Down to the Wire for a Youth Hunter

Rhino · April 10, 2007

For 3 days I had my 12 year old hunting companion (Kody) with me on this round of battling Eastern gobblers. We pushed it down to the wire (time wise) but Kody finally scored just before his time ran out. Here’s how Kody’s turkey hunting adventure with me unfolded.

Day 1: Kody and I set up near where I had roosted some birds. Not a single bird gobbled on the roost on this morning thanks to the wind. At 6:50 I cut on my Woodhaven diaphragm and a bird gobbled right back at me that was already on the ground. I broke out Redbeard’s slate call and started delivering clucks and purrs. A minute or so later I could see 2 gobblers and 2 jakes coming down the side of the ridge across from us where the birds had roosted coming right toward us in a hurry. The 1st bird pops up his periscope up at about 20 yards but with only his had and neck showing I couldn’t tell if it was one of the jakes or a gobbler. He didn’t care for the looks of that shotgun barrel doing figure 8’s and disappeared. A 2nd bird came up with just his periscope but quickly disappeared for the same reason. They all reappeared a few seconds later going off to our right in a hurry. After making a couple of other setups calling blind and not hearing or seeing squat we called it quits to go meet up with his dad.

Day 2: Kody and I set up just below the spot we started at the prior day so this time Kody could shoot on approach if they did the same thing. Hey, sounded like a good plan at the time. Two birds started gobbling on the roost at 6:15. Another bird was really hammering down in the distance to the west. We also heard 2 birds back to the east and south of us that only gobbled a few times. At flydown a real hen cranks up with soft sweet yelps between us and the 2 gobblers. I tried to mimic her to get her to move toward us but nope she went to the gobblers. With the bird west of us still gobbling strong we took off to do battle with him. When we got close the bird gobbled in the dirt road we were on around a bend not 40 yards away. We back off and set up to coax him down the dirt road. The bird was blowing us away with his loud gobbling in front and slightly left and right of the road before going quiet for a minute or so. Wouldn’t you know it, he suddenly appears on our left side with periscope giving us the eye. Fortunately he didn’t bust us too bad since he gobbled in the distance going away. 2 setups later we are sitting a couple of steps inside the wood line of food plot that’s 50 yards wide by 250 yards long. Redbeard’s slate call brings in 2 hens that came in about 2 or 3 minutes apart. One from the north and the other from the south. The dominant hen puts on a show right in front of us chasing the other hen around when it got too close. The subordinate hen got within 15 feet of us and started giving us the eye. She putted and spooked the other hen into flying off down the field landing in a tree just outside the other end. No more shows on this day but before we left I cut some leafy branches to add a lot of cover between our setup spot and the food plot. It turned out to be very important for the last hunting day.

3rd and Last Day, Last Chance: Kody and I set up close to where the bird that busted us the prior day had roosted. We heard one bird gobble once in the distance south of us and another gobble a twice off in the distance back to the east. Another windy/overcast morning had them pretty much shut down. At 8:00 we called it quits with plans to go back to our spot off the edge of the food plot around 10:00 for the last hurrah.

When we got close to our setup spot there were already 2 hens in the field right in front of it. Fortunately, after a few minutes of impatiently waiting, they left the field. We slipped up through the woods to our spot and set up to call. OK after giving Redbeard’s slate call the 1st 2 days in the game, it was time to give the birds a little different tone. Out pops Strut10’s slate call. Sorry Dean but they needed to hear something else now. After a few clucks along with some clucks and purrs only 5 minutes or so pass when 4 hens enter the far side of the field some 250 yards away. As they slowly make their way feeding toward us a gobbler suddenly appears on the south side of the field in full strut about 200 yards away. Needless to say now Kody is getting excited. More clucks and purrs delivered to the birds and the hens slowly kept making their way toward us while at the same time angling toward the gobbler strutting along the south side of the field. When the gobbler reached the 100 yard mark I could hear pfffttt doooommmm. He never quit strutting and drumming, just taking his time keeping pace the feeding hens in full strut. Now all this time I keep hearing Kody on and off whispering “come on” “hurry up”. After 20 or so minutes of that I finally whisper back “they’re coming but we’ll just have to be patient”. His response is “are they even going to make it over here”. No response from me except more clucks and purrs that raises the gobblers head for a moment. Then back to full strut. Now my response is stay ready to shoot and don’t move. The birds continue to slowly make their way toward us. When the hens reach the 60 yard line or so, 2 hens broke out and started walking right toward us. A third hen decided she’d better follow them. The gobbler picked up his pace now still strutting in toward us. The hens come right at us stopping inside the 20 yard line to peck around while the gobbler came in from out left still strutting and drumming. He stopped, raised his head to the half **** position, I gave Kody the green light to fire and that gobbler took a load of #6’s to the head like a man. Kody’s gobbler is a limb hanger with a 10 ¼” beard sporting 1 1/4” spurs that were sharp and well hooked. As you can see we couldn’t resist taking some limb hanger pictures of him.

dartonman · April 10, 2007