Gunner410, my daughter and I drove the 900 km down to southern Ontario for our turkey hunt. This was the third time she was able to join us and had never shot a bird.
Opening day came and went without she or I seeing a bird, Gunner410 had a hen walk out in front of him. We had high winds and then it started to rain so we packed up and drove into Barrie to pick up a couple of things.
Wednesday morning started out windy but died down by daylight. I have hunted this property for about 15 years and it is a farm surrounded by Simcoe county forest. I have never heard so many birds gobbling as that morning - all around us on the farm and on the county forest across the concession road from us. I set out the decoys while my daughter got things set up in the blind. We were set up on a field edge on a large hardwood bluff which lead down to where Gunner410 was set up. We were at a narrows in the field where a large gully sliced into it (same spot I missed a coyote at hunting with Hungry / Tactical Teacher a few years ago).
At legal time, I started off with some light yelps and we had a gobble come from behind us, but it sounded a ways off. Made a couple of more yelps and now a gobble a lot closer. I looked out the side window and there is a turkey at the edge of the gully. This was the first "classic" turkey response I have ever had - turkey gobbling, full strut and heading for a decoy. She lined up her Mossberg shotgun out the window and dropped it with one perfect shot. It was a jake, but a very large one. Needless to say she was very excited and I was a very happy father.
After congratulations and waiting for 45 minutes to call her mother, we settled back into the blind and at 9:15 she pointed out a very pale coyote stalking the decoys. She hit the side of the blind and it turned and ran into the bush behind us. I told her to watch her turkey to make sure it didnt grab it from behind the blind. Then we heard a gobble behind us and thought the coyote must have put up a turkey. I called a couple of times, and had a gobble right back. I looked out the window of the blind and a tom strutted out in the same spot as the jake had and I shot it. Both turkeys were literally killed within 3 feet of each other. There were two piles of feathers with two flight control wads from our Federal shells lying on the field.
That afternoon we cleaned the birds while Gunner410 sat in our blind. When we got together he said he had heard gobbles across the road so we packed up and went into the county forest. I started calling for him (we didnt have our guns as we were tagged out) on a hardwood ridge and as soon as I started calling we had a gobble. The gobbles kept getting closer and two jakes and a hen showed themselves in front of me and my daughter, but behind where Gunner410 was set up. We watched them while the two of them strutted 35 yards away in front of us, but there was a fallen log between us and they wouldnt go around it or over it. After 10 minutes of calling back and forth, they slowly faded out of sight in the hardwoods.
All in all it was a pretty cool day and one that we wont forget
Opening day came and went without she or I seeing a bird, Gunner410 had a hen walk out in front of him. We had high winds and then it started to rain so we packed up and drove into Barrie to pick up a couple of things.
Wednesday morning started out windy but died down by daylight. I have hunted this property for about 15 years and it is a farm surrounded by Simcoe county forest. I have never heard so many birds gobbling as that morning - all around us on the farm and on the county forest across the concession road from us. I set out the decoys while my daughter got things set up in the blind. We were set up on a field edge on a large hardwood bluff which lead down to where Gunner410 was set up. We were at a narrows in the field where a large gully sliced into it (same spot I missed a coyote at hunting with Hungry / Tactical Teacher a few years ago).
At legal time, I started off with some light yelps and we had a gobble come from behind us, but it sounded a ways off. Made a couple of more yelps and now a gobble a lot closer. I looked out the side window and there is a turkey at the edge of the gully. This was the first "classic" turkey response I have ever had - turkey gobbling, full strut and heading for a decoy. She lined up her Mossberg shotgun out the window and dropped it with one perfect shot. It was a jake, but a very large one. Needless to say she was very excited and I was a very happy father.
After congratulations and waiting for 45 minutes to call her mother, we settled back into the blind and at 9:15 she pointed out a very pale coyote stalking the decoys. She hit the side of the blind and it turned and ran into the bush behind us. I told her to watch her turkey to make sure it didnt grab it from behind the blind. Then we heard a gobble behind us and thought the coyote must have put up a turkey. I called a couple of times, and had a gobble right back. I looked out the window of the blind and a tom strutted out in the same spot as the jake had and I shot it. Both turkeys were literally killed within 3 feet of each other. There were two piles of feathers with two flight control wads from our Federal shells lying on the field.
That afternoon we cleaned the birds while Gunner410 sat in our blind. When we got together he said he had heard gobbles across the road so we packed up and went into the county forest. I started calling for him (we didnt have our guns as we were tagged out) on a hardwood ridge and as soon as I started calling we had a gobble. The gobbles kept getting closer and two jakes and a hen showed themselves in front of me and my daughter, but behind where Gunner410 was set up. We watched them while the two of them strutted 35 yards away in front of us, but there was a fallen log between us and they wouldnt go around it or over it. After 10 minutes of calling back and forth, they slowly faded out of sight in the hardwoods.
All in all it was a pretty cool day and one that we wont forget
