Virginia youth turkey

[62flint]

Helped a friends 13 year son get a nice gobbler yesterday. I don’t have the exact measurements. But about 20 pounds. Spurs 1-1/8, 1-1/4. Beard around 10 inch’s.
Seeing that boys smile and excitement was something special.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well done, congrats to the young man!

 

[Tucketed]

Good for you. Turkey hunting is a great starter for kids.

 

[503]

Nice bird, he's a hog!

Cheers

503

 

[Droppoints]

thats a big bird, congrats.

 

[62flint]

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A Hunt to Remember

I’ll do my best to share the story of this hunt, because it was truly unique—possibly a once-in-a-lifetime event.

The morning began like any other late-spring turkey hunt. My companions met me at the farm well before first light. The property is an old family farm, passed down since the 1600s. We’re not sure exactly when it came into the family, but I have ancestors buried here with stones marked 1627 and 1639. But I digress—I tend to ramble, and I’ve never claimed to be a great storyteller. I really admire those who write hunt reports with such skill.

Back to the hunt.

The property spans about 600 acres, with a 180-acre field in the middle. This time of year, it’s full of last year's corn stubble and dead grass, just waiting to be drilled for soybeans. We made our way to a wooded area near my shooting bench, about the center of the property, to listen for a tree gobble as the sky lightened. That’s usually the plan—hear a gobble, close the distance, set up, and call one in before 8 a.m.

But not this morning. The woods were silent. No gobbles. Nothing.

I knew the birds were there—I watch them almost daily. Three or four gobblers with hens usually roam the fields during the day. I just hadn’t had a chance to roost them the night before, so I wasn’t sure where they'd started out.

With no birds talking, we made our way to the far back corner of the field and climbed into my tower blind. From there, we had a commanding view—up to 1,400 yards in some directions. I had three decoys stashed inside, which I quickly set out in front of the blind, hoping to lure in a curious tom.

Sure enough, 30 to 45 minutes later, we spotted a flock across the field—on the opposite side from where we’d started. Easily 1,000 yards away, with rolling ground in between. They couldn’t see our decoys and weren’t paying the slightest attention to our calling. Through binoculars, we confirmed a group of 6–12 hens with two strutting gobblers.

So, carefully, we headed back across the field to where we’d begun. The whole way I kept thinking, we’re going to get busted. But somehow, we made it. We slipped into a hedgerow and closed the distance to about 400 yards.

From there, we could see the birds well—the hens wandering the field, with the gobblers trailing behind like they were on a string. We called again: yelps, clucks, purrs—nothing. No response.

We had two decoys with us, including a strutting tom.

That’s when the boy—the young hunter with me—came up with an idea: a tactic he called “scoot and shoot.” It was new to me, but the concept was simple—hide behind a decoy and crawl into range.

After a quick discussion and figuring the worst that could happen was we’d get a show, I told him to go for it.

He started crawling, the strutting tom decoy held out in front of him. After about 150 yards, the flock noticed. The hens began feeding past him to his right, completely ignoring the fake tom. But the real gobbler didn’t.

At about 30 to 60 yards—hard for me to tell from 300 yards away—the tom dropped out of strut and charged the decoy. He’d had enough.

The boy sat up and took two quick shots with his 20-gauge. Dropped the bird just 10 or 15 yards in front of him.

I got it on video, though only on a poor cell phone camera. I wish I had something better to capture the moment.

A quick disclaimer: this property is completely private, surrounded by near-impassable swamp, with a locked gate and cell cameras monitoring the access road. I felt confident letting the boy try this crawling tactic—but I would neverrecommend this on public land.

Also, even though he’s only 13, he’s experienced with firearms and hunting. He’s safe, confident, and knows what he’s doing.