mowin

Got the stats... 24#, 9" beard, 1 1/8 spur.

His first bird. What a rush. I filmed the whole thing. We roosted 3 nice Tom's and a slew of hens yesterday evening. We got set up very early as these birds were on the field edge and we wanted to set up under the same tree his dad and I sat back in 2001 for his first bird. Kayden used the same 12 g his dad used. We could see two Tom's from were we were about 80 yds out. The birds gobbled often on roost, and there were a few double and triple gobbles too. They hit the ground just out of site and continued to gobble. A little cutting and cackling had one coming in on a string. At 35 yrds I told him to shoot little did I know there was several strands of old fencing only 3' in front of his barrel. At the shot, the Tom dropped, bit quickly took to flight. We watched it for about 300 yards and he dropped in the middle of a field. He lucky got caught up in a fence, and was still alive enough when we got to him that he needed a follow up shot. Best thing is he dropped within 75 yrds of the truck.

Figured we had one in the pot.. but this Tom didn't read the rule book. Had 3 hen with him. I started copying the one hen and in minutes had her pissed off. She came in looking for a fight. Strutted next to the hen deek, ( Only 2nd time I've ever seen this in 30+ yrs of turkey hunting), and brushed up against it knocking it over. She hung around for 10 min, but the Tom never followed. We'll give em hell tomorrow morning. Congrats to all the successful hunters and their mentors.

That's fantastic. Her smile is ear to ear. I bet Dads breathing was a little ragged when he was coming in. I know I get more excited and nervous when im sitting next to a youngster and the critter is in the zone. Lol

Had a crap load gobbling this morning. 6-8 to our left, and two off too our right. Prob 15 hens. Everyone went the other way Around 7:30 had a hen walk by. Circled around and we're sitting at the edge of a field watching a few hens. The boys are tight lipped, and know where to be found.

Looking forward to seeing the pic's and reading the stories. Good luck

When I took my nephew together his the other day, they asked to see my driver's license. Said they needed it/someone's license to be able to issue the youth license.

I looked at a couple vests at Dicks the other day. Couldn't believe the price. $120. I'll stick with my cargo pants. And small fanny pack.

I hunt in northern Columbia County. The ticks are thick up here. Last fall, I was in a rush to get on stand for the first time this season , and didn't spray anything down. I walked 200 yrds thru 8" field grass. I sat up in my ladder stand and picked 54 ticks from the outside of my camo. I'm sure there were many more I didn't see. I sprayed the boys camo and mine yesterday. I'll use deep woods off on hands, ankles, neck ect tomorrow morning. We've got 500 yards of field to walk across in the morning. Hopefully I'll have a decent barrier between the little buggers and ourselves.

I woke up to 7 bags of garbage strewn all over the place. Apparently, a bear likes my trash. Like your morning better. Lol

Now that's funny. "Spatching" a bird is taking the spine out so it lays flat on the cooking surface.

Taking my nephews boys out. Only one is old enough to hunt this spring tho. We're going to sit under the same tree his dad and I sat under for his first bird many years ago. There dad passed away 4yrs ago, and kayden is excited to use the same shotgun his dad used. I'm sure Adam will be looking down at his boys, and be proud their continuing the hunting tradition. Good luck to all the youth hunters this weekend. And thanks to all the dad's, uncles, mentors ect, that take these kids out.