NCMTNHunter
Senior Member
I took my daughter down to middle GA this weekend for a hunting trip that ended up having it all. It started out with a big dose of humble pie then ended with my daughter getting her second bird on one of the best hunts I've seen unfold.
Opening morning started out with plenty of gobbling which I have learned to appreciate no matter the results after many long days without hearing a turkey sound except for the ones coming from my own yelper. Unfortunately instead of roosting where I had willed them to the night before, the three to four gobblers plus hens were roosted across the field and clearcut 400 yards away with no way to close the gap without getting busted. Especially with an excited 8 year old girl in tow.
We threw some calls at them for 30 or 45 minutes but it was clear they weren't headed toward our zip code. I made the call to leave them alone the rest of the day in hopes we could get closer in the morning before daylight. So we spent the rest of the morning walking and calling another part of the property in hopes of finding a desperate loner to no avail.
When Sunday morning came we headed out a little earlier to give ourselves plenty of walking time. We took a trail from the other side of the property that stays in the woods and goes to the back side of the clearcut were the gang of gobblers had roosted the morning before. We were about 400 yards from the roost when I realized it was getting light enough to walk without the flashlight. I cut the light out and made it another 50 yards toward the roost when a gobbler fires off barely 100 to the right of us.
We set up against a tree about 15 yards off the trail opposite of the now very vocal gobbler. I let out a soft tree yelp and he cuts me off. After about five minutes another soft yelp and he cuts me off again. Then his hens get cranked with yelps and cackles and he continues to fire off at them as they start pitching down out of the trees. They are just far enough away that I lose sight of them as they hit the ground but after just a few seconds of scanning I pick out a big black bird headed our way. Before I have a chance to point him out my daughter says "I see him". At this point he is about 70 yards and closing while moving in and out of strut gobbling at everything that makes a sound.
The tricky part here is that the kid can't hold her 1100 20ga up very long so I have her sitting in my lap with her shotgun resting in a tripod. The problem with the tripod is that it really limits her left to right shooting window. By now the bird is strutting and drumming at 30 yards at about 2:00 to us and the poor kid just can't get swung around to the right far enough to get him in the sights. I whisper to her to be patient and hopefully he will come on around in front of us. Instead he starts strutting his way back out the way he came in. He makes it back out to around 50 or 60 yards but before the depression has time to fully sink in I catch movement even farther around to the right. I couldn't believe the luck. There is another long beard headed our way. I tell her to forget the first bird and that there is another coming from the right!
She swings her gun as far as she can to the right and picks up the bird as it strolls into range. Despite my clucks, purrs, and loud as heck stop right now yelps he never breaks stride all the way through her shooting window and sets up strutting shop too far to the left for her to swing her little shotgun.
As I try to properly identify the heart attack, stroke, or other form of death that is coming over me I notice that bird #1 is now on his way back and coming fast. So now I whisper for her to forget bird #2 and get back on #1! She slowly swings her gun back around right in front of as ol #1 passes a tree I had ranged at 40 yards. I tell her he is close enough and to shoot when she can hold the sights on him. She make's a great shot at 38 yards and ends one of the most exciting hunt I've seen in my 25 years of turkey hunting. Ol #1 ended up having a 10" beard and 1-1/8" spurs.
I also can't say enough how proud I am of this kid for getting up early and sticking with it and waiting for a good comfortable shot.
Opening morning started out with plenty of gobbling which I have learned to appreciate no matter the results after many long days without hearing a turkey sound except for the ones coming from my own yelper. Unfortunately instead of roosting where I had willed them to the night before, the three to four gobblers plus hens were roosted across the field and clearcut 400 yards away with no way to close the gap without getting busted. Especially with an excited 8 year old girl in tow.
We threw some calls at them for 30 or 45 minutes but it was clear they weren't headed toward our zip code. I made the call to leave them alone the rest of the day in hopes we could get closer in the morning before daylight. So we spent the rest of the morning walking and calling another part of the property in hopes of finding a desperate loner to no avail.
When Sunday morning came we headed out a little earlier to give ourselves plenty of walking time. We took a trail from the other side of the property that stays in the woods and goes to the back side of the clearcut were the gang of gobblers had roosted the morning before. We were about 400 yards from the roost when I realized it was getting light enough to walk without the flashlight. I cut the light out and made it another 50 yards toward the roost when a gobbler fires off barely 100 to the right of us.
We set up against a tree about 15 yards off the trail opposite of the now very vocal gobbler. I let out a soft tree yelp and he cuts me off. After about five minutes another soft yelp and he cuts me off again. Then his hens get cranked with yelps and cackles and he continues to fire off at them as they start pitching down out of the trees. They are just far enough away that I lose sight of them as they hit the ground but after just a few seconds of scanning I pick out a big black bird headed our way. Before I have a chance to point him out my daughter says "I see him". At this point he is about 70 yards and closing while moving in and out of strut gobbling at everything that makes a sound.
The tricky part here is that the kid can't hold her 1100 20ga up very long so I have her sitting in my lap with her shotgun resting in a tripod. The problem with the tripod is that it really limits her left to right shooting window. By now the bird is strutting and drumming at 30 yards at about 2:00 to us and the poor kid just can't get swung around to the right far enough to get him in the sights. I whisper to her to be patient and hopefully he will come on around in front of us. Instead he starts strutting his way back out the way he came in. He makes it back out to around 50 or 60 yards but before the depression has time to fully sink in I catch movement even farther around to the right. I couldn't believe the luck. There is another long beard headed our way. I tell her to forget the first bird and that there is another coming from the right!
She swings her gun as far as she can to the right and picks up the bird as it strolls into range. Despite my clucks, purrs, and loud as heck stop right now yelps he never breaks stride all the way through her shooting window and sets up strutting shop too far to the left for her to swing her little shotgun.
As I try to properly identify the heart attack, stroke, or other form of death that is coming over me I notice that bird #1 is now on his way back and coming fast. So now I whisper for her to forget bird #2 and get back on #1! She slowly swings her gun back around right in front of as ol #1 passes a tree I had ranged at 40 yards. I tell her he is close enough and to shoot when she can hold the sights on him. She make's a great shot at 38 yards and ends one of the most exciting hunt I've seen in my 25 years of turkey hunting. Ol #1 ended up having a 10" beard and 1-1/8" spurs.
I also can't say enough how proud I am of this kid for getting up early and sticking with it and waiting for a good comfortable shot.
Last edited:
