrett up and went to the farm we took Gavynn to on Saturday. When I say farm, I am really being generous. Its 15 acres, thats basically two fields, but there are alot of turkeys. I set out a hen decoy and start calling. After a few minutes, I start wailing on the calls, both a mouth and slate call. Soon a hen calls back, I keep calling and she enters the field. So I pick up the video camera and start filming her. Next thing I know Jeffery is having a coronary and mumbling something about a big tom behind her. I mention something about him smoking crack, but to my surprise yep there is a tom with her.
The toms comes into focus on the camera, Jeffery finally gets the gun barrel out the window. I was afraid he was going to shoot a hole in my blind. At 30 yards, I tell Jeffery to shoot whenever he has a shot. The words no more than left my mouth and bang. The shotgun goes off and there is a turkey flopping in the field, and I capture the whole thing on video.
And what a turkey it was. 26lbs, 11 inch main beard, 3" second beard, and 1 1/8" spurs.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/onestringer/Web%20Pics/JefferyTurkey.jpg