Last day bird

[kurtkwe]

Took my 10 yr old daughter out for the final season this year. Story begins with last Fridays opening day hunt for us. Birds are gobbling at sunrise. Call to them and hear them slowly working toward us. 15 minutes or so of calling and two toms appear 80 yards away see our decoys and make a bee line straight in on a trot. First bird tackles the Jake decoy and the other joins in. My daughter is shaking and is so excited I'm not sure she will be able to shoot. She trys to calm herself takes the first shot and misses. The birds are so set on beating on the decoys that I have time to reload her break action 20 guage with another shell. She then proceeds to miss again and to my complete amazement the birds continue pounding away. This is repeated again and then again for a total of four shots fired. They then wander back to about 30 yards where she misses for the fifth time. At this point they realize something is up and walk off to about 70 yards to try to figure it all out. My daughter was just so excited and dispite the misses really not disappointed. She could have started pounding her feet and crying but instead she laughed it off. I was shocked as she can consistently put her shots on a pie plate at 20 yards and these birds were at about 10-15 yards. Turkey fever had struck her hard. Fast forward to today and same scenario plays out with this time two Jakes approaching and mingling with the two decoys at 10 yards. Turkey fever struck again just a milder case and the bird was down. I think she is hooked. I'm really indebted to the landowner who granted us permission. Great guy who even hunted with us and witnessed the first days spectacle.

[DonBo]

Congrats to you and your daughter, what a great story!

How come I never get a second shot? Not that I've ever missed.

Got some photos of you and the lucky, successful hunter?

[mws4dux]

Congrats to you and your daughter! Sounds like some action packed hunts.

[Archerysniper]

Congrats on the daughters first bird, these are the stories that get me excited for when my little one is old enough for her first bird. For the misses I'v seen grown me fall apart when that tom comes in and starts pounding the decoys, and a 10 yard shot is harder then a 20 with a moveing golf ball and a pattern the size of a slug. Like Don most turkey hunters have missed a bird or two

[Borch]

Congrats to you both. I'm sure she'll tell the stories over and over again of the misses, the turkeys and being there with her dad.

What a special time.

[bigbucks]

Cool great story. I get kids missing birds.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I have a hard time imagining missing a turkey with a shotgun when they're standing there. (I know I'll probably miss one this fall or next spring now...) I certainly understand maybe not hitting them exactly how you want to. I don't know, maybe some of you guys are shooting a lot tighter choke than mine? I've just used the standard full choke in my 870 & have had no issues. It's not super tight, but they're dead. It doesn't seem like it would be very hard to hit them with a slug. They're pretty darn big.

[sticknstring]

Quote:

Like Don most turkey hunters have missed a bird or two

I think Don's being a little conservative.

Congrats on your late-season success, I'm sure your daughter is hooked for life.

[Shu]

Great story, congrats to your daughter!

[kurtkwe]

It's easier to miss than you think. In particular a young kid with low base shells, 3/4 ounce of shot, not much experience shooting yet, and a ton of nerves. Close shots mean tighter patterns as well. Even adults with lots of experience and magnum loads with lots of shot miss on occasion. If we want a sure thing we can pick up a turkey at Cub. Its the whole experience of being in the woods early, listening to the gobbles and the other birds singing, watching the deer feeding, seeing the sunrise, working the call, hearing the gobble get louder, seeing that turkey approach, etc that make it special. I told my daughter if she ever loses that excitement, that nervous feeling, that little bit of shaking then she might as well just buy her turkey at the market. Obviously as we age and mature we learn to control it but I still get that feeling to this day and I'm on back side of 40. I really feel its important to try and get kids involved in the outdoor lifestyle. It might not take for them all but you have to at least try.

[Archerysniper]

It's easier to miss than you think. In particular a young kid with low base shells, 3/4 ounce of shot, not much experience shooting yet, and a ton of nerves. Close shots mean tighter patterns as well. Even adults with lots of experience and magnum loads with lots of shot miss on occasion. If we want a sure thing we can pick up a turkey at Cub. Its the whole experience of being in the woods early, listening to the gobbles and the other birds singing, watching the deer feeding, seeing the sunrise, working the call, hearing the gobble get louder, seeing that turkey approach, etc that make it special. I told my daughter if she ever loses that excitement, that nervous feeling, that little bit of shaking then she might as well just buy her turkey at the market. Obviously as we age and mature we learn to control it but I still get that feeling to this day and I'm on back side of 40. I really feel its important to try and get kids involved in the outdoor lifestyle. It might not take for them all but you have to at least try.

+1000 on this I brought out the 15 year old neighbor girl for her first turkey hunt this year and had 2 toms at 50 yards and was coaching her getting the gun set in her shoulder and keeping her face down on the stock certain those birds were comeing in and they turned and left watching her come down from that high was the best thing I have seen in years. I asked her if she got nervouse and excited once they left and she said she almost p ooed herself, thats why I'm out there passing it along.