Today is the first day of the Turkey Youth Hunt Weekend. Caleb and his two boys, Noah, 13 y.o., and Benjamim, 12 y.o., only had today to hunt since they attend church on Sunday mornings and in New York you can only hunt until noon.
At these ages the boys are required to have adult supervision with them while hunting. So, Caleb asked if I would supervise his older boy, Noah, while he supervised his younger son, Benjamin. I was happy to do so. Caleb had already decided that he would take Ben to the "shooting hut" which easily accommodates two people, one shooter and one spotter. The "shooting hut" has proven through the years to be one of the best blinds for turkey hunting. Caleb had taken Noah there several times last year, but they never had a shot had a legal tom.
Wednesday, Noah and I took my pop-up blind up on the hill and set it up near the northeast corner of a large field but still within sight of the shooting hut. We put up distance markers at 50 yards to help us gauge when a turkey would be within range. We also prepared a permanent small wooden blind to use near the southwest corner of the same large field but just out of sight of the shooting hut.
Caleb and I had been watching the weather forecast for the past week, and it continually predicted rain for today. If today had been planned as an adult hunt for Caleb and me, we most likely would have passed. But the boys were excited to go, and we couldn't deny them the opportunity for a youth day hunt.
Last evening Caleb and the boys listened for the turkeys to go roost to see if they could tell where they might be this morning. Right at last light, the toms betrayed their position by gobbling as they roosted. Caleb stopped over and told me some toms appeared to be roosted near the east end of the field, and we agreed that Noah and I would go the pop-up blind near the northeast corner of the field.
This morning came and sure enough, it was raining. None-the-less, we all got up and got around for a rainy-day turkey hunt. After all, we all know the old adage, "You can't get anything from the living room couch". At least that was what Caleb and I were telling the boys. As we drove as far as we could in the truck, we reminded the boys not to expect to hear much gobbling, since in our experience, toms don't gobble much in the rain.
It was only a light rain during our walk up the hill to the hilltop field. So, it wasn't miserable, just annoying. It was still plenty dark when we arrived at our respective destinations, and Caleb and I were able to set our decoys near our respective blinds without worry of being spotted by any turkeys roosted near the edges of the field. Then the rain picked up quite considerably and I was glad to be under the cover of the pop-up blind.
In due time, it became full light (as least as full light as you can have during a rainstorm). I was sitting there daydreaming about sunshiny days and heard Caleb make a few yelps from his blind. Then Noah suddenly says, "There are a couple of turkeys". Sure enough, when I leaned over toward Noah's position I could see a couple of turkeys at edge of the northeast corner of the field, about 100 yards away. I pulled up my binoculars and could immediately tell that they were both Tom's with very visible beards and red heads. I said to Noah, "Those are toms with beards, so you could shoot one. Maybe they will come our way." Then Noah says, "There are some more." I looked up from the binoculars and saw three more. I redirected the binoculars and saw the other three turkeys were all bearded toms. I told Noah that they were all toms and he could shoot any one of them, if they gave him a chance.
Caleb had already seen the birds and called again, thinking that he might be able to draw them right past us. And he did. Those toms headed straight toward Caleb and his decoys, with their path taking them within 30 yards of our position. Noah got into position to shoot out the front window, but the toms never stopped for a clean shot. Then Noah got positioned to shoot out the side window. When the toms got just at the point of being nearly past us, I started clucking. That stopped the toms as they tried to figure out this new sound. Noah picked the nearest one and let fly with a load of #4 Winchester Long Beard XR. Noah's tom went down and starting it's flopping around.
The other 4 birds scattered a little bit and then started for the woods to the north. Caleb started aggressively calling and stopped the toms. They got interested again in Caleb's calling and his decoys. They changed course and went over to the edge of the woods to the west. Then they started straight toward Caleb and Benjamin, following the edge of the woods. When they got about 50 yards from the shooting hut, Caleb gave Benjamin the OK to shoot. Bang, and we had a Youth Day Double. It was each boy's first turkey.
