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- Nov 9, 2006
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This weekend is Indiana's youth turkey season. Last year, they started setting aside the weekends before duck, turkey and deer season for a special youth-only season. It's a really cool idea and is fun having the chance to get out and focus just on kids hunting.
So, this morning, my oldest son Ben (11 years old) and I headed out to my in-law's property to try our luck with turkeys. There is a small flock developing and last fall we saw five "Jakes" so I figured we could harvest one of them without effecting the growth of the flock. I wanted to leave the big Tom alone so we wouldn't disturb things too much.
We set up on the edge of the field in a blind just before sunrise and didn't see or hear anything so after an hour we decided to do some scouting and sitting. We tried an area full of sign for about an hour and again saw and heard nothing so I figured we'd head North to the cousin's property to see what we might see. As we approached the field, we spotted the flock of turkeys with the Tom strutting his stuff for a pair of hens. We carefully backed a bit into the woods, set the decoy and sat down next to a giant beech tree.
I gave a couple of yelps on the slate call and the Tom immediately gobbled back. A few more calls and the four Jakes started coming our way with the Tom close behind. After only about fifteen minutes, two of the Jakes were coming through the last brush only fifteen yards away. Ben had been holding completely still (except for a slight shaking from excitiement!) and I told him to go ahead and take the safety off and slowly raise the gun up but be ready to shoot if they saw him.
The Jakes were so fixated on the decoy that they didn't even notice us and one shot was all it took to drop one in his tracks! The other turkeys trotted off about twenty yards and sat and yelped for another ten minutes before going off into the woods. Even with Ben and I laughing and whooping, they still didn't know what to make of it.
An AWESOME way to spend a morning together and now he's harvested three major game species! He's hooked.
So, this morning, my oldest son Ben (11 years old) and I headed out to my in-law's property to try our luck with turkeys. There is a small flock developing and last fall we saw five "Jakes" so I figured we could harvest one of them without effecting the growth of the flock. I wanted to leave the big Tom alone so we wouldn't disturb things too much.
We set up on the edge of the field in a blind just before sunrise and didn't see or hear anything so after an hour we decided to do some scouting and sitting. We tried an area full of sign for about an hour and again saw and heard nothing so I figured we'd head North to the cousin's property to see what we might see. As we approached the field, we spotted the flock of turkeys with the Tom strutting his stuff for a pair of hens. We carefully backed a bit into the woods, set the decoy and sat down next to a giant beech tree.
I gave a couple of yelps on the slate call and the Tom immediately gobbled back. A few more calls and the four Jakes started coming our way with the Tom close behind. After only about fifteen minutes, two of the Jakes were coming through the last brush only fifteen yards away. Ben had been holding completely still (except for a slight shaking from excitiement!) and I told him to go ahead and take the safety off and slowly raise the gun up but be ready to shoot if they saw him.
The Jakes were so fixated on the decoy that they didn't even notice us and one shot was all it took to drop one in his tracks! The other turkeys trotted off about twenty yards and sat and yelped for another ten minutes before going off into the woods. Even with Ben and I laughing and whooping, they still didn't know what to make of it.
An AWESOME way to spend a morning together and now he's harvested three major game species! He's hooked.
And thanks HomeBru for getting him out there. Congrats to both of you.
