Son scores on his second bird of the year!

[Grayfox]

My youngest son Mitchell took his second bird of the season yesterday.

Last weekend he ended up taking a young jake in Wisconsin. I had called in a big tom, two jakes and a hen. The tom and a jake came running up the trail behind him in the picture and I kept telling him to make sure he only hit the Tom, as the tom was in front and the jake was behind and a little to his right. They ran up to 10 yards and he asked me to stop them,I called,they stopped,he shot, and the tom took off. We saw it land down the trail and start gobbleing. I asked him how he could have missed and he said he had the gun right on him,apparently not. Two jakes and a hen came out and started down the trail towards us and were getting a little jumpy. Then we heard a little rustleing in the woods to the right. I asked him if he shot the wrong bird and he just shrugged his shoulders.

I walked down the trail and found the jake. He was pretty upset as you can tell from the pictures. I'm still not sure if he was aiming at the wrong bird or just so excited that he flinched. It really doesn't matter but I do feel bad, as I rode him a bit after the shot which made the situation worse. Sometimes I forget that he's only 13 and that the reason we hunt is that we love spending time together and the end result doesn't have to be a bird or coyote on the ground. When we got home I set him up with the wifes shotgun and put a scope on it to help him out.

Then yesterday I took him over to Minnesota to try for a bird at my wifes parents. We heard several toms gobbleing but also heard quite a few hens between them and us. We had one come in at about 11 A.M. but hung up on the other side of a swamp. Then around 2 P.M. we moved North and set up along a trail on the edge of the neibors property. We heard some goggles and set up but it was so thick when the two big toms came in to 10 yards he couldn't get a shot through the brush and they bugged out. After the rain ended we decided to head down to my parents house and give it a try. We came over a hill and I saw a Tom and hen feeding in a field. We snuck down through some pines and I set my Tom decoy in strut along the treeline and we crawled under another. I worked that bird for over 45 minutes. Gobbleing everytime he gobbled and throwing in a few calls here and there. Finally the hen comes over a hill with the big boy following. He manuevered in front of her to cut her off but we lost him over a hill in front of us. When he popped out at 15 yards he was on our right and Mitch couldn't turn far enough for a shot and we had to watch and listen to him spit and drum off. That was tough. Then 5 young toms came across a fence line and saw the decoy and started in. They were walking side by side and disappeared below us. I told him to make sure they're on grampas property when he shoots. I saw a head coming up the hill,then another and another and the next thing you know there 10 yards away and all still in a line. I whisper to mit to make sure the one he shoots is clear of the others and I hear him say that they're too close. I say pick one and squeeze and then the gun goes off and the bird is down. What a great day and a very proud dad.

[Nightcrawler]

very good, you should be a proud dad and lucky to spend the time with him they grow up fast. them were hunts he will not forget, it will always be my dad and I storys.

[Borch]

Great stories! Stuff happens especially with young hunters. But he ended up with two legal birds and he seems much happier in the second picture.

[DonBo]

You and Mitch are certainly on a roll. Congrats!

BTW, ain't no shame in bustin' a jake.

[Cheetah]

Bummer about the disappointment with the jake, but he looks happy enough with the second bird.

You two should mount the tail and beard for him, easy to do and should be fun for him. There's lots of information on the internet for how to do it if you don't already know.

[tweedlap]

Great stories and hunts !

Nice work!

tweed

[Grayfox]

I'm so fortunate to have one of my kids that truly enjoys being outdoors as much,if not more than I do. We are pretty much inseparable most of the time

but I know the time will come when(and its already happened before)dads going to take a back seat to the girls so I'm going to cherish the memories we are making now and remember to lighten up. We're going to be pretty busy the next few weeks. My daughter is hunting next week. The wife and I are hunting the following week and then Mitchell's back at it the week after that and then Mitch and I have the next two weeks with my oldest son having the last week as well. Plenty of bonus tags still left over here, good luck to all.

[birdswacker]

Greybeard,

Way to get Mitch interested in turkey hunting its a rush watching them isn't it? My son is hunting 3rd season. Me and Berqy are headed to Rushford (SE MN) for 4th season I can't wait. Inlaws still North of crossroads? My parents are south a mile and we haven't seen squat down there. Tell momma good luck.

[Grayfox]

Vance,that kid is a bird rolling machine. Last year he took 3 in the spring and 2 in the fall between the two states and the bonus tags. I have more fun just calling them in for him when I don't have control of the gun. Shooting them is the easy part. Yeah, the inlaws are still in the same spot as well as my parents. You remember where they live don't you? The house you ate all the food up at when I left to drive someone home that night. Just kidding, I still think it was that putz Arny. Tell your son I wish him luck and good luck to you and Lips. Lets see some of pictures of you and your son on here. Things are winding down a little at the ballpark now and I have a little more free time if you and Berq want to get together to do a little fishing or have a beer or two. Just let me know.

Rob