A few months ago I planed a “winter break” trip for my six year old son and I in Texas. As the days grew shorter and the nights grew colder the only thing either of us could talk about was this hunt. All of our plans were set, and then mother nature decided that her plan was a little different than ours. Two days before we were leaving she decided it would be a great time to dump a couple inches of rain and then 18″ of snow in Northern TX. 
It is no big deal for a couple of MN boys to hunt in the snow, but without any frost in the ground it was destined to be a mud hole down there before we even arrived. So, our trip was postponed until a later date. The little man played the part of a tough guy for the better part of Christmas day. It was when his mom and I finally had a chance to set down and talk about it with him that we could tell it was breaking his heart that his dad and him weren’t going hunting. It’s tough to see a little heart breaking during a holiday season. SO…. (I am lucky I am married to the most wonderful gal on the planet.)… within a few hours his mom had made a bunch of calls, and had a new trip lined up with an outfitter in KS for the last three days of hunting before their season closed.
Like I said before MN boys know what it’s like to hunt in the snow and cold. I think it’s bred right into us. I’ve just never packed a heater and a sled to go turkey hunting before. We drove down to Des Moines the first afternoon and stayed there before finishing up the drive on Monday. Once we were checked into the local motel we scooted across town and met up with the outfitter. Now keep in mind most times I research the areas, both public and private, and I have a handful of satellite images of the area well in advance of even booking a trip. On this trip, all I had was a few road numbers written on a post-it note stuck to my dash and a phone number of the outfitter. We didn’t even have a KS road map.
All the worries in my mind were erased as soon as we approached the first hunting spot. Five birds crossed in front of his truck as we drove up to the property. After a few minutes of glassing the field and talking with the him I knew we should be able to get Connor his first bird! We then drove a while to the second spot and it looked like it was just as promising! So on our way back to town Connor and I stopped and checked the first place for any birds roosting and found tons of birds roosting right on the edge of the field. Set a plan for the morning and back to town we went.
The first morning of the hunt we were in the blind before dawn. All morning the birds were moving around in the field. Finally a few birds came into the DSD’s and we were in business. I think at one time we had a least 20 birds that we could choose from. A couple Jakes kept challenging our Jake decoy and finally the little man picked one out and let the hammer fall. His little twenty was right on, and he handled it like he had been shooting for half a century. Connor’s first bird ever was dead at 10:05 on Tuesday.
Second day hunting started the same as the first, with Connor insisting that we take turns shooting I had taken a bird in the afternoon the first day just to get it out of the way. We were in the blind right before sunrise, and at daybreak nothing. Not a bird around. An hour later, still nothing. Connor has a lot more patience than his old man. He decided we could wait it out until 11 then go to the other spot after lunch. With the executive decision made he did what all men should do after making decisions. He took a nap.
When I awoke the little guy I had finally heard the birds answering, and moving our way. Ten minutes later he was trying to pick a second victim, when a Coyote across the field spooked the birds, and they changed their course. Little did we know that a bachelor group of Toms was trailing the main flock. If he would have shot the one he wanted at first, we never would have seen them. Minutes later, Connor had a nice Tom in front of him, I made a few putts, head came up, and he put the hammer down again! Connor’s second bird was down at 10:15 on Wednesdays. Nice bird good beard, and spurs, measured out at about a 58. Not bad for a second bird.
We went to the second spot that afternoon. Dads turn now. We had the blind set up and as we were pulling in several birds spooked from the abandoned farm site where we were hunting. Two hours later, and several bird seen, a group of six Jakes showed up, and once again several of them went at the DSD Jake. I had the bow in the blind, and was convinced that I needed to finally take a turkey with it. I drew back, and waited for a shot, took a shot, and the arrow hit its mark. Twice. Pass through on the first bird, and sticking through the second. Both birds took off. They both hit the fence 10 yards away. The one with the arrow in him died there, and the other hit the second fence on the other side of the road. After clearing that headed into the scrub cedar trees. We waited about an hour to go after him, easily found his blood trail, and a dead bird shortly after. Both birds were really nice Jakes.
Final day of our trip was a cold one. Even with the heater on it was still a little chilly in the blind. All morning we heard two, or three small groups moving, but nothing ever responded to any feeding or kee kee calls. After lunch we headed to a different spot, lots of birds moving, lots of calling going on. Got on the calls and within a 20 minutes had some birds come in. It was a bunch of hens but none the less they were fun to watch for a while. Then it was quite for an hour or two and finally with some very aggressive calling we got a pair of birds to come in at around 3:00. With three tags remaining, and two hours left Connor still wanted to wait for another big Tom. These two birds stuck around the decoys for the next 15 minutes. Finally after the Jake had walked fifteen feet away only to come right back Connor decided it was good enough to take. We had talked about doubling and how it would go. He shot, his bird fell, I shot, my bird fell, and all went just like we talked about! He scored another nice Jake, making his trip and lifetime total at 3.
We hung out that night at the motel, and left Kansas the next day. We had a lot of fun times, we spent some quality time together in the field, and as a bonus we filled most of our tags. Most importantly I got to hear the excitement in his voice, and see the joy in his eyes after shooting his first Turkey.
CW
