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A couple weeks ago Jaycie and I loaded the truck and headed north to join our good friends for some turkey hunting. We were pretty excited but knew it would be pretty hard to get it done in the short amount of time we had. With my work schedule and her school and softball we only had the weekend to hunt. We got up mid day on Friday and met up with Jim (RUT on the forum). We quickly threw our stuff in camp and headed out to look around and possibly put a bird to bed. We found good sign and were pretty optimistic so we spent a few hours enjoying the scenery. Later that afternoon we met up with Keith and Hunter and compared notes on what we had found. Getting late in the day we split up and finally was able to roost a bird. After a short night we were set up and in position for what we hoped would be Jaycie and or Hunter's first tom. Even though we had some exciting moments we just couldn't get a clear shot. We spent the rest of the morning chasing gobblers, seeing hens, and passing on multiple groups of jakes. Around noon we met up with Keith and Hunter for a mid day snack. As we were all sitting around enjoying our sandwiches Keith looks up to see six turkeys feeding across a clearing about 150 yards away. Even though they were mainly young birds there were a couple with 4-6" beards in the group and Jaycie and Hunter both agreed they'd fit the bill nicely. So I grabbed my call as they grabbed their guns and we took off paralleling the group of birds. As we eased in on them I started giving them some soft yelps and they responded immediately. They weren't coming any closer but not leaving the area either so we continued sneaking up on the feeding group. Jaycie was in position and had the largest of the birds in her sights but wasn't able to get a shot before he got mixed up in the moving group. I whispered to Hunter to go ahead but he couldn't determine which turkey was which either. By this time the turkeys had fed out of range so I started calling again as we got closer for the second time. I could tell that they had just about had all they were going to take when I saw an opportunity on one that had two small beards. Jaycie eased up beside me and got ready, when the tom walked into an opening Jaycie let him have it. At this point all heck broke loose! The recoil knocked Jaycie over on her back, Hunter busted up laughing, and I took off after the flopping turkey. As I was standing next to the now dead turkey Jaycie and Hunter walked up to me with huge grins and I knew all was good in the world at that moment. After a lot of hugs and pictures Jaycie and I headed back to camp and the rest of the guys went out looking for a gobbler for Hunter. With a crooked grin Jaycie calmly asked why the shotgun had kicked so much harder then when we had been out shooting it the day before. I felt guilty but I couldn't help but laugh when I told her that I had snuck some 3 1/2" shells into the gun that morning instead of the 3" she had shot previously. Fortunately she said it was well worth it! We had an absolutely great time and I can't thank my hunting partners enough (even the ones that weren't there Chef) for all of the time and support they put into Jaycie's hunting adventures. Hunter passed up a lot of birds and almost got a big Ole tom but it just wasn't meant to be for him this year. We'll give it a go again next year though!