Had a pretty amazing hunt with my youngest daughter this morning. I had pretty high hopes due to intel from the landowner, but the morning started off a little slow. We heard a distant gobble or two early, and he'd answer my calls, but never seemed like he had any interest in coming down off of the mountain and into the clover field we were set up in. He would give me a courtesy gobble, but he wasn't getting any closer.
About 7am some guys from the adjoining land apparently decided to have a hunt club work day and they have a right of way directly through where we are hunting, and 2 tractors drive right by us. My daughter says, do you think that just ruined our morning. I don't think it hurt anything, but when they were out of earshot I hit the call and the gobbler responded again, confirming we were still at least in the game. I call a little more and my daughter says she hears a hen, which I did not hear, so I called again and this time I did hear the hen that responded. I start going back and forth with the hen, and the gobbler interrupts us and this time he's a lot closer. I know at this point he can see the decoys, and soon after, I see him in full strut coming down the hillside. About the time I see him, 2 hens pitch down into the field about 100 yards away. I don't know what kept them on the roost that long, but we watched them pitch down at 7:45. A minute or two later, the gobbler enters the field in full strut, and I can see my daughter beside me start visibly shaking. He takes a few steps towards the 2 hens in the field and I'm thinking he's not going to come our way when he's got 2 live hens right in front of him. Well, he turns back our direction after putting on a little show for the hens, and comes out of strut and starts running across the field towards us. His head turns white as a ghost, and when he gets to about 60 yards he stops, gobbles, and goes back into full strut, and continues to head towards the decoys. As he tiptoes in, I'm within a second or two of telling my daughter to shoot and BANG, she apparently thought it was a good enough time to shoot. Scared me about half to death because I wasn't expecting her to shoot without me telling her to, but she sure enough dropped him. I go to high five and hug her and she says "GO GET HIM DAD". I run grab the bird and as I turn around, I see about 4 more trucks coming in the gate. It was more guys from that hunt club, and they drove by us 2 minutes later. Talk about perfect timing, they would have certainly spooked that bird as their access road ran about 10 yards from where I had my decoys.
That was my daughter's 4th bird, and the first 3 she's killed never really ever put on a show, they all kinda snuck in, no gobbling, just showed up. I've been dying for her to hear gobbling getting closer, see one in full strut, just some sort of real excitement and intensity and she sure got it today. On top of that, it was her best bird to date. 20.25lbs, 10 1/2" beard, and 1 1/16" spurs. Youth day is always my favorite day of the year. And I apologize for the terrible story telling.
(https://i.ibb.co/Dtkrsnw/Riley1.png)
(https://i.ibb.co/PhsNH2W/Riley2.png)
(https://i.ibb.co/CsKctpX/Riley3.png)
MUCHO CONGRATS to the both of you !!!!!!!!
:you_rock:
Get that young assassin registered on Old Gobbler and we'll draft her on to the team !!!
:z-guntootsmiley:
Congrats on a nice bird.
Congrats to the Huntress, Fine job on telling the story...but would be better with pictures!!
Congrats Travis!!!!! Such an awesome story!
What a fun story to read! Your daughter did a great job,
Wow!
Congratulations
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: JeffC on April 06, 2024, 09:25:44 PM
Congrats to the Huntress, Fine job on telling the story...but would be better with pictures!!
Did the pictures not show up?
Quote from: twyatt on April 07, 2024, 05:25:41 AM
Quote from: JeffC on April 06, 2024, 09:25:44 PM
Congrats to the Huntress, Fine job on telling the story...but would be better with pictures!!
Did the pictures not show up?
They all apeared
Ok thanks, and thanks for all the kind words
Congrats! The smiles tell the story........
When I responded last nite, no pictures, today we have Great Pictures, thank you! Again congratulations to your daughter!
That's strange, but thanks again! Definitely a day we will both never forget
Congradulations you two hunters. :OGturkeyhead:
Congrats to you both.
This is awesome!!! Congratulations!
Congratulations to both of you! That's what it's all about!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks again!
Very nice and congrats to you both. I always enjoy a good youth hunt story
Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club
Such a great story, and what an awesome hunt for the two of you to experience. Love those picture. Congratulations again, to both of you.
Way to go buddy! Cherish these memories! That's awesome!
Good stuff t! Our youth for Indiana is this weekend. I'm all jacked up for it. Love seeing the kids get out and enjoy it!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk