What makes this story special?
- It was my sons last time to participate in the youth hunt due to his age
- It’s the only time in 30 years of turkey hunting I’ve chased them in 23 degree temps and heavy (perhaps debatable) snow falling – We live in ARKANSAS
- The hunt ended in gobbling, strutting, chasing & most importantly – A DEAD turkey
The Background
After watching the extended weather forecast, I started planting seeds of doubt with Lane. Do you really think we should go? Maybe we should skip the turkeys due to weather and take the weekend to scout deer …then get after turkeys the next two weekends. Despite my efforts to discourage him, he was unwavering in his determination to kill another turkey …but then again he is 15!
Trying to get some ammunition to support my POV (which was unsuccessful
), I posted the following poll in the turkey forum titled: Turkey and Temps (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=44976):
Opening Morning of Youth Turkey Season is 25 degrees so you…
- 50% (9 votes) Get up and bust the ridge-tops hoping to locate one gobbling - temps change nothing
- 44% (8 Votes) Get a ground blind and find a travel corridor - hope they see your decoy and respond
- 6% (1 Vote) Sleep in and wait on the weather to warm and the birds to become more active (calling Hot birds is what Turkey hunting is about)
Although looking for more support in the category of “sleep in”, in true BEAST fashion, 94% of you weren’t going to let the weather deter you (but then again many of you are used to cold and snow) …nonetheless, away we went!
I checked Lane out of school Friday at 2:00PM (because that’s my prerogative) and we headed to the hills. We arrived in time to try and roost a bird. I expected gobbling. After all, it was 63 degrees Friday evening. We checked three spots and with the exception of seeing a single lone long-beard skirting a field edge, we struck out and did not roost a bird.
That night we studied maps based on where we’d seen the long-beard and cross-referenced areas we’d had success in the past.
Our game plan was set…
The Hunt
We got out well before the first glow of light and although very cold, the snow & sleet mix was barely falling. After circling an area and putting out all the effort possible to locate a bird on the roost, they did not cooperate. We set up without knowing the exact location of a roosted bird in the spot we’d decided on (no ground blind
) and close to where we’d seen the long-beard the evening before.Once we were set, I began with some soft tree yelps. And for an hour or so, continued some light clucking, purring & soft yelping. As the snow began to fall more consistently and heavily, there were several moments we thought, “Was that a gobble?” But with the 15-20MPH NNE winds, it was tough to hear. And we could never be sure.
Then, out of nowhere, there was no mistake – one hammered about 75 yards from us but to our backs. It was game time. I hit him with a slightly louder yelp from my diaphragm call and he cut me off. This was going to be good. I shut up. He hammered again …closer, but still to our backs. I remained silent. As time passed, the next gobble was slightly further away. He was no longer on a rope. This time I cut, and again, he didn’t let me finish the call. With our attention on the bird behind us, we’d stopped paying as much attention to the field in front. When I turned around, the patriarch was in the field about 125 yards away. Apparently he was just as interested in the yelping and cutting although we didn’t know since he was non-vocal.
With a bird in front and a bird behind, we turned our attention to the patriarch. I resorted to some very light (and infrequent) clucking and purring but he was locked up watching the woods (coincidentally, tom #1 never gobbled again). Suddenly, we noticed another turkey …then another …then another. All told, we ended up with 2 long beards, 2 jakes, and 6 hens in the field about 100 yards away. I knew the hens were a problem. And to be successful, we had to encourage them to play along. I stuck with the plan - soft clucking, purring and some light yelping. Still, they began easing the wrong direction. In a last ditch effort, I cut and got their attention. This time, they started our way.
With the hens in the lead, we watched the patriarch (who was noticeably larger) lag 50 yards behind. He was seemingly oblivious to tom #2 who strutted for the ladies and chased one of the jakes all over the field. The turkeys were actually turning white the snow was falling so hard at this point. Once the hens maintained their course toward us, I remained silent and let them do the work. And they did. Now, the hens were within shooting range but tom #2 remained out of reach, although he was closing. While the patriarch, for some reason, had eased back into the woods. At this point, tom #2 continued strutting his stuff but the ladies grew nervous. I knew our time was limited and I gave Land the go-ahead. “When I cluck and he sticks his neck up, bust him”.
We watched him strut one final time and close a little more distance …I clucked, Lane shot, and the flop was on - SUCCESS! Lane ran as hard and fast as you can probably imagine. Once I made it out, we high-fived and simply took in the moment. There, in the freezing cold and heavy snow, I witnessed something I’d never experienced in 30 years of turkey hunting in Arkansas! We made the most of our last youth hunt together and as a dad, I couldn’t have been more proud. While he’s killed several turkeys, even some bigger, this was without a doubt the most special and memorable - A hunt I’ll never forget!
Lessons learned:
• Don’t let the weather fool you – when April hits, regardless of weather, amazing things can happen – BUT You won’t know …if you don’t go
• BEASTS don’t sleep in (statistically speaking
)• Patience pays off
• Hot Hands are a MUST when its 23 degrees
• There is nothing better than making memories with your kids – Give up SCREEN time for GREEN time!
