Coach Report post Posted April 27, 2009 Wow what a week! My middle son, Nick, just got his first turkey last Tuesday on a quick, after school trip (here's Nick's story). My oldest son, Matt wasn't able to be there so I was anxious to get him out as soon as possible. Friday we played hooky and headed into the same area that Nick had scored in. We ended up getting out there about 1/2 hour later than I had hoped and the birds were already gobbling while we got our gear together. You know those mornings where everything just goes wrong? Well, the first set was exactly like that. It was already too light to be setting up and the blind was giving me fits. So we ended up sitting against a juniper with our stuff spread out all over the hill and gobblers coming out of their roosts. A few light calls and immediately either a huge hawk or immature eagle came in and landed right above the decoys. Needless to say, nothing else came in. After being skunked, we did a little cruising around looking for tracks around the tanks in the area hoping to come up with a late-morning plan. The wind picked up quite a bit around 9:00 am. I wasn't really sure what to do next but had a feeling we should head back toward where the gobblers were talking at first light and find a little indention out of the wind. We were able to find a small cut in the back of the burn that was mostly blocked from the wind and had good visibility for the decoys, and quite a few tracks in the soft dirt leading in, so we set up. We started calling and within about 10 minutes, Matt told me he had heard a gobble. His ears are better than mine, but he also tends to get a bit exited, and since I hadn't heard it, I sort of discounted it. The first calling sequence lasted about 15 minutes and I was trying to be as loud as possible to beat the wind. I sat back in the blind thinking about the afternoon hunt and taking a break from calling - and I have to admit was just about to doze off. All of a sudden, Matt whispered, "Dad, there's a turkey coming!" Sure enough, right down the hill comes this silent tom sneaking in toward the decoys. It didn't take long for him to get in range, and Matt had opted to borrow my 12 guage shooting 3.5" mags instead of his and his brothers' 20 guage so I wasn't too worried about him coming all the way into the decoys. At about 35 yards, Matt let him have it. It was hilarious! That gun practically blew him backward out of the blind. He looked at me like he wasn't sure if he had shot the turkey or the turkey had shot him! The gobbler piled immediately and it was time for photos! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DUG Report post Posted April 27, 2009 Congrats to you and your boys! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lance Report post Posted April 29, 2009 Congrats! That Rocks! Lance Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted April 29, 2009 Outstanding!!! Way to go! Nice job Matt! Amanda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coach Report post Posted May 2, 2009 Here's a picture of the fans and beards. The one on the left needs some work - he was a scrapper. Gonna make some mounts with natural manzanita, similar to this one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MDH Report post Posted May 2, 2009 congrats! it is always good to see juniors able to kill a good bird Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues Archer Report post Posted July 20, 2009 That is awesome matt. Keep up the great work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted July 20, 2009 Congratulations to Matt on a very fine looking bird. It always pleases me to see the youngens taking there first game animals. Good job to Dad as well. TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Denali09 Report post Posted July 24, 2009 Congrats on your Tom, Matt!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
