2016 Youth Spring Turkey Hunt Contest Official Thread - Deadline is April 29

[kpkot]

Was on the fence about getting out for youth as my little cousin who I took last year couldn't get out this weekend. Now I will be tagging along with a good friend and his grandson. This will be his second youth season. Not a ton of turkey sign by me in 9h, but also have a close property in 8g we can hunt if nothing is going on. I haven't scouted the 8g property yet this year. Good luck all!

[Ron]

Really great idea guys and some generous donations as well .. I would like to get my nephew Dillon age 14 in as we will be hunting this weekend..Thanks Ron..

[letinmfly]

Good luck to everyone who will be out hunting this weekend!!  Don't forget to post your stories and pics on this thread for the contest.

Be safe!!

[Rick Howard]

Good luck!

[Deerthug]

I'm in with my son.

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[G-Man]

One down this am..

Edited April 23, 2016 by G-Man

[dbHunterNY]

atta boy to Lou, wooly, and rick... hopefully i didn't miss somebody.  several youth boys and girls rolled them out this way this morning.  some too busy with sports.  wasn't able to take one out this AM.

 

[Deerthug]

Congrats!

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[Bowguy 1]

Congrats gman

[WNY Bowhunter]

Congrats! I had an awesome hunt this morning too. Thought we had the deal closed first thing...moved on to a different group of birds...killed one at 9:30.

Edited April 23, 2016 by WNY Bowhunter

[Four Season Whitetail's]

I saw a pic of our buddy Joe on facebook this morning with a nice one his little brother blistered!

[LI OUTDOORSMAN]

Took my buddy's 12 yr old out East on L.I. this morning...had torrential rains and some fog..no gobbling...did some light calling and had a bruiser run in from across the field and beat the heck out of Pretty Boy decoy and then Frankie flattened him at 10 yds with his Mossberg 20ga...all done at 6:20AM...AWESOME hunt and got it all on video.

Bird weighed 20.5lbs

1 1/4" spurs

11" beard

Edited April 23, 2016 by LI OUTDOORSMAN

[Lawdwaz]

One down this am..20160423_063932.jpg

 

That guy looks like AG?

 

Did they kill the bird at your place G-Man?

 

Congrats!!

[Paula]

Can't wait for the stories!

[G-Man]

That guy looks like AG?

Did they kill the bird at your place G-Man?

Congrats!!

Yes took him and his nephew out opening day, and took his niece today

. She should.of had a good one at.614 al didn't let her shoot edge of rage he thought, then hour later had a jake at 15 yards and couldn't get gun up was facing another bird that was gobbling...

[Lawdwaz]

Yes took him and his nephew out opening day, and took his niece today

. She should.of had a good one at.614 al didn't let her shoot edge of rage he thought, then hour later had a jake at 15 yards and couldn't get gun up was facing another bird that was gobbling...

 

Good deal.  Al is a nice guy!

[MACHINIST]

Well my nephew and I hunted hard saturday we had a hell of a day in the woods coming close to quite a few gobblers,jakes and countless hens but the closest we got to sealing the deal was 70-80 yards.The last 2 years we have been down to a friends camp for the sunday of youth season that puts on a youth turkey hunt that has been very sucsesssful.We went down and got in camp last night and before dark the group of us went out and roosted some birds for the morning,after that a feast was put on for the kids,dads,uncles,friends and family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were eating dinner the typical hunting camp stuff was going on with stories being told.We all meet some new people shared some new techniques and then we all went to bed around 1030-1100 last night......so 4am was a real wakeup call!!!HAHA One by one we all got up and got ready for the day,ate some quick breakfast and rolled out into our discussed group.Myself and my nephew (Reed) went out with another youth hunter (Briana) and a new friend (Mike)who did the calling.He was something else behind those calls and what I learned was a real eye opening this am.We made our way to the area where we had roosted a bird the previous night and when we got to the spot he hammered off the roost like he was reading a script,only problem was the spot he was in he could very easily pitch down into 2 different fields so we chose the filed to the north.We found a spot that was full of briars and nasty stuff to set up on and I set out a strutter decoy,jake and hen.The two kids set up so one would shoot right and the other left.After we settled in he gobbled no less that 50 times from the roost and at around 100 yards away if the kids were half as excited as I was we did our jobs!!He pitched off the roost but in another field behind us,so he would have to cross a small stream and some briars to get into the shooting setup.He worked his way in behind us to about 50 yard and paced back and fourth strutting,gobbling and doing his thing.We aren't sure if the strutter or the creek kept him from coming across but he wasn't having any of it so we let him walk off to the west.Mike said "Lets let him head that way and we will try and cut him off up ahead",as soon as that was said we heard multiple gobbles to the northwest of our setup as 4 jakes came charging in.They ran right in and started throwing a beating on the jake decoy at 15 yards.Mike was with the kids with myself Reed and Briana's dad behind her,as jakes always do they bunched up and we didn't want to have one shoot 2 or 3 at one time so we waited for the best time.After a few second which seamed like minutes they had clear shots and the order was given.With all the excitement both of them missed the first shot!!!!! The second was also a swing and a miss with Reed but dropped the jake on the right with his 3rd shot!!Briana's shotgun had a malfunction with shot #2 that she cleared all by herself racking in the third shell while Reeds jake was flopping on the ground but the other 3 were in high gear going away when one decided he wanted to beat up on his friend.He turned,came back and proceeded to stomp the heck out of the flopping bird and she knocked him off with her 3rd shot.When that happened I'm pretty sure the whole lot of us were louder than the shotguns with screaming,guns were cleared and the pics,hugs and congratgulations began!!

 

 

This is Briana's dad,Briana,Reed and myself

 

 

 

a few more

 

 

 

This is Briana,Mike and Reed

 

 

 

And the lucky hunters walking back to camp

 

Edited April 24, 2016 by MACHINIST

[turkeyfeathers]

I'm feeling like a bad father now not being able to close the deal on birds we had going. Not sure what I could have done differently. Called them from maybe 500 yards off to 200 into field edge. Couldn't get them to cross to our side of field. The 2 adult toms displayed spinning in circles for 45 minutes or so. We noticed a lot of hens still in their woods edge. We as another hen weren't going to move as toms wanted. I closed the gap of the initial contact but simply couldn't draw them in closer. Once they were strutting I ditched yelps and went soft clucks and some loving purrs with some scratching behind me. What would you have done ?

Congrats to all the youths and mentors on connecting this weekend. Love the pics and stories.

Hoping now daughter and I connect on s double regular opener We still had a blast but I'm a little disappointed for her.

[Skillet]

I'm feeling like a bad father now not being able to close the deal on birds we had going. Not sure what I could have done differently. Called them from maybe 500 yards off to 200 into field edge. Couldn't get them to cross to our side of field. The 2 adult toms displayed spinning in circles for 45 minutes or so. We noticed a lot of hens still in their woods edge. We as another hen weren't going to move as toms wanted. I closed the gap of the initial contact but simply couldn't draw them in closer. Once they were strutting I ditched yelps and went soft clucks and some loving purrs with some scratching behind me. What would you have done ?

Congrats to all the youths and mentors on connecting this weekend. Love the pics and stories.

Hoping now daughter and I connect on s double regular opener We still had a blast but I'm a little disappointed for her.

You're looking at it wrong, buddy. A bad father wouldn't have even been out there with her. A bad father would've been too hung over, or too selfish to share. It's not the bird that makes the youth hunt, it's the time with her Dad. My son and I connected this year & it feels great, but we still talk often about last year & the fun we had even with no kills. Cut yourself a break.

[f3cbboy]

No birds on my end but we had a great day.  A tom returned a call with a gobble at about 0615.  The only bird in the woods on sun morn that we saw.  He walked around about 80 yds out and wouldn't come in and give us a shot.  He went to the right behind us and we kind of forgot about him as he went totally silent.  We sat until about 0710 or so and mine and my buddy's son were getting cold.  

 

That being said we decided to get something to eat and i stood up from behind to ground blind to see that big tom about 25 yds behind us.  Frozen i let the boys know when they could move as i was watching the bird as i stood against the tree.  As they got situated my buddy's son was never presented a good shot with obstructions in the way.  The bird just kept coming to the left and presented himself to my boy at about 15 yds.  He stopped stretched up his head and upon hearing both myself and my buddy quietly say SHOOT,

 

My son shot high and the tom flew away waving his tail feathers at us.

