Fall season comes to a close today and yesterday afternoon found my youngest and oldest son,and myself set-up once again on a fall flock of birds we had been trying to get the drop on for about a week!A good friend of mine had located this flock of about 20 birds during archery deer season and clued me in on where they were at and the hunt was on.I make a point to hunt public land this time of year as the fall season holds very little hunting pressure when compared to spring giving the perspective turkey hunter a better chance of harvesting birds that are a little less call shy and spooked,if one can find em.The problem with these birds is every mornin as they pitched out of the roost they would fly onto private ground,so I planned a little strategy to hunt them in the afternoon knowing they would be back as I had seen them on a couple of occasions around the 2:00 hour on public ground.Somebody had hunted them opening week and calling to them seem to make them a little uneasy as I knew that this was a couple of family groups that an unfamiliar voice alarmed them more than interested them.I tried patterning them and finally yesterday afternoon got it right.I set-up a little higher on the ridge thinking they would feed down the ridge toward their roosting area and it was a good decision.My 2 boys and I settled in and the wait was on.I pulled out my trusty glass slate and stroked it a few times with my rosewood stiker and a bird answered back somewhere up and to the left.Both boys heads shot up and looked at me at the response,and I could see their teeth gleaming under their facemasks as they smiled thinking this afternoon held some promise.I put the slate down knowing to much calling would send them the other way,and i figured that upon the response they knew where I was.We sat patiently watching the squirrels and listening intently for any turkey sound we could pinpoint looking in the direction we had heard them.I was impressed at my youngest one how still he sat in fact better than his older brother,but later the oldest one did tell me a stick was making quite an impression in his backside,(we've all been there done that)lol!Finally I caught a glimpse of movement off to my left and here they came.Its incredible how well these birds can pinpoint where your at in the woods.They fed and chased each other around out in front of us at about the 60 yard mark for a few minutes before they lined out and headed straight for us.At 15 yards my boys eyes were as big as silver dollars and at the shots my little one told me his facemask nearly blew off he jumped so hard!A couple of fall hens for our efforts and the Thanksgiving table!But really the hunt was all about the boys.The oldest one has been there before but my 9 year old(not in the pic)is new to the sport and it was an incredible experience watching these birds finally walk down our gun barrels.I believe he's hooked because now he's driving us crazy for turkey hunting equipment from Santa Claus!Take your kids huntin you'll be glad you did!! Thank the Lord my dad took me!BOB
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Monarch isn't a butterfly it's the King of the Spring!

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Congrats Bob,enjoy your meal and have a happy Thanksgiving.

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Sounds like it was great to get to share the experience with your sons. I had the chance to go out one day this fall with my two boys but weren't able to locate any birds. Teaching children about the outdoors and getting to experience it through their eyes is about as good as it gets. If they stick with the sport it is also something you can share with them for a lifetime which is not the case with most things kids are into these days.

In memory........


BT, I am still looking for the other one!