Von Glimpsed 1st Wild Turkey 2011
April 15-16, 2011- It's just the boys this weekend and I decided to take my son out chasing birds with me. We went by the Wilson Wal-mart and got him an exempt big game report card, but the Wilson Wal-mart had no turkey hunting supplies at all. The didn't have shells, calls, decoys, or even face nets.
We decided to check out the Rocky Mount Wal-mart. Surely they'd have a better selection than the Wilson location. Boy were we wrong. I end up buy some high velocity steel shot #4 3' just in case. Someone told us that the new Wal-mart in Nashville had turkey hunting supplies, so that's where we headed.
The Nashville Wal-mart was nice, not as big as I expected, but they did have turkey hunting supplies. We got a hold of the last face net, I got some mouth calls, and then we had to wait 15 minutes just to get the 20 gauge turkey loads because they were locked up. It didn't make any sense at all because they had the 12 gauge shells sitting out next to all the turkey hunting supplies, but had to lock up the 20 gauge shells. So after dropping $25, we headed back home.
On our 20 minute drive back, I tried to explain to my 12-year-old son about turkey hunting in terms that he would understand. I said, 'Son, your dad likes to play a video game that only comes around once a year in a short time period. And the special part about this game is that sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. We just don't know until we get out there.' Then it was like a light bulb pop up above his head, he smiled, and just got it. He seemed genuinely excited about going now.
It was getting late and 4:00 a.m. comes early. Once home, I got out the pop-up blind and checked everything to make sure that it would go up O.K. Of course I had to fix it here and there. Then I got all of our gear ready, clothes, food, pack, guns, ammo, Thermo-Cell, everything. I was hoping to see Von get his first bird and be able to video tape it. It would be so exciting to be able to do something like that. I put Von to bed by 11:00 p.m., but I didn't get to bed till 12:00 a.m. I took some time and listened to the CD that came with the mouth calls.
It was another restless night before a hunt. I tossed and turned, and then the buzzer went off at 4:00 a.m. Climbing out of bed like a tired zombie I went into the kitchen and made some coffee.
I got my clothes on, and toasted some bagels. I woke up Von and gave him my spare camo to wear. With sandwiches in our backpack, drinks, and apples, we went into the garage to put our boots on.
I accidentally stepped on and flattened Von's bagel. We laughed about it, it was wrapped up in a napkin and was still good, so I ate it and gave him mine. I think Von was pretty excited as well because he didn't get an hour nap on our ride to the land as I thought he would.
The forecast wasn't the best, but at least it wasn't raining. I'd brought rain gear for both of us just in case. Once there, we drove directly to the corner of the field and set up our blind. It makes it easier when you have the lights from the truck to work with.
After setting everything up, Von got inside and sat in the chair. I drove the truck to a hiding spot in the woods. It was 5:40 a.m., and still dark.
We got settled in and Von slept in the chair. I folded up one of the rain jackets and he used it as a pillow. Our decoys were just 15 yards in front of us. At 6:00 a.m. I started to call loudly with the mouth call, then the box call, then the friction call, and finally the slate call.
I waited, watch the sun come up, and listen to the world come alive and abuzz. Leaves were in the trees, the smell of flowers were in the air, and the birds were singing.
Then I'd call again. I sounded off at 6:15 a.m. and then 6:30 a.m. We would wait and listen......nothing. There was no gobbling at all, the toms had gone silent.
Von was getting restless, so I said we would stay here just a little longer, then move into the woods near the creek. 7:00 a.m. rolled around, then 7:30 a.m., and finally 7:45 a.m. Nothing answering, and the wind was picking up. We decided it's time to give up the field and head into the woods.
We packed our things and headed back to the truck. At the truck, we left our chairs, and drank some water. My next plan was to set up the blind down by the creek. As we walked down hill towards the creek, I could see where the wooden bridge was now replaced with a concrete bridge. We set up on an opening just to the right of the bridge.
We couldn't put our decoys out as far, so they were now around 10 yards away. Settling in and kneeling down, I started calling around 8:00 a.m. Nothing. I called again around 8:10 a.m., nothing.
Von and I sat in the blind, and I told him, 'I don't care if we see a turkey or not, I'm just happy that we're spending father and son time together.' He said, 'Thanks dad, I'm having a good time.'
