The next morning found us doing some scouting. We found a nice lone Tom looking for a date. We watched him the next 2 mornings as well. I didn't see him for the next few days. The Friday before the youth hunt we went out and put up a blind in the area where we had seen the bird. There were tracks and we were confident we would see something in the morning. Well the day I had been dreaming about since she was born had finally come. We were up early, got a back pack packed, made some hot chocolate and we were off.
As the sun started to rise we heard turkeys all around. There were at least 5 gobblers hammering. Nothing was really interested in our area and most of the gobblers were hanging with hens. We ended up seeing 3 bearded birds before she fell asleep. When she woke up she was ready to go home and call it a day. It was pretty cold out and I was impressed she made it 4 hours.
I had another spot in mind, so we picked up and moved our location. I wanted to set up in the woods because it seamed that most of the birds around us were in the woods. We had plans for the afternoon so that was our day 1.
Day 2 started just like Day 1. We got into the blind and Hillary snuggled into and was ready to nap. The first gobble of the morning was literally right next to us. As things got brighter, I could see the outline of the gobbler in a tree less than 20 yards away. I told Hillary she had to stay ready now and that things may heat up fast. The bird was so hot, he gobbled at everything. He was the only bird we could hear. When he finally flew down the woods came alive. Hens were yelping, and a bunch of birds all flew down to the same spot. There were 10-13 birds in that group, but they were all 40 yards away. Hillary had the gun up and she was ready but the birds moved off about 150-200 yards. Hillary set the gun down and went back to trying to sleep. I looked out the back of the blind and could see that big gobbler still strutting away, but the rest of the flock were just over the rise. I threw some pretty aggressive hen calls and he looked interested. I hammered at him again and he was on the way in. The woods was pretty wet so it took awhile for him to get to us. Hillary had the gun rested on the tripod and was ready to shoot. The bird was 25 yards away when we finally could see him. He came in so fast that he walked through our window before Hillary could get a shot off. The entire time I was trying frantically to get him to stop and whispering to her to squeeze the trigger. He finally stopped just beyond our shooting window. We switched gears to some jakes that were coming in, but as soon as we moved the big tom started coming back into view. Again he wasn't slowing down. I yelped at him and he hesitated. Hillary didn't shoot. I started to think that she was never going to shoot when BANG. she shot and the bird flopped. Then all the jakes came running over and were beating the crap out of Hillary's tom. We watched the show for a bit, hugged and high fived before we chased them away. I was elated, probably the most excited I have been on a hunt. She was grinning ear to ear and was pretty impressed with shooting.
We were done early enough, that we got to Church on time. She was so proud she was telling the story and showing off her pictures to all that would look at them. It was such a great weekend full of memories. Not only is she hooked, she has her other sisters pumped up too!
