My oldest boy harvested his first bird! And on public ground at that! We were late and arrived well after it starting getting daylight. We hadn't heard a single gobble however we knew there were birds in the area as we saw them scouting from the road the evening before. After we hiked in 0.4 miles we setup on the crown of a pasture that has a creek on both sides. I started out with some really light & soft calling and didn't hear a peep. About 8 AM I looked out the back of the blind. There stands a signal gobbler with 3 hens some 400 yards away. I progressively started getting a little more aggressive and louder with the calling. We heard him double gobble. It would take that gobbler and those hens the next hour to reach us. The gobbler worked the fence line directly behind at 35 yards but wouldn't budge. After a while he disappeared the way he came. It was really starting to heat up and the wind was picking up. I decided I was going to rotate the blind 180 so if the gobbler worked the fence line again we may have a shot on him. Wouldn't you know it? He was back before we could get situated. This time he cut over to our side of the fence and you guessed it... We were now facing the wrong direction. My boy and I played musical chairs and windows for a solid 30 minutes as he circled our blind and the decoys. He was really hesitant to commit. I think he had his tail kicked one to many times and the jake decoy my son insisted we put out made him leery. Mr. Tom circled just outside of my sons range 420 degrees and once again disappeared the way he came. The wind was really blown now. I told my boy we needed to make a play on this gobbler or pack it in. I crawled out of the blind and tried to spot him going away from us down the fence line. I watched him go into the timber at the creeks lowest point. I packed up all the odds and ends and we high tailed it parallel to the direction he was headed about a 200 yards. I made 2 more trips back to our previous set to get everything moved. This time we setup in the pasture down in the bottom. I put a single lookout hen out. Although we had a shelter belt to our back and were down in the hole the wind was still clipping along quite a bit. I decided I would call with a box call. Something I rarely ever do unless I am trying to locate. I hammered the call and immediately received a thunder gobble directly in front of us. I called again and he answered. I knew he was close and it was game on. He popped out of the creek within 60 seconds at a range less than 50 yards! For the next 30 minutes that gobbler would strut, take a step, and look with his head up for the next several minutes to take one more step closer.... I last ranged him at 24 yards and even my patience grew small. I finally decided it was time. I ready my boy and took the safety off. I whispered in his ear that the next time he stretch his head way up in the air to let him have it. BOOOOOOOOOOM! The 20 gauge loaded with 3" Hevi 7s sounded off and the bird collapsed. The bird never flopped once! We had played cat and mouse with this gobbler for 3+ hours. After fist pumps, high 5s, many phone calls and lots of hugs we tagged him, packed up, took lots of photos, and headed back to the truck. We worked hard for it. A hunt neither of us will ever forget. 20 Lbs. 3 oz. 9.5" beard 3/4 - 7/8" spurs
OUTSTANDING Heck... great bird and a moment in time never to be forgotten! Congratulations to your son - and you on getting him on a bird. Quality Time man... Quality Time
Thanks guys! Sorry for the long winded story! It is my journal entry with a few edits. I have my boy writing a journal of our adventures. It will be interesting to see his perception of today's events. :p I may even post it for a laugh if it is as good as I think it will be.
Congrats again! That's an awesome idea to have him keep a record like that. I would love to see what his point if view was like!
Exactly. I am going to give him my journal of our adventures when he moves out of the house. I must be drinking soy milk. I just shed a tear. Next thing you know I will have some man boobs. Yeah.... I kinda already do! :p
great story good details ain't nothing like spending time with the kids Sent from my C5215 using Tapatalk