Then around 8:15 a.m. I'm looking across the creek and a young Jake comes running in. I think he saw our decoys, but I also think he saw me move inside the blind because I was so excited. I got Von up and looking out of the blind, then handed him the shotgun.
Von had it on his shoulder and was looking intensely, and I wasn't sure if he could make out the turkey or not. Then I wispered, 'There, he's moving, can you see him?' Von replied, 'Yeah, I see him.' The Jake move off cautiously and deliberately away from us. He was across the creek about 30 to 35 yards away. I wanted Von to take a good close shot, around 25 yards or closer, so told him to wait, and we'll be patient, letting the young bird muster enough courage to come in a little bit closer towards our decoys.
Von was using 3' #5 and a Rossi youth model 20 gauge with a modified choke. I wasn't too sure if it would have reached out that far and figured he would have had better chances if the bird was real close.
Well nothing happened for a good long while. I continued to call, but the bird was spooked and did not return. Regardless, the wind was picking up now, and Von got to see his first live wild turkey, and had just about had enough of sitting in the blind. I asked him how did his first wild turkey look? Von replied, 'Delicious. If we would have gotten him.'
We got out of our blind, packed up, and hiked back to the truck by 9:00 a.m. Now sure we should have, and could have stayed out there till 12:00 p.m., when the hens will be on their nest and the lonely gobblers are prowling around for a little more action, but I didn't want to push things to hard. I wanted this to be a good and enjoyable experience for him, so we packed up and called in the day.
I pulled the tail gate down, and we ate our sandwiches, apples, and drank some water.
I still considered it a great day. We came, we called, we saw, and we enjoyed the morning. What else could a father ask for?
We were on the road by 9:30 a.m. and heading back to Wilson. I've got a passion for turkey hunting and want to expose my kids to it. I can only hope that they will enjoy the sport as much as I do, and know patience is a virtue when dealing with kids and birds.
Later that day around 4:30 p.m., Wilson, NC was hit by a tornado. I don't think there were any fatalities in Wilson, but heard on the news that NC had 24 fatalities.
Its quality time with the people we care about that makes everything worth while. Von and I thank our lucky stars that a twister didn't hit us, and will have a chance to go chase birds again some other day.
We decided to check out the Rocky Mount Wal-mart. Surely they'd have a better selection than the Wilson location. Boy were we wrong. I end up buy some high velocity steel shot #4 3' just in case. Someone told us that the new Wal-mart in Nashville had turkey hunting supplies, so that's where we headed.
The Nashville Wal-mart was nice, not as big as I expected, but they did have turkey hunting supplies. We got a hold of the last face net, I got some mouth calls, and then we had to wait 15 minutes just to get the 20 gauge turkey loads because they were locked up. It didn't make any sense at all because they had the 12 gauge shells sitting out next to all the turkey hunting supplies, but had to lock up the 20 gauge shells. So after dropping $25, we headed back home.
On our 20 minute drive back, I tried to explain to my 12-year-old son about turkey hunting in terms that he would understand. I said, 'Son, your dad likes to play a video game that only comes around once a year in a short time period. And the special part about this game is that sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. We just don't know until we get out there.' Then it was like a light bulb pop up above his head, he smiled, and just got it. He seemed genuinely excited about going now.
It was getting late and 4:00 a.m. comes early. Once home, I got out the pop-up blind and checked everything to make sure that it would go up O.K. Of course I had to fix it here and there. Then I got all of our gear ready, clothes, food, pack, guns, ammo, Thermo-Cell, everything. I was hoping to see Von get his first bird and be able to video tape it. It would be so exciting to be able to do something like that. I put Von to bed by 11:00 p.m., but I didn't get to bed till 12:00 a.m. I took some time and listened to the CD that came with the mouth calls.
It was another restless night before a hunt. I tossed and turned, and then the buzzer went off at 4:00 a.m. Climbing out of bed like a tired zombie I went into the kitchen and made some coffee.
I got my clothes on, and toasted some bagels. I woke up Von and gave him my spare camo to wear. With sandwiches in our backpack, drinks, and apples, we went into the garage to put our boots on.
