I would far from call myself a Turkey hunter but I finally was able to find a good lease and there happen to be Turkey on it, so this year I decided to give it a whirl. The best part for me was being able to get my family involved. My wife WAS a tree hugging, liberal from Arkansas but I have slowly been converting her. She killed her first deer this year so she has been open to the lease idea. My daughter on the other hand is just ate up with hunting. She got her first deer this year and has been hammering on me to get out and hunt ANYTHING that we can.
April 2 - Opening morning
I took my shotgun but had my bow with me due to this grand idea of using a bow. After a hen came in and quickly ran off I decided that when I get seasoned or have killed turkey I would use a bow but for now the goal was meat in the freezer and a bird. I have killed 1 turkey over 10 years ago and it was a Jake so I put the bow to the side. After little action a coon decided to come in for some corn, so I said to myself, self this would be a good bow opportunity.
Not 10 minutes later I looked down out of the blind and this dud was 7 feet away. I let him get to 10 yards and then set up the gun and let him have it. My first turkey that acutally had a beard and spurs!!
April 2 - Opening Evening
I guess the wife got tired of sitting at home so I got the call that she was dropping the kids off at here sisters and heading to the lease. If you ever knew my wife 20 years ago this simple statement would about make you fall out of your chair. Nonetheless she showed up and we got to spend a nice evening in the blind. I looked through the brush and noticed movement and here came 6 gobblers. The first bird in was jake but a respectable first bird. There was a VERY mature looking Tom back in the brush but as I watched him he was very uneasy and the hens started "chirping" and acting nervous so I told her to take the shot at the bird in front of her. She dropped him in his tracks and unlike her deer she didn't shed a tear.
April 9 -
Fast Forward a week and as mentioned my daughter is going nuts to get out. She may or may not get special treatment as the only girl with 3 brothers but she wants to hunt. So I surprised her by picker her up early from school to head out. Friday night only saw 2 hens. Again not being a turkey hunter I was nervous the birds may have moved out I found a small flock driving in at another location. So I ask her what she thought and she said we are going back to "the spot" because she just knew they would be there. We got set up and a beardless jake came in and I wanted her to shoot him, but she just really had a hard time because he was moving around a ton. He left and about 10 minutes later a bearded hen came in. Again she tried but just wasn't comfortable and let me tell you for an 11 year old she has admirable patience to not take a bad shot. So she decided that she wanted to call one in. I don't know any better so I handed her the Primos bombshell and told her what to do. First try she calls and not 50 yards away both she and I hear our first ever response gobble. I tell you we were freaking OUT. She looked at me and said Dad I did my part now you take him. I was a little suprised to I grabbed my gun out of the corner and not a minute later at FULL STRUT this dude came in and the rest is history.
Hunting the last 6 months has been filled with first and I have to call this my first successful turkey season.
