The first week of the season had me in the woods chasing birds more than I ever have in even a single season in the past. With my wife still on maternity leave and no more baseball eating up my springs, I wanted to take advantage of my new found freedom! Another bonus for this spring was getting permission from the fellas that lease the farm north of ours to turkey hunt their lease this spring. Just getting access to the ridge fields (we used to own these) is a game changer for me in turkey season. I was pretty pumped for this season and things are going well, especially after yesterday's timeless classic!
I spent M-W-F chasing birds with a buddy of mine who has never shot a turkey. Monday was tough as we had no birds roosted and the first birds to sound off were a good ways off. We made several moves and walked 3 miles only to have two jakes skirt our setup around 9AM. We hung it up for the day, but were back Wednesday morning to a host of gobbling. We must have heard 300+ gobbles on Wednesday. We actually started the day on the ridge, then quickly moved back to the creek bottom when the gobbling started. Birds were strung out along one of our shelves, but there were hens between the biggest bird and all the jakes. The hens pitched to the big boy, then the jakes to the group. We could never coax them off the hillside. After some running and gunning, I got to the ridge field just in time to see a hen walk off with 2 long beards. I never could get them to turn around and by the time I got to the crest of the ridge, they were long gone. Friday morning found my buddy running late, so we didn't set up where I wanted to and it made things tough again. Birds roosted in the same place as they were on Wednesday, but were much less vocal. They pitched away from us and must have been on a sprint when they hit the ground cause the next gobbles we heard came from a LONG way away from where we expected them to be. Needless to say, Friday was a bust too. I had family obligations on Saturday, but had every intention of returning Sunday with a new gameplan for the birds that were working a part of the farm that normally doesn't see much action, but seemed to be where they wanted to be this spring.
My daughter Kaydence and I had a movie night on Saturday while my wife went out with her mom and the baby. K said she wanted to hunt in the morning, so I prepped everything and had her up "in the dark time" like she so weirdly loves to do! By 5:30, we were in our pond holler ready to setup south of the birds I'd heard on Wednesday and Friday. By 6AM, we hadn't heard a gobble, so we slowly eased north down the holler working towards other known roosting areas, but also the ridge field where all the action usually occurs. Shortly after 6 we heard a gobble from up on the ridge, followed by another nearby the first. Had it been me, I would have taken a different route, but carrying a 4 year old makes a man rethink how he gets from point A to point B! I decided to risk blowing what I figured was a jake off the roost so we could ease up an old tractor road to the ridge field where we could set up and try to call the bigger bird to us. Well halfway up the hill I set her down and looked up to see a jake staring right at us. He flew off, taking another one with him a few seconds later. K thought that was pretty cool cause she "didn't know turkeys went in trees" or that they "could fly like that". We continued up the hill and sure as shit we busted off the long beard we were headed after. Already 3/4 mile in to our day and on the ridge, I decided we might as well set up and make ourselves comfortable for the morning, so we worked to the end of the ridge where a small pocket field makes a great strut zone.
When we got to the field, there were birds raising hell in the bottom south of us and coyotes raising hell in the bottom north of us, so I figured we may be in for some action one way or another! Before we could even get situated, I looked out in the field and saw a jake putting around. I was exposed, but had K behind a nice cluster of brush and a dead fall that really concealed her. I managed to get her in position, but dropped my gun and nearly spooked him off the field as a result. He was turning to leave when another jake came out in the field (pretty sure these were the first two we busted off) and they both started heading our way slowly. I finally managed to get my seat down, mask up, my leafy 3D jacket over her, and my gun back in my hands by the time they made it to gun range.
So here I am with a fairly disciplined 4 year old "trying" to be a statue with a runny nose and ants in her pants, with two birds closing the gap, no calls, no decoys and I am barely in position to shoot. If I can't get in position before they work another 10 yards to my right, I'm screwed. Thankfully they milled around long enough for me to get K settled and for me to pick a lane to shoot through the brush before they got to the huge opening to my right. At 10 steps, the lead jake poked his head up to look around giving me all the neck I needed to shoot at and the Benelli barked. Folded!
K jumps up and yells: "Oh yeah! Nice shot dad!!!" then gives me a big hug. This was her first ever turkey hunt and I wasn't about to let it get away from me! After we collected our stuff, we walked the mile back to the Kubota. Turns out the poor kid had a fever when we got home, so she was up at 4:30, walked 2 miles in the hills of SE Ohio with a fever and never once complained. Kid is tougher than some of my buddies! lmao
At 2.5, she went on her first deer hunt and I shot a doe with my bow. At 3, she went on her first waterfowl hunt and we killed a few. At 4, she endured two single digit muzzleloader hunts resulting in my wife's first wallhanger. And again at 4, she goes on her first turkey hunt and we killed one 45 minutes in to the hunt! I'm going to need to lower those expectations at some point!
