Post by scottrader on Oct 9, 2011 13:39:02 GMT -5
Austin shot this Turkey (his first-ever Turkey hunt) Saturday morning at 6:55 AM. He put an absolute perfect shot (20 gauge) on him at 15 yards and it was all captured on video.
25 lbs., 1 1/8" spurs, 10 1/8" beard
Before I go any farther, I just want to thank my great friend Mike, who put in quite a few hours to make this happen. Given the fact that I'm in a wheelchair none of this would have been possible without him. Mike came out the night before and roosted this bird . He also scouted him about a week and a half ago and the birds seemed to be sticking to the same plan that they had last year. Anyway, on Friday night Mike got a good location on this Turkey and got the blind set the night before. He waited till it was completely dark and snuck into the field to set the blind. It was almost 10 PM when he called me Friday night to let me know the situation. He picked Austin up at about 5:15 AM Saturday morning because they had to get in there when it was still completely pitch black so they could set the decoys.
This bird started gobbling at first light and Austin counted 57 gobbles out of this bird. When he finally pitched to the ground he was in the decoy set within a matter of a couple of minutes. He popped over the rise in in full strut and never came out of it. He was in front of the blind within the decoy set at 15 yards for between 4 and 5 minutes when he finally raised his head just a little bit and made Austin a great shot. He was very patient and did not get nervous at all.
One of the great things about all of this is we can hear the birds gobbling from inside our house when we have the windows up. I heard this bird gobbling the whole time, and of course I heard Austin shoot. I was nervous for about 15 minutes before I finally got the call. Needless to say he is now hooked. He took a picture to his baseball game on Saturday afternoon, and again to school on Sunday. He just kept going around saying I can't believe I shot a Turkey.
This is really bittersweet for me. Bitter in the fact that I could not be there, but sweet that he got it done and I have such a great friend that helped out.
Now hopefully this weather will let up and I will be able to get out there in a blind within the next week, and hopefully repeat the same success I had last year with Mike on camera. Regardless of whether that happens or not my season is already complete.
25 lbs., 1 1/8" spurs, 10 1/8" beard
Before I go any farther, I just want to thank my great friend Mike, who put in quite a few hours to make this happen. Given the fact that I'm in a wheelchair none of this would have been possible without him. Mike came out the night before and roosted this bird . He also scouted him about a week and a half ago and the birds seemed to be sticking to the same plan that they had last year. Anyway, on Friday night Mike got a good location on this Turkey and got the blind set the night before. He waited till it was completely dark and snuck into the field to set the blind. It was almost 10 PM when he called me Friday night to let me know the situation. He picked Austin up at about 5:15 AM Saturday morning because they had to get in there when it was still completely pitch black so they could set the decoys.
This bird started gobbling at first light and Austin counted 57 gobbles out of this bird. When he finally pitched to the ground he was in the decoy set within a matter of a couple of minutes. He popped over the rise in in full strut and never came out of it. He was in front of the blind within the decoy set at 15 yards for between 4 and 5 minutes when he finally raised his head just a little bit and made Austin a great shot. He was very patient and did not get nervous at all.
One of the great things about all of this is we can hear the birds gobbling from inside our house when we have the windows up. I heard this bird gobbling the whole time, and of course I heard Austin shoot. I was nervous for about 15 minutes before I finally got the call. Needless to say he is now hooked. He took a picture to his baseball game on Saturday afternoon, and again to school on Sunday. He just kept going around saying I can't believe I shot a Turkey.
This is really bittersweet for me. Bitter in the fact that I could not be there, but sweet that he got it done and I have such a great friend that helped out.
Now hopefully this weather will let up and I will be able to get out there in a blind within the next week, and hopefully repeat the same success I had last year with Mike on camera. Regardless of whether that happens or not my season is already complete.
there!