Pollcat
04-06-2009, 05:30 PM
All the youth harvest pics and stories got me thinking about all the youth hunters that might not have been so successful but had a great hunt anyway. Who got close?
I took a 14yr old the first morning with no luck, then that afternoon I took my 7yr old son and put him on a big bird. The gobbler never came closer than 30 yds and I thought that was too far so I didn't let him shoot. 2hrs later, another big strutter and 3 hens came into the set at aprox 25 yds. We got to witness a strutter come into view from fan tips as it slowly topped the grassy hill....sunny, wind blowing, it was almost like everything was in slow motion. Absolutely breath taking. As the group came inside of 25yds I gave my boy the ok to take the longbeard. He shot and the bird hit the ground, rolled over, and flopped a little. I thought it was a done deal and soon began celebrating with my boy. Next thing, the bird starts to hop toward the woods. 2 more shots fired and the bird is still hopping. Bad problem, now the gun is empty and we're out of shells. The gobbler makes it to the woods and I'm dead on his heels trying to get my hands on him. He's weaving and hopping through the timber and I'm about 10yds behind him trying to claw my way through the ice storm damage. Every third step my feet would tangle and I would go down. After chasing the bird for nearly 60yds through the woods, he came to the top of a hill and got some air under his wings and glided over the next hill about 8ft off the ground. We looked for the next 2 hours and never recovered the bird. I was absolutely sick. When he finally realized the search was over and we were walking back to the truck, his eyes began to water. I dropped everything I was holding and gave him a huge hug. I told him I've got some good news and some bad news, what do you want first? He says the good news. I said, son...you are gonna make one heck of a turkey hunter. He says what's the bad news? I said, this ain't the last big gobbler you're gonna miss. He wiped his eyes and smiled and said, this was a fun day dad.
I took a 14yr old the first morning with no luck, then that afternoon I took my 7yr old son and put him on a big bird. The gobbler never came closer than 30 yds and I thought that was too far so I didn't let him shoot. 2hrs later, another big strutter and 3 hens came into the set at aprox 25 yds. We got to witness a strutter come into view from fan tips as it slowly topped the grassy hill....sunny, wind blowing, it was almost like everything was in slow motion. Absolutely breath taking. As the group came inside of 25yds I gave my boy the ok to take the longbeard. He shot and the bird hit the ground, rolled over, and flopped a little. I thought it was a done deal and soon began celebrating with my boy. Next thing, the bird starts to hop toward the woods. 2 more shots fired and the bird is still hopping. Bad problem, now the gun is empty and we're out of shells. The gobbler makes it to the woods and I'm dead on his heels trying to get my hands on him. He's weaving and hopping through the timber and I'm about 10yds behind him trying to claw my way through the ice storm damage. Every third step my feet would tangle and I would go down. After chasing the bird for nearly 60yds through the woods, he came to the top of a hill and got some air under his wings and glided over the next hill about 8ft off the ground. We looked for the next 2 hours and never recovered the bird. I was absolutely sick. When he finally realized the search was over and we were walking back to the truck, his eyes began to water. I dropped everything I was holding and gave him a huge hug. I told him I've got some good news and some bad news, what do you want first? He says the good news. I said, son...you are gonna make one heck of a turkey hunter. He says what's the bad news? I said, this ain't the last big gobbler you're gonna miss. He wiped his eyes and smiled and said, this was a fun day dad.