I accidentally stepped on and flattened Von's bagel. We laughed about it, it was wrapped up in a napkin and was still good, so I ate it and gave him mine. I think Von was pretty excited as well because he didn't get an hour nap on our ride to the land as I thought he would.
The forecast wasn't the best, but at least it wasn't raining. I'd brought rain gear for both of us just in case. Once there, we drove directly to the corner of the field and set up our blind. It makes it easier when you have the lights from the truck to work with.
After setting everything up, Von got inside and sat in the chair. I drove the truck to a hiding spot in the woods. It was 5:40 a.m., and still dark.
We got settled in and Von slept in the chair. I folded up one of the rain jackets and he used it as a pillow. Our decoys were just 15 yards in front of us. At 6:00 a.m. I started to call loudly with the mouth call, then the box call, then the friction call, and finally the slate call.
I waited, watch the sun come up, and listen to the world come alive and abuzz. Leaves were in the trees, the smell of flowers were in the air, and the birds were singing.
Then I'd call again. I sounded off at 6:15 a.m. and then 6:30 a.m. We would wait and listen......nothing. There was no gobbling at all, the toms had gone silent.
Von was getting restless, so I said we would stay here just a little longer, then move into the woods near the creek. 7:00 a.m. rolled around, then 7:30 a.m., and finally 7:45 a.m. Nothing answering, and the wind was picking up. We decided it's time to give up the field and head into the woods.
We packed our things and headed back to the truck. At the truck, we left our chairs, and drank some water. My next plan was to set up the blind down by the creek. As we walked down hill towards the creek, I could see where the wooden bridge was now replaced with a concrete bridge. We set up on an opening just to the right of the bridge.
We couldn't put our decoys out as far, so they were now around 10 yards away. Settling in and kneeling down, I started calling around 8:00 a.m. Nothing. I called again around 8:10 a.m., nothing.
Von and I sat in the blind, and I told him, 'I don't care if we see a turkey or not, I'm just happy that we're spending father and son time together.' He said, 'Thanks dad, I'm having a good time.'
Then around 8:15 a.m. I'm looking across the creek and a young Jake comes running in. I think he saw our decoys, but I also think he saw me move inside the blind because I was so excited. I got Von up and looking out of the blind, then handed him the shotgun.
Von had it on his shoulder and was looking intensely, and I wasn't sure if he could make out the turkey or not. Then I wispered, 'There, he's moving, can you see him?' Von replied, 'Yeah, I see him.' The Jake move off cautiously and deliberately away from us. He was across the creek about 30 to 35 yards away. I wanted Von to take a good close shot, around 25 yards or closer, so told him to wait, and we'll be patient, letting the young bird muster enough courage to come in a little bit closer towards our decoys.
Von was using 3' #5 and a Rossi youth model 20 gauge with a modified choke. I wasn't too sure if it would have reached out that far and figured he would have had better chances if the bird was real close.
Well nothing happened for a good long while. I continued to call, but the bird was spooked and did not return. Regardless, the wind was picking up now, and Von got to see his first live wild turkey, and had just about had enough of sitting in the blind. I asked him how did his first wild turkey look? Von replied, 'Delicious. If we would have gotten him.'
We got out of our blind, packed up, and hiked back to the truck by 9:00 a.m. Now sure we should have, and could have stayed out there till 12:00 p.m., when the hens will be on their nest and the lonely gobblers are prowling around for a little more action, but I didn't want to push things to hard. I wanted this to be a good and enjoyable experience for him, so we packed up and called in the day.
I pulled the tail gate down, and we ate our sandwiches, apples, and drank some water.
I still considered it a great day. We came, we called, we saw, and we enjoyed the morning. What else could a father ask for?
We were on the road by 9:30 a.m. and heading back to Wilson. I've got a passion for turkey hunting and want to expose my kids to it. I can only hope that they will enjoy the sport as much as I do, and know patience is a virtue when dealing with kids and birds.
Later that day around 4:30 p.m., Wilson, NC was hit by a tornado. I don't think there were any fatalities in Wilson, but heard on the news that NC had 24 fatalities.
Its quality time with the people we care about that makes everything worth while. Von and I thank our lucky stars that a twister didn't hit us, and will have a chance to go chase birds again some other day.
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