Buckeye Mike

I took my middle son out for the last day of the season on May 23rd. He had been out once last year on a day when we did not hear anything and on the youth hunt this year where we had a gobbler within 100 yards that would not come any closer.

Last Sunday I took him out with a friend to an area that gets little preasure and has a good turkey population. Nothing gobbled right at daylight but we did have one heat up around 7:00. We moved to within about 100 yards of where we thought the bird was and the friend started to call while I sat with my son. The bird answered every call but really did not move any closer. Because of the terain and not having permission to hunt on the adjacent land we could not move any closer although my son really wanted to. We tried having the friend move away and keep calling but no luck. During this time my son got a little squirmy and I had to keep reminding him to sit still because we never know if a turkey is on its way silently. I told him to pretend there was turkey just over the hill at all times. Eventually. our friend worked his way up to a power cut (on a preserve where we could not hunt) and saw our gobbler along with several other turkeys at the bottom of the power cut. We stood around discussing our options for a while when my son said that he had been turkey hunting three times and had yet to see a turkey. We continued to talk for a while and not 30 seconds later I noticed that my son's eyes had gotten very big and he was pointing over my shoulder (looked just like the kid with the Jello in Jurasic Park). I looked and there was a Jake not 30 feet away just looking at the three of us. We all froze and I told my son to slowly pick up his gun. He said he could not because it was under the tree where we had been setting. The jake continued to look at us then gave a few putts and left. I had my son get his gun and tried to call the Jake back but with no luck (he said he was so nervous when he went to get the gun that he couldn't get his legs to work).

My son was very frustrated but I told him that we learned a couple of lessons. First, you need to stay patient and always pretend that there is a turkey lurking just out of site. Second, the Jake was probably with the gobbler that had talked to us all morning and when the gobbler ran him off and left with the hens the Jake came looking for that hen he heard earlier that morning (he came right to the tree where we were sitting).

In any event, I think he had fun and enough excitement that he will want to go back next Spring.

jalvja

Mike,I feel your pain.This is my 12 yr olds first Spring where he could shoot.He's had 2 longbeards within range on two diffrent Saturdays and still no bird.He's findin out it's not as easy as huntin them fall turkey.But on the bright side he is learnin some valuable lessons.