We made the trek to my in-law's place the evening before and my father-in-law and I went out to set up a blind on one of our easily accessible properties. It wasn't the best location, but, an easy location for a five-year-old to walk to and I had taken a couple birds off of that corner over the years.
The next morning we were up early at 5am and getting my daughter layered up in a shirt, sweater, Spring jacket, Winter coat and snow pants. It's easy to remove layers if they're warm. It's not so easy to calm down a five-year-old who is cold. After a two-minute drive up the road, off we went up the muddy tractor path, with my daughter reminding her Papa and I to 'ssssssshhhhhh, be quiet', the whole way. We popped into the blind and off I went to set up decoys. Ten yards away from the blind, I hear a gobble, quickly followed by my daughter, in a very loud voice, saying 'Daddy! A turkey!'. Papa then reminded her she needed to be quiet and into the blind they went.
The same bird continued to gobble and a few others started sounding off in the area, making my daughter more and more excited. My index finger went to the 'sssssshhhh position' a lot.
At legal light, I figured it was time to announce our presence, so I started on my Gobblestalker slate, which was instantly met with a gobble from the closest bird we had been hearing. Then the questions started:
"Daddy...why are you doing that?"..."To call the turkey. You have to be quiet or he won't come."
"But, Daddy...why will he come after that?"..."Because he's looking for a girlfriend."
"Daddy...what's a girlfriend?"..."Ummmm...let's just say he's a prince and he's looking for his princess."
I heard a bird pitch down in the bush and my father-in-law and I started pleading with my daughter to be quiet. At this time, we had been in the blind for almost an hour and as five-year-olds are wont to do, she was getting restless, so, out came the iPad and we set her up with a game to play on a blanket.
A hen began to yelp further in the bush lot and I cut her off immediately on the mouth call for volume. This made her quite irate and we talked back and forth for a few minutes, while my daughter giggled, as she does when I'm practicing at home.
All went quiet for a little while, until I let out a few soft purrs and clucks, just using my voice box and a gobbler sounded off quite close. We told my daughter that there was a turkey very close and she had to be really quiet. My father-in-law and I switched seats, because he decided I was the shooter, even though I had told him that he should take a bird with his granddaughter. He said it was 'Daddy's turn first'. As soon as I sat down, I spotted a bird coming out of the tree line and got the binoculars up. It was a jake.
On most days, I would let a jake walk away. But, at this point, my daughter was bouncing with excitement. On this day, if I had a shot, I was taking it.
I got the gun up and set the scope on him and picked my mark where he was in the gun's capable range. He closed the distance quite cautiously and came into range, at which time I advised my daughter to cover her ears.
I squeezed the trigger and he dropped on the spot.
"Did you get him Daddy??!!"..."Yep...let's go see the turkey."
Off we went, hand in hand, to gather up our first turkey together...
16 pounds
3.5" beard
Nubs for spurs
"Daddy...he was looking for his princess but, he's too late. He's dead."
Best morning ever. Looking forward to many more.
