MS youth opener was bust this year. My son wanted to go visit my parents for his spring break to turkey hunt and fish. Birds were very much hemmed up and quiet for the most part on 3 different properties we hunted. Got close one time, but couldn’t seal the deal.

TX youth opener this weekend my son and I decided to go to our deer lease on Friday since his ball games were rained out for Saturday. We roosted some birds Friday afternoon and made a game plan for the next morning. Birds were roosted on the neighbor, but we got to our spot without spooking birds and could see them on the roost. Watched them fly down and got setup between the roost and where I thought they would head on our property. Took about an hour, but a super Jake finally came in to our calling. As soon as he saw the decoy he went into full strut. Stayed in full strut for 10-15 min until my son had a clear lane to shoot him. I tell him to kill him. I can’t was the response. Why? My safety is on. Take it off. I can’t. lol. Waited for the bird to turn where his fan was blocking his head, and I took the gun off safety for him. Took another 5 min for the bird to turn around and clear the brush. 15 yard shot and his first Rio was down!!!




Bird was flipping, so I told him let’s stay seated and see if I can get a Tom to run in here doing fighting purrs with all the flopping. Didn’t work, but had two hens come in making a ton of noise. Figured they would have a ton with them or pull the bigger group in. They never did and feed off. About the time they feed off another Jake came thru. His head wasn’t red and he didn’t strut, so I told my son let’s hold off and see if we can get a Tom. By this time his butt and legs were hurting, and he wanted breakfast. So we loaded up, got breakfast, cleaned the bird, did some work around the camp/lease, and got a nap in.

After naps, he wanted to try and kill another bird and if not see if we could roost them again. Around 4PM we went to a spot I’ve seen birds before and boarded the neighbors where the birds roosted to the North. We had hunted to the South of the roost that morning. Walking in we spooked one hen, so I felt like there were birds in the area. We got set up and let it settle down. I’d make a few calls between wind gusts and never got a response. Finally after about 45 min I hear two gobbles about 200 yards off to our South on the neighbors. I respond to them, but can never get an answer. After about 15 min, I tell my son I’m not going to call any mor, and we are going to sit 15-20 more min quietly to see if they will gobble before me make a move. Wasn’t long after I told him that I see a long beard easing thru the mesquite from a total different direction coming our way. When he goes behind some thick brush I get my son moved where he’s going to come out for a clear shot. I make sure his safety is off this time. Tom clears the fence, and his second Rio is down!!!





At this point it was 5:30, so we decided to clean up, load up, and head home to make his sister and his soccer games. Pretty good day in the turkey woods. He’s 3 for 3 with his little .410! Hopefully we can close the deal for the OK youth opener and later in May when we head to KS.

Both birds he killed came in quite. Very little gobbling on the roost. They are still pretty henned up in our area (Concho County) from what I could tell

Great stuff and memories. Enjoy!

Good times! Congrats to you both

That's what it's all about right there Congrats to the young man He couldn't ask for a better guide

That is awesome! Good job guys!

Heck yeh!! Congratulations guys! I sure wanted to bring my kids up last weekend but we had too much going on here. Will hopefully head up the 5'th.