I wanted to try my best this season to get my kids out with me in the turkey woods. We have a lot going on in the Spring and a month long season goes by quick so I wanted to get them out early.
Opening day-
I took my son with me. This was his second turkey hunt with me and I was hoping to get a bird with him in tow. I personally hate hunting out of blinds for anything. I've got nothing against it, but I like to have nothing but the crisp air between me and whatever it is I'm hunting (and I hate carrying extra stuff). We sat up close (125 yards or so) to where a group of birds have historically roosted over the years. At grey light, they start gobbling and we are both jacked. We snuck in in the dark and went a long ways around to keep them from seeing our approach, but they should have been able to spot our decoy from the roost after daylight. I let them gobble quite a few times before I ever did any calling. Once I called, they hammered back. I waited until they gobbled a couple more times and then called again. They gobbled again so I shut up. They knew where we were.
I finally see once pitch off the roost. It's a hen and she pitches right down and across the valley from us.
The toms and other hens start pitching down in the same spot and the toms start strutting. There were at least two toms in the group and I thought at least 4 more that could be. Here is where the test for my boy started. We have at least 10 turkeys 100 or so yards away and they have a straight shot to see us if we start moving. I tell Hudson to try and stay still and calm, which he does a great job. I started trying to get a bird to break loose from the group and one big tom does. He almost runs across the valley and then runs straight across in front of us at around 65 yards. He never spooked but never came in. I keep calling and then see 4 birds break loose from the group and head our way. They answer the call pretty consistent and are slowly crossing the valley. When they get down in the bottom of the valley, they go out of sight and I shut up. When they finally start to appear, I see that it's a group of jakes. They put on an absolute show for my little man. They worked in for around 20 minutes; strutting, gobbling, spitting and drumming. When they finally made their way to the decoy...... BOOM! Me and my son's first bird together and my first jake. We worked those birds for over 2.5 hours and he sat there like a champ.Day 2-
The following morning, I took my daughter. We headed to the same area hoping that the birds would be roosted in the same spot. As daylight broke, we heard a gobble that couldn't have been more than 50-60 yards behind us!
I was afraid that we were way too close, but we came in the dark and had an unusually windy morning to cover up our noise. I let him gobble a few time and just did a few soft yelps. He cut me off and I locked up. I told Lily to be sure not to move because he was right behind us. It had just got daylight and I hear his wings flap and the cackle start. I cut my eyes to the right and see him flying through the trees no farther than 20 yards beside us. The tom lands between us and the decoy. BOOM!But he doesn't go down. He runs! I put another shot on him and he still keeps running and goes out of site. At this point, I am just about as low as I could be. I had blown this amazing hunt right there in front of my girl and it was her first time. We start going over what happened and I told her that I just couldn't hardly believe that I had missed him. She said, "Daddy, you got him. I just know that you did". I had trouble believing it myself, but we waited some and got up to go try and track him. We snuck down the timber line out to the ridge point. I thought he would likely go into the timber in at the edge of the point. We got to the point and I don't see a turkey anywhere. I'm standing there scanning when I just see a dark spot hung up in the fence line. There he was! I was giving her high fives and we were both pumped. It was a cold morning and she says, "Daddy, those high fives hurt. My hands are freezing!" We loaded him up and headed home. She brings up the cold stinging high fives all the time and tells Mama how excited Daddy was when we found the turkey. She says, "I told him that he hit him. I knew we would find him."
Hunt 3, week 2-
I'll keep this one short and sweet. The second Saturday of season, it was supposed to be unusually cold so I went out on my own. I snuck in tight to the roost again. I think I heard one gobble and this joker flew down. He for real landed within five yards of me. I raised up a little just to get him to run out some before I shot. I think I had him down at like 6:15 or something. It was nuts. I sat and watched a bunch of other birds fly down and mess around before I finally went and got him. The best turkey season I've had and loved getting to take the kids along for the ride. I've said this before and I'll say it again; take those kids to the woods. The extra time it takes to get them ready and going a little slower for them to keep up will be far outweighed by the memories you'll make.
sounds like great fun and great memories.