 

All four of us were disappointed but nonetheless it was great to get returned calls  by birds and the memory of that tom walking by at 15 yds will last even though we didn't come home with a turkey.

 

Good luck to everyone else for the rest of turkeys and keep bring kids out hunting with you.

[rotorooter23]

Took my little cousin out Saturday morning for the youth hunt. Right off the bat had a love struck tom in full strut spitting and drumming all the way down to us. I think the nerves got to him a little bit as he let one rip before I could talk him through the shot. The bird was in full strut with his head tucked firmly against his body and you could guess what happened.

 

After a few minutes of learning from the situation, I struck up another bird within 15 minutes of the previous shot against the same exact tree. Getting a little aggressive with the calling and a few double triple gobbles from him we had this bird hook line sinker. We watched this bird strut all the way across the field to 15 yards. Nolan made sure this bird wasn't getting away! He did everything right in my eyes this time and we had a bird down and happy camper. The hunt will go down as one my best turkey hunts to date.

 

Bird had 9" beard and sported 1" spurs.

 

PS. Forgot to add both the miss and the kill are on film!

[stoneam2006]

I'm feeling like a bad father now not being able to close the deal on birds we had going. Not sure what I could have done differently. Called them from maybe 500 yards off to 200 into field edge. Couldn't get them to cross to our side of field. The 2 adult toms displayed spinning in circles for 45 minutes or so. We noticed a lot of hens still in their woods edge. We as another hen weren't going to move as toms wanted. I closed the gap of the initial contact but simply couldn't draw them in closer. Once they were strutting I ditched yelps and went soft clucks and some loving purrs with some scratching behind me. What would you have done ?

Congrats to all the youths and mentors on connecting this weekend. Love the pics and stories.

Hoping now daughter and I connect on s double regular opener We still had a blast but I'm a little disappointed for her.

That's why it's called hunting and not killing....sometimes I feel like not killing one sets realistic expectations of hunting and makes getting one that much more special.

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[turkeyfeathers]

I guess bad dad didn't come out as intended. Believe me , we made memories to last forever and both enjoyed it very much. I'm so proud of her so good at ballet and wanting to go hunting with me. Just a little disappointed in myself for not sealing the deal. I get the not always shooting part. I passed on a shooter 7 point at point blank of gun opener 20 minutes into season to teach her just that ." It's hunting and not shooting ". She got it. It's a chess match with hopes of checkmate coming at a later date.

[LET EM GROW]

Our saturday was a little bit of a let down, i didnt get a chnace to roost any birds friday night so we setup on a great roost spot. The weather was quite crappy, Thick fog, rain and some wind.. that didnt clear out til close to noon, and we could only hunt til 9 saturday morning. Well long story short, not one bird flew out nor gobbled anywheres nearby. until about 630am a bird gobbled behind us about 600 yards out in or near the "big" field... We made a move and setup on what was atleast 4 or 5 birds.. sounded like full fans mixed with jakes.. couldnt see with the fog. Well we tried our hardest to work some magic but whether it was us or the weather.. the deal went in the birds favor.. they gobbled to every 2 or 3 of our calls but seemed to have no interest in committing. The boy still had fun watching the squireels and seeing the several dozen deer we encountered. He kept saying i hope we get one, i hope we get one. I told him i hope so too, but just dont get upset if we dont. the day will come that we get you one.. until then were gonna learn these birds, and thats the best part. He smiled and agreed. that ended our Saturday hunt, later that day after my events ended he asked if i could take him out during the regular season so he could sleep in on sunday instead. lol, i said happily that would not be a problem. so Sunday was a sleep in day for myself. was bummed a tad only because the weather was much better, and the action may have been too, but we will chase them again soon.. Congrats to all the kids and mentors that successed, youth seasons are awesome. 

[MACHINIST]

You're looking at it wrong, buddy. A bad father wouldn't have even been out there with her. A bad father would've been too hung over, or too selfish to share. It's not the bird that makes the youth hunt, it's the time with her Dad. My son and I connected this year & it feels great, but we still talk often about last year & the fun we had even with no kills. Cut yourself a break.

 

Damn straigth!!!!!