Post by 76chevy on May 6, 2023 15:49:06 GMT -5
Day one of youth season 2023 we were hunting an old surface coal mine property had a bird at 55yds right off the roost pop his head in the field to take a closer look.
He stayed well out of range of the .410 with 9.5 shot TSS my 12 year old son Malachi was hunting with though and the bird eventually hung up and then drifted off. The bird saw the jake decoy and would come no closer.
Day two broke with high expectations and low temps. We had moved the blind slightly based on day one activity. We had some birds on all sides of us who gobbled early then went quiet after fly down.
One circled us and closed the distance to within 75 yds or so in thick woods behind us then hung up then went silent. About 930 he fired back up and gobbled on an off for 45 min or so. I caught a glimpse of a hen entering the field to our rear and left. I then spotted the trailing gobbler just enter the field at full strut. My son is a lefty and the blind is setup to shoot to his strong side (right). We had to a do a quick reposition in the blind, spin around, drop the rear windows after closing the front ones. The gobbler stayed in full strut and turned away giving us the time we needed to get ready, Malachi setup the .410 on the shooting stick and got ready for the shot to present itself. Malachi finally had a clear shot and let him have it at 35 yds. High fives and hugs followed! A day neither of us will ever forget!
He stayed well out of range of the .410 with 9.5 shot TSS my 12 year old son Malachi was hunting with though and the bird eventually hung up and then drifted off. The bird saw the jake decoy and would come no closer.
Day two broke with high expectations and low temps. We had moved the blind slightly based on day one activity. We had some birds on all sides of us who gobbled early then went quiet after fly down.
One circled us and closed the distance to within 75 yds or so in thick woods behind us then hung up then went silent. About 930 he fired back up and gobbled on an off for 45 min or so. I caught a glimpse of a hen entering the field to our rear and left. I then spotted the trailing gobbler just enter the field at full strut. My son is a lefty and the blind is setup to shoot to his strong side (right). We had to a do a quick reposition in the blind, spin around, drop the rear windows after closing the front ones. The gobbler stayed in full strut and turned away giving us the time we needed to get ready, Malachi setup the .410 on the shooting stick and got ready for the shot to present itself. Malachi finally had a clear shot and let him have it at 35 yds. High fives and hugs followed! A day neither of us will ever forget!
