Hi everyone. This is my first post. I am a new turkey hunter. I have lurked on here a lot and have learned a bunch. I took my fiance's little brother out for his 2nd hunting trip (my third time hunting turkeys) and I was fortunate enough to call in a bird for him. Here is the report.
This was a great morning. I take Noah out whenever I can to expose him to the outdoors and all of it's beauty.
We were getting ready to set up our blind and start calling. While I was digging the blind and decoys out of my pack we heard a distant gobble. We kept calling back and fourth to track his position. We found out chances are he was on the roost on property that was posted and we do not have permission to hunt on across the dirt road from the land we do have permission to hunt on.
We were bummed out that we couldn't track him any further. But he kept gobbling, and gobbling.... so we walked down the road away from the bird knowing that the turkeys travel through the land that we can hunt on. We decided to set up down the road away from the road at a old hunting camp that is on the property. We were hoping we could call him the 1/2 mile to where we were. After we were set up and the decoys were out we sat and called. Once again the tom gobbled back. We continued to call him and we could hear him getting closer and closer but still on the wrong side of the road directly behind us. Not good...
I changed my calls to soft purrs and small clucks and that seemed to get him to cross the road and come right up the trail to the cabin to our right. I could see him but Noah couldn't so I told him to be patient and take the shot when he feels comfortable and I would try to call him in closer since I could only see his head looking around.
I make a few more soft purrs and he came charging towards us down the trail towards our decoys with a smaller jake leading the way. Something hung him up about 30 yards out and he stopped and turned around heading back where they came in from. I got him to stop and turn around by making one more soft purr with my call.
Noah stayed patient and composed and waited for a safe ethical shot. The tom extended his neck to look around and Noah was lined up for a great shot opportunity, but wouldn't take the shot. I had to lean over and whisper "take the shot, take the shot". Noah made a well placed shot and dropped him in his tracks. We jumped up and ran over with a huge smile on our faces. He told me later that he was nervous and was waiting for me to make the call to shoot.
My goal was to get him addicted to hunting and I think I did. This bird was bigger than the birds that his friends at school got this season. So that was a big plus. I feel so fortunate that I was able to call well enough and help make his day. I can't wait for our next adventure.
I could not have been more proud of him. The bird weighed 18 pounds 8 ounces with an 8 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs. I am not sure how big that is for a bird in Maine but it made our day.
Let me know what you think.
Jeremy
