Last week I only got to hunt twice, one of the times with my son. Had no luck at all. The Thunder Chickens just did not cooperate muchly due to weather. Today was quite differant.
My son and I were in the woods at the first hint of light. We walked out onto a high ridge where we knew birds had been roosting in the general area. We also knew that eventualy they were going to work the ridge we were on. One owl hoot and gobbles started thundering from multiple places down the ridge line 2 to 300 yards away confirming we were right. We put out a Jake and a hen inflatable decoys and parked our butts against trees just a few yards apart. We knew also that these birds were a bit call shy so had decided to just quietly wait them out.
Just as it got light enough to see I spotted a dark shape about 100 yards in the distance. It stood in place for several minutes and I wasn't sure what I was seeing. Y'all know how your eyes can play tricks on you at such times. Then I saw it move and the flash of a white head. I whispered to my son, "I see one!" and I got my Mossberg 835 ready. That dang turkey strutted back and forth right there for what seemed like forever! Not moving away but certainly not getting any closer either! Then I saw another Tom join it. Both strutted right there for another eternity! Finally I saw a third bird fly down from roost off past them. I thought it a hen as they both headed towards it. Away from us of course!
They didn't go far before all three came back and milled around struttin in that same dang spot. We could see them stop now and then and stare our direction at the decoys but they weren't budging from their spot in the rising sun! Finaly my son could take no more. I heard him yelp softly....just once! That's all it took!!!! They came in on a string! Problem was they put a tree between my son and them.
I was holdin my shot till I thought my son had a shot too. All three were putting on quite the show strutting and gobbling. Finally the biggest one sided up to the Jake decoy and was about to jump it. I took my shot and nailed him with a 12 gauge 3 1/2 mag # 5 shot. Unfortunately my son didn't have a shot like I had thought. A tree was in his way. However one living bird flew up in a nearby tree and the other ran just a short distance before returning to jump all over my flopping Tom. Then the one in the tree flew back down to join in. Mine being the dominant bird I guess, and probably having beat up on them at some point, they were taking advantage of the situation and getting some serious payback!
My son got his shot and his T/C Encore 12 gauge roared putting another bird down. As luck would have it, before we could get to them, the remaining bird kicked both dead birds over the edge of the ridge before running off! We had to climb several yards down a very steep incline to retreive them. The fun was climbing back up with birds over our shoulders.
When we got to the top and could take a breather my son grabbed me and gave me a big hug while saying AWESOME DAD! Icing on the cake in my book!
Mine weighed 22lbs right on the money, has an 11" beard and 1" spurs. My son's weighed 19 lbs, 11" beard and 1" spurs! Having severe heart and lung problems I treasure every moment with my son as though it may be my last. Tell y'all what, if the good Lord took me tonight I'd go with a huge smile on my face! Can't ask for more than that.
Here's the pics folks;
Me
My son Jason