I spent M-W-F chasing birds with a buddy of mine who has never shot a turkey. Monday was tough as we had no birds roosted and the first birds to sound off were a good ways off. We made several moves and walked 3 miles only to have two jakes skirt our setup around 9AM. We hung it up for the day, but were back Wednesday morning to a host of gobbling. We must have heard 300+ gobbles on Wednesday. We actually started the day on the ridge, then quickly moved back to the creek bottom when the gobbling started. Birds were strung out along one of our shelves, but there were hens between the biggest bird and all the jakes. The hens pitched to the big boy, then the jakes to the group. We could never coax them off the hillside. After some running and gunning, I got to the ridge field just in time to see a hen walk off with 2 long beards. I never could get them to turn around and by the time I got to the crest of the ridge, they were long gone. Friday morning found my buddy running late, so we didn't set up where I wanted to and it made things tough again. Birds roosted in the same place as they were on Wednesday, but were much less vocal. They pitched away from us and must have been on a sprint when they hit the ground cause the next gobbles we heard came from a LONG way away from where we expected them to be. Needless to say, Friday was a bust too. I had family obligations on Saturday, but had every intention of returning Sunday with a new gameplan for the birds that were working a part of the farm that normally doesn't see much action, but seemed to be where they wanted to be this spring.
My daughter Kaydence and I had a movie night on Saturday while my wife went out with her mom and the baby. K said she wanted to hunt in the morning, so I prepped everything and had her up "in the dark time" like she so weirdly loves to do! By 5:30, we were in our pond holler ready to setup south of the birds I'd heard on Wednesday and Friday. By 6AM, we hadn't heard a gobble, so we slowly eased north down the holler working towards other known roosting areas, but also the ridge field where all the action usually occurs. Shortly after 6 we heard a gobble from up on the ridge, followed by another nearby the first. Had it been me, I would have taken a different route, but carrying a 4 year old makes a man rethink how he gets from point A to point B! I decided to risk blowing what I figured was a jake off the roost so we could ease up an old tractor road to the ridge field where we could set up and try to call the bigger bird to us. Well halfway up the hill I set her down and looked up to see a jake staring right at us. He flew off, taking another one with him a few seconds later. K thought that was pretty cool cause she "didn't know turkeys went in trees" or that they "could fly like that". We continued up the hill and sure as shit we busted off the long beard we were headed after. Already 3/4 mile in to our day and on the ridge, I decided we might as well set up and make ourselves comfortable for the morning, so we worked to the end of the ridge where a small pocket field makes a great strut zone.
When we got to the field, there were birds raising hell in the bottom south of us and coyotes raising hell in the bottom north of us, so I figured we may be in for some action one way or another! Before we could even get situated, I looked out in the field and saw a jake putting around. I was exposed, but had K behind a nice cluster of brush and a dead fall that really concealed her. I managed to get her in position, but dropped my gun and nearly spooked him off the field as a result. He was turning to leave when another jake came out in the field (pretty sure these were the first two we busted off) and they both started heading our way slowly. I finally managed to get my seat down, mask up, my leafy 3D jacket over her, and my gun back in my hands by the time they made it to gun range.
So here I am with a fairly disciplined 4 year old "trying" to be a statue with a runny nose and ants in her pants, with two birds closing the gap, no calls, no decoys and I am barely in position to shoot. If I can't get in position before they work another 10 yards to my right, I'm screwed. Thankfully they milled around long enough for me to get K settled and for me to pick a lane to shoot through the brush before they got to the huge opening to my right. At 10 steps, the lead jake poked his head up to look around giving me all the neck I needed to shoot at and the Benelli barked. Folded!
K jumps up and yells: "Oh yeah! Nice shot dad!!!" then gives me a big hug. This was her first ever turkey hunt and I wasn't about to let it get away from me! After we collected our stuff, we walked the mile back to the Kubota. Turns out the poor kid had a fever when we got home, so she was up at 4:30, walked 2 miles in the hills of SE Ohio with a fever and never once complained. Kid is tougher than some of my buddies! lmao
At 2.5, she went on her first deer hunt and I shot a doe with my bow. At 3, she went on her first waterfowl hunt and we killed a few. At 4, she endured two single digit muzzleloader hunts resulting in my wife's first wallhanger. And again at 4, she goes on her first turkey hunt and we killed one 45 minutes in to the hunt! I'm going to need to lower those expectations at some point!
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