Terry

Great pic!

Nice looking spot. I wouldn't hang a stand there. I would carry in a hang on when needed and only hunt it a few really good days. Why burn it out if you don't have to.

Nope, no decoy for me. It's too much to carry and I have always felt like they were more troublesome than they're worth. Not to mention when I did use them I felt like the Tom would hang up as soon as he could see it.

Hooks "Executioner II" diaphragm call.

Remington 870 supermag, 23" barrel, Hevi choke. Shooting the Hevi Magblends, 3-1/2".

Thanks!

Welcome!

Beautiful bird, congrats!

Awesome, congrats to you guys!

It's really too hard to say without being there. Could have been over calling, under calling, decoys, hens or any number of things. After you get some experience, you will be able to read the situation better. That's the beauty of turkey hunting, it's very interactive.

Its really hard to say. Sounds like he hung up and just didn't want to come any closer. Could be just his preference. Or he might have seen your decoys and couldn't figure out why they weren't coming to him. Did you try going silent to peak his curiosity?

My 12 year old son Hunter and I were unable to roost any birds Friday night due to a scheduling conflict so we had to go in blind Saturday morning. I decided to take him to my best spot in hopes of him at least having some action. We arrived at our chosen location at about 5:25 Saturday morning. We were settled in to our blind by about 5:35. It was on the edge of a corn field with a steep hardwood hill behind us. Instantly after getting set up I let out a couple owl hoots but never got a response. I had a bad feeling at this point since that is not normal for this area this early in the season. Around 5:45 I let out a series of tree yelps without an answer and I immediately started to think about the next spot since I planned on being pretty aggressive to get him at least some good gobbling action. Around 5:55 I let out another series of yelps and immediately was answered by a group of 4 jakes that were only roosted about 75 yards behind us on the hill. Almost instantly they flew down into the field and landed about 100 yards away from the blind. It was like they were waiting for my command before entering the field. They stayed out away from us for a bit before I started calling. They would all answer and go into full strut, but really weren't coming any closer. I was trying to call sparingly and I finally realized that I had to kick it up a notch to keep their attention. After some aggressive cuts and yelps they slowly started making their way towards us. I would stop calling for a minute and they would start heading back the way they came. It was like they had ADD! So I really started to call a lot and they slowly made their way to the blind. Eventually they were only about 20 yards away, but when choosing where to set the blind I put it right next to a brush pile to help with concealment. And of course it was now between us and the birds, we didn't have a clear shot and I couldn't get them to budge anymore. There we were 20 yards away from what we both wanted so bad and couldn't do anything about it. My son was shaking so much I had to put my hand on his leg to hold it down. It really was an exciting 5 to 10 minutes that seemed more like an eternity. Eventually the birds started heading to our right and back into the woods. I told my son to spin around and place his 870 20 gauge out the side window. As he was doing this the jakes figured out something was wrong and started to pick up their pace. He got into position just as the last two were entering the woods. He asked if he could shoot and I said SHOOT!!! He pulled the trigger and down the last bird went. The amount of excitement and emotion that was in the blind at that moment is unexplainable. You have to live it to know what I mean. As the jake fell he spun around to see what to do next. I quickly gained control of his gun and told him to go get him. He left the blind in record time and stopped again to see what I wanted him to do. I yelled out, go grab him and stand on his head. By the time he got there the jake had rolled down farther into the woods. I came up just in time to see Hunter gain control of his first turkey. Our hunt was over at about 6:30. We instantly started telling the story over and over again to each other like it was years ago. After the initial rush of excitement I helped Hunter fill out his own tag and took some pictures. He was a young bird that was probably born pretty late last year, but honestly I don't think even a mature tom could have made that moment any better. He weighed 12 pounds and had a 1" beard. This will definitely go down as one of my best hunting moments ever, and hopefully his too.

Awesome Rick! Hearing a gobble is all it takes to get someone's heart pumping.

Congrats!!

Congrats to both of you!!

This is the method I use and they come out pretty good. The trick is to use short pieces and tie them tight. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=gyGuPxe1BMA

I do. I use them in place of onions. I actually prefer them and wish the season was longer.

Congrats!

Congrats, looking forward to the pics!

They flew down about 5:55 and he shot right around 6:30. Its a pretty young Jake with about a 1" beard. He was with 3 others. They were all gobbling and strutting out in a field. It was a perfect first hunt. The birds put on a great show and gave us a little bit of a fight, exactly what I wanted to happen. At one time his leg was shaking so bad I had to put my hand on it to keep his gun from bouncing all over the place. He did great though and I was happy to be able to coach him through it. Definitely a great hunting moment. I couldn't have been more excited. We'll both be glowing for days.

Success! This is my 12 year olds first kill

Definitely. Why not?

Thanks, I didn't know that.

Very nice!

I will be out both days with my 12 year old boy.