Success at Kyle's final Freedom Hunt
Apr 24, 2016 17:53:13 GMT -5
Woody Williams, featherduster, and 8 more like this
Post by bsutravis on Apr 24, 2016 17:53:13 GMT -5
A final report in for my son who just participated in his 6th and final youth turkey hunt with the Freedom Hunt Southern Swing in Jennings County. Over the past several years my son has been fortunate enough to get involved with the Freedom Hunt Deer Hunt which was the project of Steve Griffey (Hunter7x) as well as the spin-off group of volunteers in Jennings County who run the Freedom Hunt Southern Swing youth turkey hunt. I cannot imagine a more rewarding experience for not just my son, but myself as we made our way into camp each Spring and Fall.
I believe this year's turkey camp had 18 youth hunting, all with various special needs and disabilities. Some kids have obvious setbacks, others are more hidden, each though have had curve balls thrown their way which limits them in some way. Just like all the camps of the past, once the hunter gets into camp there is very little if any mention of inabilities and it's all about ABILITY during the weekend hunt.
Kyle met up with his guide(s) on Friday and as luck would have it, both are members of the Hunting Indiana family! Josh, aka Quackerwhacker and John, aka Boilermaker set the scene for a great hunt on Saturday morning and boy, they didn't disappoint! Opening morning after a ride in the side-by-side we made our way a few hundred yards across a field nearing the point that we would get set up. We were still walking in when the gobblers fired up! We got set up, Kyle and I in the pop-up blind while Josh and John hunkered down slightly behind us and ran the calls. We barely had time to get all set up before the birds REALLY started hammering in all directions. My guess is we had 8-9 gobblers that were filling the morning air with that sweet sound. Before we knew it a group of hens pitched down into the field we were on, about 100 yards away. Soon after a group of 3 longbeards followed and it was game on!
The gobblers put on a show for us at the far end of the field before one of them noticed that our decoy was being courted by a plastic imposter known as Jake. They weren't having it and went on a dead run to our decoy setup that was about 30 yards from our perch in the blind. The boss Tom strutted his stuff and we had to wait, and wait, and wait for him to break strut so Kyle could get a good, clean shot. Finally the Tom turned to his left and was sideways and Kyle eased into the trigger. The Mossberg erupted and all that was left was a dead bird and lots of celebrating! Josh and John put us at center stage for one of the most enjoyable turkey hunts I've experienced and we can't thank them enough!
Over the 6 years that Kyle participated he collected 5 longbeards! We never judge our hunts by what is killed because certainly last season when Kyle didn't get a shot we had an amazing hunt that I'll never forget even though we never got closer than 150 yards of our targets. The Freedom Hunt has brought Kyle so much confidence as he has dealt with a bone disease, and the lessons learned will last a lifetime.
So, here are the digits: 24lbs 3oz, 1 1/4" spurs, 10.5" beard - NWTF Score: 75.1875
I believe this year's turkey camp had 18 youth hunting, all with various special needs and disabilities. Some kids have obvious setbacks, others are more hidden, each though have had curve balls thrown their way which limits them in some way. Just like all the camps of the past, once the hunter gets into camp there is very little if any mention of inabilities and it's all about ABILITY during the weekend hunt.
Kyle met up with his guide(s) on Friday and as luck would have it, both are members of the Hunting Indiana family! Josh, aka Quackerwhacker and John, aka Boilermaker set the scene for a great hunt on Saturday morning and boy, they didn't disappoint! Opening morning after a ride in the side-by-side we made our way a few hundred yards across a field nearing the point that we would get set up. We were still walking in when the gobblers fired up! We got set up, Kyle and I in the pop-up blind while Josh and John hunkered down slightly behind us and ran the calls. We barely had time to get all set up before the birds REALLY started hammering in all directions. My guess is we had 8-9 gobblers that were filling the morning air with that sweet sound. Before we knew it a group of hens pitched down into the field we were on, about 100 yards away. Soon after a group of 3 longbeards followed and it was game on!
The gobblers put on a show for us at the far end of the field before one of them noticed that our decoy was being courted by a plastic imposter known as Jake. They weren't having it and went on a dead run to our decoy setup that was about 30 yards from our perch in the blind. The boss Tom strutted his stuff and we had to wait, and wait, and wait for him to break strut so Kyle could get a good, clean shot. Finally the Tom turned to his left and was sideways and Kyle eased into the trigger. The Mossberg erupted and all that was left was a dead bird and lots of celebrating! Josh and John put us at center stage for one of the most enjoyable turkey hunts I've experienced and we can't thank them enough!
Over the 6 years that Kyle participated he collected 5 longbeards! We never judge our hunts by what is killed because certainly last season when Kyle didn't get a shot we had an amazing hunt that I'll never forget even though we never got closer than 150 yards of our targets. The Freedom Hunt has brought Kyle so much confidence as he has dealt with a bone disease, and the lessons learned will last a lifetime.
So, here are the digits: 24lbs 3oz, 1 1/4" spurs, 10.5" beard - NWTF Score: 75.1875
