Post by bsutravis on Apr 21, 2013 21:18:07 GMT -5
What another incredible weekend at the Freedom Hunt's Southern Swing Turkey Hunt! A huge group of volunteers spent countless hours fund raising, planning, scouting, and planning for this year's hunt which I believe hosted 20 youth with special needs. It was a wonderful time renewing friendships and making new ones and the kids definitely held up their end of the bargain when it came to the turkey hunting. Amazingly, out of 20 kids that went out, 13 ended up killing a gobbler and one boy dropped one but it ran off and they couldn't find it. Still 13 out of 20 is amazing considering many of the obstacles that these kids overcome! It's a humbling experience seeing these kids perform in the turkey woods like they did, knowing how we all take for granted many abilities that these kids would love to have but for various reasons they don't.
My son was blessed with a weekend that had literally non-stop action on Saturday morning and evening, and it erupted on Sunday morning! Without going into all the details on Saturday morning my son Kyle passed on a jake at 15 yards, a decision that we all know might come back to bite if things don't work out down the line. We didn't have any longbeards in range on Saturday, so this morning we went to a new spot. During the drive our guide asked me how my son would be if we "run and gun" versus sitting in a blind which till this morning was the only way my son had turkey hunted. I admit I was VERY skeptical since my boy has a hard time with his hips cramping up so sitting long spells can be torture on him. Kyle was anxious to try it so we decided to leave the blind behind and go to the birds instead of waiting for them to come to us!
We were working our way toward a gobbler that was hammering on the side of a ridge when we found ourselves less than 75 yards from a thunderous gobble that sent us all to the ground. I was lagging behind since I had left my camo jacket behind at camp and grabbed a black fleece since I thought we'd be hunting in a blind. I didn't want to booger the hunt with my inappropriate clothing, but as this story turns out it was a blessing in disguise. The mystery gobbler that caught us in his bedroom was just downhill from our position, and a little to our left. Kyle and our guide Phillip got against the nearest tree and Phillip started calling, meanwhile I sat back at a distance unable to see what the bird was doing. After 10 minutes of the gobbler responding to Phillips calling, it was obvious the bird was NOT going to come into range, even though it was just out of Kyle's sight. I motioned to Phillip that I was going to ease back about 40 yards and start calling, and with that plan agreed upon I dropped back and started working the slate. The bird instantly responded to my new calling position, and after a moment I gave him a few more soft yelps and waited to see if he'd gobble back. Instead the next noise I heard was my son's 12 gauge blasting a load of #5's down the slope. I caught a view of Phillip bolting down the hill to secure the flopping gobbler and with that the celebration began!
The end result was this 23 1/2 pound gobbler that was sporting a 9 1/2" beard and spurs of 21 and 24mm. I couldn't be more proud of my little buddy as he passed up that jake on Saturday and was rewarded on Sunday with this big Tom. Typed words can't adequately express my admiration for all the folks that bust their tails for these kids every Spring and Fall. It goes WAY beyond kids hunting turkeys, and to be honest you'd just have to experience it to understand it. God Bless everyone that takes the time to "pay it forward" and give these kids life altering experiences while all along the kids think they're just hunting........
Kyle and his Gobbler:
A VERY Proud Dad:
All the kids that harvested turkeys:
My son was blessed with a weekend that had literally non-stop action on Saturday morning and evening, and it erupted on Sunday morning! Without going into all the details on Saturday morning my son Kyle passed on a jake at 15 yards, a decision that we all know might come back to bite if things don't work out down the line. We didn't have any longbeards in range on Saturday, so this morning we went to a new spot. During the drive our guide asked me how my son would be if we "run and gun" versus sitting in a blind which till this morning was the only way my son had turkey hunted. I admit I was VERY skeptical since my boy has a hard time with his hips cramping up so sitting long spells can be torture on him. Kyle was anxious to try it so we decided to leave the blind behind and go to the birds instead of waiting for them to come to us!
We were working our way toward a gobbler that was hammering on the side of a ridge when we found ourselves less than 75 yards from a thunderous gobble that sent us all to the ground. I was lagging behind since I had left my camo jacket behind at camp and grabbed a black fleece since I thought we'd be hunting in a blind. I didn't want to booger the hunt with my inappropriate clothing, but as this story turns out it was a blessing in disguise. The mystery gobbler that caught us in his bedroom was just downhill from our position, and a little to our left. Kyle and our guide Phillip got against the nearest tree and Phillip started calling, meanwhile I sat back at a distance unable to see what the bird was doing. After 10 minutes of the gobbler responding to Phillips calling, it was obvious the bird was NOT going to come into range, even though it was just out of Kyle's sight. I motioned to Phillip that I was going to ease back about 40 yards and start calling, and with that plan agreed upon I dropped back and started working the slate. The bird instantly responded to my new calling position, and after a moment I gave him a few more soft yelps and waited to see if he'd gobble back. Instead the next noise I heard was my son's 12 gauge blasting a load of #5's down the slope. I caught a view of Phillip bolting down the hill to secure the flopping gobbler and with that the celebration began!
The end result was this 23 1/2 pound gobbler that was sporting a 9 1/2" beard and spurs of 21 and 24mm. I couldn't be more proud of my little buddy as he passed up that jake on Saturday and was rewarded on Sunday with this big Tom. Typed words can't adequately express my admiration for all the folks that bust their tails for these kids every Spring and Fall. It goes WAY beyond kids hunting turkeys, and to be honest you'd just have to experience it to understand it. God Bless everyone that takes the time to "pay it forward" and give these kids life altering experiences while all along the kids think they're just hunting........
Kyle and his Gobbler:
A VERY Proud Dad:
All the kids that harvested turkeys:
...but keep on spoiling!!! They grow up way to quickly and you won't have those life changing moments to make anymore.
