My passion is getting the younger generation involved in the outdoors sports. My daughter Danielle has a boyfriend who hasn’t had the opportunities to enjoy hunting and fishing like we do. So last fall I told him he should apply for Turkey Tag and that I would take him this spring. He drew a tag for the 3rd season and we were off to a farm I hunted before. This year we were the first ones to hunt this farm so I was feeling pretty good about our chances. Set up the blind the night before and couldn’t wait for the alarm to go off the next morning.
The next day we found ourselves in the blind at about 4:45, anticipating that first gobble. Had light drizzle, no wind it was perfect, I love those conditions. At about 7:30 and no gobbling I started to get a little frustrated. I knew the birds were there but nothing is happening. Finally at around 8:00 we hear a gobble on the ridge behind us. Did some calling and he’s hot, answering every call and he’s closing the distance. Soon I can hear him pitch off the ridge and I am thinking this is going to be a done deal real quick. But instead of pitching into our set up he lands behind us and struts where we can not see him. No gobbling either. After about a half hour and no sign of him I decide we have to make a move. Carefully got out and decide to head to a new farm when we were greated by more gobbling. Made the decision to go after the one that seem to be the hottest. This bird of course was on top of the ridge and I forgot to tell Zac that I would hunt as hard as he wanted to. Little did he know that he was going to hunt as hard as I was going to push him. After climbing the ridge we got up to the top and pin pointed the bird. He answered every time I called but would not commit. He was on another ridge sounding off, but would not budge. The rain was coming down a little harder and we left our rain gear in the truck. We tried to stay dry looking for trees to stand under, but no luck, we were wet and a ways from the truck…so what do you do? You go after the hot bird. Told Zac we have to cut the distance again, so we proceed down the ridge, get to the bottom and call again. The bird would sound off, but would not come to us. So now we have to climb a second ridge. We would climb for a bit, call to make sure he was still there until we reached almost the top. Finally we were there in position when I could hear him drumming. We were close, less than 50 yards, but again he would not come and check us out. Sat there for about 30 minutes after we could not hear him drumming anymore and decided to make a move. Wet and frustrated we decide to make our way back to the truck to get dry and regroup. Only problem is that we have to go down and up another ridge to get to the truck. So we set off. Once on top of the third ridge which is now about 11:15, I decide what the heck, I’ll make a call. Zac’s butt is dragging by this point. I make the call, a bird sounds off in the field right next to us less than 50 yards, catches us by surprise and I told him we have to set up in a hurry. Get into position, call again and here they come. 3 to 4 Jakes. Got to within 30 yards and he took the biggest one. He must have got a boost of energy after the shot, because with the excitement and the celebration that followed afterwards, he had no problem carrying out his trophy.
Thanks Zac for a memorable hunt. He told me that was the longest and hardest walk he’s ever had to do to kill something. Told him he hasn’t hunted with me before.
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