my first hunt with chris

willfish03

By willfish03
in Turkey Hunting

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willfish03 4-Pointer

willfish03

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this is the story of my first hunt with my son.

im not a writer but i like to write down my hunts

My First Hunt with Chris

My son Chris had drawn a spring youth permit for the weekend before the regular spring turkey-hunting season. A friend of the family has owned the property we would be hunting. In the past, I had hunted there for deer during bow season. I had heard turkeys and had seen many signs while scouting for deer but had not seen any of the elusive birds. On Saturday, I woke Chris up at 4:00 am to get an early start. We had about an hour drive to get to my friend’s property. In Chris’ excitement to hunt, he did not get much sleep the night before so the ride was very quiet, Chris sleeping most of the way. Upon arriving, I woke my son who sat dazed in the truck wondering where he was. It was a crisp morning; the temperature was around forty degrees with a slight breeze coming out of the west. We quickly loaded our gear and proceeded to move to a location where I hoped would hold turkeys.

We started our hunt by standing in the southwest corner of a field approximately forty acres plus. The field was shaped like a square horseshoe surrounded by mature trees with a large wooded ravine in the center running north and south. To the south of the field the wood line contained a small valley running east and west about thirty feet lower than field with a creek and a base about fifty feet wide.

As dawn began to creep up I grabbed an owl call out of my pack and began to call. There was a shock gobble across the field to the east and another in the center ravine followed by a gobble not thirty yards ahead in the corner of the field in front of us. We quickly moved to the tree line in hopes of not being seen, to a large sycamore about half way down the slope of the valley. Chris sat down while I placed the decoys at the bottom of the slope near the stream. I made my way back to my son and sat next to him on his right. After about fifteen minuets or so daylight was fast upon us, I grabbed a slate call and began to call lightly. Directly above us was a loud gobble, which my son later would describe as terrifying, as he never had heard one that close. I quickly stopped calling and said to my son to sit very still.

Chris was the first to see a turkey, which he quietly alerted me. Therefore, I slowly move my head forward to look around him and standing not ten feet away was a hen. I told him that this turkey was a hen and we can only shoot toms. He follows my comment by asking about the other turkey up the hill. I turned to look but could only see a breast with a beard dragging the ground. I said to him that this bird is a tom and that if he gets close enough to the decoys he could shoot him.

The two turkeys were slowly making there way up the hill behind us not paying any attention to the decoys. I asked my son is there any trees that the tom could walk behind so he can turn to get a good shot. He told me he did not think he would have as shot so I told him we would have to try a different set up. Therefore, I watch my son as he watched the two turkeys leave the area.

After about 30 minutes, we picked up my decoys and moved up the hill to the field. The wind had picked up and was now blowing from the northwest at ten to twenty-five mph. I grabbed a crow call and tried to locate a tom. The bird that had just left us answered back but now was about one hundred yards away on a neighbor’s property that we did not have permission to hunt. We heard a hen calling in the tree line by the southeast corner of the field followed by more gobbles. We decided to move to the east side of the field and set up in the tree line but with the wind blowing in our faces. We sat up, watching the woods with the wind and the field to our backs.

After sitting for a short time and not seeing or hearing anything, my son fell asleep; which is a very important part of hunting. After sitting and listening to the sounds of a crisp spring morning and a short nap myself, I awoke cold and hungry and decided it was time to go. I woke up my son and went to pick up the decoys. As I turned back to look in the field I was amazed at what I saw. I have been hunting turkey for about six years and I have never seen so many turkeys in one field. There were maybe six or seven toms strutting about twenty yards apart, each with five or six hens around them. There must have been at least nine groups of jakes, three or four jakes to a group, circling the toms and surrounding the other turkeys in the field. I told my son that if we went around them in the woods we might get close enough for a shot. With that, we headed south to the valley. We quickly made it to the valley and made our way west along the creek. We decided to climb up the side of a small finger ridge to see where we were to the turkeys. As we neared the crest, I told Chris that we needed to crawl so as not to alarm them. We were crawling along when Chris stopped me and said, “Dad look at this”. He then handed me a snake that was about six inches long and curled up as if those fake snakes found in the checkout lane of your local store. The snake slowed by the low temperature but very much alive and responded to the heat of my hand. I handed the snake back to him and he let it go.

We reached the top of the ridge by hiding behind a large tree. Once there we could see that they were about sixty yards away. They where still too far off to take a shot. We backed down the ridge and went back to the creek to see if we could get closer. When we tried to crawl up the next ridge, we were seen because all the turkeys were scattering everywhere. After seeing the turkeys scatter, we decided that we would stop for the day and come back tomorrow.

Sunday the forecast was for strong wind, rain, and cold temperatures in the upper thirties and low forties. Arriving at five thirty and having a good idea of where I wanted to set up we quickly grabbed our equipment and headed to the spot we had seen the turkeys strutting the day before. Once there we found a large area scratched clean from strutting. I placed a decoy of a jake in the scrape and two hens near by. I ask my son to stand there so I could find a good spot for him to shoot. After locating a spot twenty yards away, I placed a small ground blind for Chris. There was not enough room for both of us so I had to sit about ten feet to his right with another small blind.

The clouds made for a late sunrise. I grabbed my owl call and called but got no response, I called again but still nothing. Wow I thought, yesterday I called one time and got gobbles everywhere. We waited for ten minuets called again but still heard nothing. I called one more time; this time the tom we set up under yesterday let us know that he was still there. I hooted again but got no response. I ask Chris if he could see the decoys, it was still a little dark. He said “not yet”. Then I got out my slate call and said for him to let me know when he could see the decoys clearly. About five minuets later, he said he was good. I began to call lightly as I had done the day before, this time the tom cut me off by gobbling.

The first time the tom gobbled, he was roosted facing away, this time he was facing us. I called again and this time he cut me off but was on the ground. I said to Chris “get ready”. Then I saw movement to the left coming across the field moving at high speed running on the ground. I said, “Turkey”, he said, “where”. Out in front the tom got a look at the jake decoy and went into full strut. Chris said, “I see it” it was out about forty yards and coming in slow. Wait until its closer and try not to shoot it strutting, wait until he drops his tail. I said. When the tom was close to the decoys I gave an alarm put as his tail dropped and his head lifted, I heard report to my left as the tom rolled over backwards. With one shot, my son had taken his first turkey. We gathered our gear and went to see how big this tom was. His first turkey was one to be proud of, a nice three year old with one-inch spurs, two beards, one eleven inches, one five inches and weight about twenty-four pounds. This was a proud moment for father and son alike, my first hunt with Chris.

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