Son's first bird

[Shu]

Well, I've been seeing a lot of great stories on here so I thought I would add one. My 13 yr old son Sam and I were hunting in WI on Saturday. Tough morning, snow on the ground, cold, etc. Hit 3 spots and only bumped one bird. Went into town for breakfast, went home and dried the clothes out. Hit the woods again about noon and set up in a small clear cut in the woods between 2 corn fields.

The very first call was met with a gobble about 100 yards away. Then for the next 30 minutes every time I would call birds would gobble. There were at least 2 birds, maybe 3 but we couldn't see them due to the brush. They'd get close and then wander off but kept gobbling from each call. Finally I shut up a bit on the call and their patience must have got thin. 2 toms finally came into range, one committed to the deke, strutting all the way in.

Sam shot at about 25 yards with his 20 ga and the bird took off flying. I couldn't see the shot since I was blocked by a tree but since it flew away I assumed it was a clean miss and Sam was feeling pretty bad. But I noticed the bird flew about 60 yards and tried to land in a tree and then veered to the left. I told him we'd better check it out and walked up there to find the bird was stone dead with ton of blood around it.

The bird was 22 lbs and had 2 beards, each about 2-3 inches long with frayed ends but the top beard had one strand that was about 8 inches. The bird has decent spurs, about 1 inch. When we registred it the guy said it looked like it got into an electric fence and maybe burned the beards off. Anyone ever heard of that? Anyway, what a day and the kid is now hooked!

[hugonian1]

Congratulations.

Sounds like a great hunt and a lifetime of memories.

Way o go Sam.

[harvey lee]

Congrats. Sounds like the both of you had the hunt of a lifetime.

[DonBo]

That's a great sounding hunt. Nice for you and your boy to share that. Congrats to both of you!

[Scott M]

Congratulations! Great hunt and story!

[mws4dux]

Great job Sam! Great pic and story

[123fish]

Congrats to both of you. Persistence pays off again. Nice follow up of your son's shot also. I would say that odds of having a double bearded gobbler burning both beards off on an electric fence as incalcuable. Most likely beard rot.

[Shu]

Thanks guys

[Gordie]

congrats on the first bird sounds like it was a great time and it sure did seem to turn otu that way

[Borch]

What a great hunt!

Congrats to both of you. He sure looks like he's hooked.

[sticknstring]

Way to go! Congrats to the young man. Great story and even better picture to remember it.