LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Hudson has now officially killed a handful of toms. This was his third season turkey hunting and his first four birds he's shot in a blind over decoys. Some really cool hunts but for his second tag this year he wanted to stalk a turkey. Sounded like a great idea to me, he needed something to challenge him more and expose him to some disappointment. haha He's been kind of spoiled up to this point. The first day we could get out was Saturday April 27th. We slept in and were hunting by 7:30. Stalk #1 we thought we had two toms spotted but turned out to be two hens fluffed up drying off from the storms over night. Stalk #2 we spotted two toms but they were a longgggg ways off and across a muddy field, wasn't worth the effort to get to them as we had limited time this morning. We spotted a pair of jakes but Hudson only wanted a tom. So we kept on driving. Shortly later we spotted a pair of toms strutting for 5-6 hens in an alfalfa field close to the road. These ones were worth attempting a stalk! We only had to walk about 100yds before the birds would see our decoy, we first tried on the bottom side of a terrace but didn't like how exposed we were. So we backed up and went to the top side of the terrace. Immediately we could tell the birds had the right attitude... they turned towards us, went full strut and were coming in. We never moved again, the birds worked the whole way to us! Hudson was prepared to shoot towards the bottom of the terrace but the birds popped out to our right on the top of the terrace. He had to swing his gun to the right and adjust, which is tough for a right hand shooter, let alone a little kid. But he did it and made about a 30yd shot on the first tom, dropped him. The second bird stuck around pecking at his buddy and gave me a shot. So fun! We've taken Hudson deer and turkey hunting since he was only a few months old. It's definitely not easy to take kids along hunting but man it's so worth it to see the addiction and excitement in their eyes when it is their turn to hunt. Never pass on a chance to take a kid hunting!
This turkey season was the most efficient one yet! Saw a thread asking about bird numbers and in our area, we've killed hundreds of nest predators and continue to do so today. Burn lots of area in the springs and are constantly running chainsaws keeping the forest growth younger, especially along field edges. Also doubles to keep larger junk trees from growing next to the crop fields. Bird numbers are coming back very fast. We hunted five times totaling less than 10 hours:
#1 - close call on two jakes and two toms, never closer than 50yds though. Too far for the kids.
#2 - Hudson killed one tom, Ollie didn't want to shoot the second tom
#3 - Nicole and I doubled up on toms
#4 - Hudson and I doubled up on toms
#5 - Ollie had a tom come into about 60yds and then 7 jakes come in, closest was 25yds but he didn't want to shoot again. Need to spend more time at the range and he'll be ready next year!
This turkey season was the most efficient one yet! Saw a thread asking about bird numbers and in our area, we've killed hundreds of nest predators and continue to do so today. Burn lots of area in the springs and are constantly running chainsaws keeping the forest growth younger, especially along field edges. Also doubles to keep larger junk trees from growing next to the crop fields. Bird numbers are coming back very fast. We hunted five times totaling less than 10 hours:
#1 - close call on two jakes and two toms, never closer than 50yds though. Too far for the kids.
#2 - Hudson killed one tom, Ollie didn't want to shoot the second tom
#3 - Nicole and I doubled up on toms
#4 - Hudson and I doubled up on toms
#5 - Ollie had a tom come into about 60yds and then 7 jakes come in, closest was 25yds but he didn't want to shoot again. Need to spend more time at the range and he'll be ready next year!
