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My Son's first turkey hunt

1K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  A-Bomb 
#1 ·
Well like I posted on the thread "Have you ever seen.......?", My Son's first ever turkey hunt was today, and we hoped to get that "perverted" bird that I had seen a couple days before. Friday after work My Son and I were going to put out the blind out on the edge of the field we had planned on hunting, but when I drove into the field to make the trip easier, the field had exactly 4 toms, 4 jakes, and 4 hens out milling around. So we decided to quietly set up the blind this morning while it was dark. All went well, we didn't make much noise. At fly-down, the first bird to come out to the field was a lone tom in full strut, followed by 72 other birds! We had a show in front of us, but they didn't like my two jake decoys out in the field already. So the toms were cutting off the hens (from my decoys), and inadvertently keeping away from the blind. We had plenty of action. There were 17 toms and a ton of hens and jens. We thought we weren't going to get any action, because the entire flock decided to head back into the woods. As they all were about out of sight, the same five toms that were keeping the rest of the flock away from our decoys (and most importantly) our blind, decided to come over and kick a little jake tail. My son shot one of the birds at 20 yards (with a 20 gauge). It hit the ground, and never flapped. I told him to keep an eye on the bird. the bird ended up getting up and ran away like he was never hit? He also failed to slam the receiver shut, therefore he never had an opportunity to hit the bird with a follow-up shot. He was a good sport about it, although I was bummed. We gave the field a rest from 11 am to about 5 pm, and went out there to cut them off as they would surely pass as they went back to roost. Well, we had the entire flock come past us, way out of range, and we were already talking about the game-plan for the morning, when we both heard a stick break followed by the culprit. the stick turned out to be a tom spitting in full strut. BAM goes the gun, and the bird is dead. I was a proud Father, and I think the kid had a good time as well. here are some pictures. The camera couldn't capture all the 73 birds in one photo, but we did count them several times with the binos. The beard was short, and so were the spurs, but he was an adult, and my Son said he wasn't accepting anything less.
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#4 ·
Thanks guys. Right place? That's an understatement. I probably burnt through a few tanks of gas keeping an eye on this flock. Fortunately it's only two minutes away from my house, so we sort of grew attached to this bunch.

Was it the perverted bird? Hard to say when there were 17 toms in the flock, but it was shot 15 yards from the spot where I saw the little "whacker" in the first place. :wink: The boy shot him square in his pecker! (The one on his head of course) :lol:

Pete
 
#5 ·
Congratulations there Pete and son. Job well done.
Pulling Tom`s out or from a flock of that size is very hard, but it can be done. Hats off sir for scouting and knowing where to be and when. I hope memories were made that day that will last a lifetime

STUMP
 
#6 ·
Thanks Stump! Yes, I'm pretty proud of him, and we have another great experience to add to what I hope is a long list of great things to come. He had a heck of a season all together. Shot his first whitetail buck fifteen minutes into the season, Doubled on a pair of mallards and took a beautiful drake wood duck on his first time out duck hunting, and capped it off with a nice two-year old gobbler in the spring. Of course he thinks he's the "Great White Hunter" (Hunter actually being his given name and all), but I told him he needs to give some props to the guide. Nope, it's just what his Dad's supposed to do I guess? :fingerpt:

Pete
 
#9 ·
I thought I'd show my bird in respect to the Father/Son event that happened during the youth hunt. Of course hunting over a month later, the hunting can be even harder than hunting a winter flock like we did during my Son's hunt. I put on some miles, and busted my hump to get this bird, but I didn't want to be out-done by the boy.......,just kidding. We shot pretty much the same bird. Mine had just a bit longer beard, because it didn't have the beard-rot that my boy's did. shot this bird 20 yards from my Son's bird. No decoys, and no calls. If you used either of the two, you can bet your ass that the hen was going to take the tom in the opposite direction. (two-year-old) 22 pounds, 10 and 1/2 inch beard, and 3/4 inch spurs. Here's a couple pictures.

-Pete
 

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#12 ·
Thanks fellas! Notice how white the outer edge of the fan is? He was very white in the wings as well. Maybe he was sun-bleached? :huh: I'm not sure, but our Easterns normally don't carry this trait unless they are older birds?

I took all the feathers from the fan along the back, all the way to the back of his neck (the row of feathers is sort of triangular shaped), on both birds. I have an idea of mounting them, and will show them when I'm done. I just don't have room to display every fan, but I wish I did. This being our first season together, I have to save this season's memory in a special Father/Son mount.

-Pete
 
#13 ·
Definitely a very blonde tail fan Pete. We only see a spattering of them in Michigan too. Ive heard the reason is sun bleached, but im not certain of that either....It would seem there would be allot more of them if that were the case....Anyhow, theyre great looking birds, i know that much....Looking forward to seeing your father/son mount....Congrats to you both on a great season. :thumbsup:
 
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