Another member added to the Turkey hunting addiction

[CaptainMusky]

My son was participating in the NWTF sponsored Youth Mentored hunt this past weekend.

Saturday we were greeted by at least 8 different Toms on roost gobbling like crazy. They couldn't have been 50 yards from us inside the woods. Due to the terrain and flat light, when they came down we never even saw them as they headed South out of the area and away from us. Lots of hens clucking and purring, etc. It was a great time.

About an hour later we had a deer walk through just inside the treeline and 30 minutes later 13 more came through! That was a blast as well.

We sat in the blind until 11 AM Saturday morning with lots of anticipation and excitement, but didn't see a bird.

The local club was having a lunch for all the mentors, youth, etc so we went to that which was VERY nice and swapped stories with the other kids. 2 Jakes were taken by other members and the smiles on their faces were absolutely priceless!

We went back out into the woods and sat there for several hours. It was nearing 7PM and no sign of anything coming back we decided to call it a day. We were worried about the proximity of the blind to the roosting area and the fact that we could potentially spook the birds on roost if we stuck it out. The mentor had these birds dialed in because he has hunted this area with other youths for 10 years. He said "lets slip out and get back here in the morning. They will be back". It worked!

Sunday morning rolls around and we are back in the blind. With the rain and thick cloud deck the woods was slower to lighten up and the birds were MUCH quieter. They also seemed farther away so we were getting a bit discouraged that it wasn't going to work out.

About 6:15 we see a Tom come out about 60 yards to our right and a hen fly down across the opening behind us and to our right. She was clucking away like crazy. The mentor did a couple hen calls and the Tom made a Beeline right for us! We jockeyed the windows in the blind. Closing then on the left side and turned my son toward the bird. It came within 15 yards and then quickly walked behind us. We were not setup for a shot that way. We closed the windows on that side and opened them on the left side and turned my son around to get a shot there. Again, the Tom was within 15 yards, but this time too much brush, no shot. The bird walked straight away and down a bit of a hill out of sight. Gobbling the whole time.

By now 4 more birds had come out to our right again. All we could see were their heads and a couple fans, but they were a good 60 yards away.

I kept an eye out for the Tom that went around us as we was gobbling like crazy still. Eventually a bird shows up 30 yards in front of us just inside the edge of the woods walking from left to right. Again the firedrill of the winds and seating happens to position for a shot out front. All of a sudden there are 6 birds coming straight at us. Where those other 5 came from I have no idea, but that Tom was joined by 5 others (jakes and Toms) and coming right at us!. The lead Tom went around to the right (I think it was the same one we had the initial encounter with) and my son singled him out. He turned to his right stuck his gun out the window then realized he had to use the next window over because a tree blocked his view as the bird moved. He carefully and quietly repositioned over and was bearing down on the bird. We hear the "click" of the safety and then a BOOM! The Winchester Long Beards did their job at 12 yards and the bird never moved.

At one point after the first bird came around behind us my son said "I really need to calm down." LOL He was shaking like crazy and breathing very heavily. :-)

Im one proud father and his smile melts my heart.

22#, 9-1/2" beard.

I want to applaud all of you involved with NWTF who mentor youths for this hunt. Without that we would have probably never been introduced to Wild Turkey hunting. It was an absolute blast and we will definitely be doing it again.

[IlliniWalli]

great job, guys! thats a heck of a tom

cool story, too

[Hoyt4]

Congrats and great story. I cannot get enough of these kids hunts and reading them on here. Love seeing them all getting out. The Mentor hunts are great thing for hunting.

[Scoot]

WTG! Good for him!

[sticknstring]

Awesome story & congrats! Great to have another addict among us!

[Borch]

Nice job and what an exciting hunt!

[Archerysniper]

Congratulations on a awesome bird

[PFUNK]

Just plain AWESOME! Congratulations!

[mws4dux]

Sweet! Great story