Fun youth hunt...
Posted: March 19th, 2017, 11:47 pm
I took my nephew Chandler and my cousin's lil girl Bethany on our two day youth hunt this weekend and man, it was exciting to say the least. Bethany had a ball tourney Saturday, so lil man was up to bat first. The weather was not the best that morn with wind, clouds, and a sprinkle once in a while. We heard a tom on a non-hunted neighboring farm early, but some dude got between us on the edge of our lease and bumped him. There was a bunch of sign in the area, so I decided to sit tight for a while. About 8 a lone tom fired off behind us in the pines prob 200yds, so I hit him and he started coming. That dude got to about 50-60yds through the brush and a dang hen came in cutting and raising cane in front of us. At first I thought it was on with the live decoy, he was eating it up and close enough we could hear him drumming, but the ole girl went right to him and led him away from us of course before he made it out in the open for a shot. The rest of the day was a bust, we hunted hard until 4:30pm, but never got on anything. He had a blast though and we both got pretty shook up when the tom got close, so that's all that matters.
Sunday was B's turn, so I decided to go into the same spot we got on the tom Sat. The weather was perfect, clear, calm, and 55deg. At daylight we could barely hear some birds on the neighbor's farm, but that was it, nothing happening on the lease. After about 45min I decided to raise a little cane and see what the distant birds would do and I'll be danged if they didn't get a bit closer every few mins or so. They gobbled so much I believe it was 3 toms by the sound of them cutting each other off. After about an hour I got them to cross some pastures and come through the fence on us, but the rascals hung up about 150yds out and wouldn't budge. They lit up at everything I tried, but wouldn't budge off an old logging set. After a while some hens went right to them and they shut up. We made a move and got a bit closer. I was able to get one to give a few courtesy gobbles and finally pulled him back to the logging set. I threw everything j could think of, but 100yds was it. He was just around a bend in the old logging rd. I gave him the silent treatment and finally he started twds us. Right before that rascal got to us he turned about 50yds out and left out gobbling once in a while. I went down and cut his tracks, he made it to 50yds, but just out of sight due to some brush. We gave it til 11:30, but nothing happened. We made a move to another lease at noon and had a bird hammering when we got out of the truck. We scrambled to get set up and he hammered at everything I gave him for a while, but he was steadily getting further away. A bit later I heard footsteps back behind us, so told B not to move a muscle. I eased around and saw it was 3 jakes coming. They walked by pretty close and when they got about 25yds I told her to shoot. She put a 1-5/8oz load of TSS right in that rascal's neck. It was just a jake, but last setup and 1pm, I decided to give the green light. You'd of thought it was a giant 4yo, she was pumped.
I love taking kids hunting, I think I get more nervous than they do lol. It was an awesome wknd. I love it when a plan comes together!
Sunday was B's turn, so I decided to go into the same spot we got on the tom Sat. The weather was perfect, clear, calm, and 55deg. At daylight we could barely hear some birds on the neighbor's farm, but that was it, nothing happening on the lease. After about 45min I decided to raise a little cane and see what the distant birds would do and I'll be danged if they didn't get a bit closer every few mins or so. They gobbled so much I believe it was 3 toms by the sound of them cutting each other off. After about an hour I got them to cross some pastures and come through the fence on us, but the rascals hung up about 150yds out and wouldn't budge. They lit up at everything I tried, but wouldn't budge off an old logging set. After a while some hens went right to them and they shut up. We made a move and got a bit closer. I was able to get one to give a few courtesy gobbles and finally pulled him back to the logging set. I threw everything j could think of, but 100yds was it. He was just around a bend in the old logging rd. I gave him the silent treatment and finally he started twds us. Right before that rascal got to us he turned about 50yds out and left out gobbling once in a while. I went down and cut his tracks, he made it to 50yds, but just out of sight due to some brush. We gave it til 11:30, but nothing happened. We made a move to another lease at noon and had a bird hammering when we got out of the truck. We scrambled to get set up and he hammered at everything I gave him for a while, but he was steadily getting further away. A bit later I heard footsteps back behind us, so told B not to move a muscle. I eased around and saw it was 3 jakes coming. They walked by pretty close and when they got about 25yds I told her to shoot. She put a 1-5/8oz load of TSS right in that rascal's neck. It was just a jake, but last setup and 1pm, I decided to give the green light. You'd of thought it was a giant 4yo, she was pumped.
I love taking kids hunting, I think I get more nervous than they do lol. It was an awesome wknd. I love it when a plan comes together!