At these ages the boys are required to have adult supervision with them while hunting. So, Caleb asked if I would supervise his older boy, Noah, while he supervised his younger son, Benjamin. I was happy to do so. Caleb had already decided that he would take Ben to the "shooting hut" which easily accommodates two people, one shooter and one spotter. The "shooting hut" has proven through the years to be one of the best blinds for turkey hunting. Caleb had taken Noah there several times last year, but they never had a shot had a legal tom.
Wednesday, Noah and I took my pop-up blind up on the hill and set it up near the northeast corner of a large field but still within sight of the shooting hut. We put up distance markers at 50 yards to help us gauge when a turkey would be within range. We also prepared a permanent small wooden blind to use near the southwest corner of the same large field but just out of sight of the shooting hut.
Caleb and I had been watching the weather forecast for the past week, and it continually predicted rain for today. If today had been planned as an adult hunt for Caleb and me, we most likely would have passed. But the boys were excited to go, and we couldn't deny them the opportunity for a youth day hunt.
Last evening Caleb and the boys listened for the turkeys to go roost to see if they could tell where they might be this morning. Right at last light, the toms betrayed their position by gobbling as they roosted. Caleb stopped over and told me some toms appeared to be roosted near the east end of the field, and we agreed that Noah and I would go the pop-up blind near the northeast corner of the field.
This morning came and sure enough, it was raining. None-the-less, we all got up and got around for a rainy-day turkey hunt. After all, we all know the old adage, "You can't get anything from the living room couch". At least that was what Caleb and I were telling the boys. As we drove as far as we could in the truck, we reminded the boys not to expect to hear much gobbling, since in our experience, toms don't gobble much in the rain.
It was only a light rain during our walk up the hill to the hilltop field. So, it wasn't miserable, just annoying. It was still plenty dark when we arrived at our respective destinations, and Caleb and I were able to set our decoys near our respective blinds without worry of being spotted by any turkeys roosted near the edges of the field. Then the rain picked up quite considerably and I was glad to be under the cover of the pop-up blind.
In due time, it became full light (as least as full light as you can have during a rainstorm). I was sitting there daydreaming about sunshiny days and heard Caleb make a few yelps from his blind. Then Noah suddenly says, "There are a couple of turkeys". Sure enough, when I leaned over toward Noah's position I could see a couple of turkeys at edge of the northeast corner of the field, about 100 yards away. I pulled up my binoculars and could immediately tell that they were both Tom's with very visible beards and red heads. I said to Noah, "Those are toms with beards, so you could shoot one. Maybe they will come our way." Then Noah says, "There are some more." I looked up from the binoculars and saw three more. I redirected the binoculars and saw the other three turkeys were all bearded toms. I told Noah that they were all toms and he could shoot any one of them, if they gave him a chance.
Caleb had already seen the birds and called again, thinking that he might be able to draw them right past us. And he did. Those toms headed straight toward Caleb and his decoys, with their path taking them within 30 yards of our position. Noah got into position to shoot out the front window, but the toms never stopped for a clean shot. Then Noah got positioned to shoot out the side window. When the toms got just at the point of being nearly past us, I started clucking. That stopped the toms as they tried to figure out this new sound. Noah picked the nearest one and let fly with a load of #4 Winchester Long Beard XR. Noah's tom went down and starting it's flopping around.
The other 4 birds scattered a little bit and then started for the woods to the north. Caleb started aggressively calling and stopped the toms. They got interested again in Caleb's calling and his decoys. They changed course and went over to the edge of the woods to the west. Then they started straight toward Caleb and Benjamin, following the edge of the woods. When they got about 50 yards from the shooting hut, Caleb gave Benjamin the OK to shoot. Bang, and we had a Youth Day Double. It was each boy's first turkey.
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