This year is my last year for youth season deer/turkey as I turned 15 in April. My Turkey youth hunt went amazing. While I only shot a jake, the time I spent with my Dad was priceless. First, I went up to a friends to hunt some turkeys who were either going to my younger sister and her "guide", or they were going to me and Dad. They went to her, and she got her 3rd turkey, a nice tom. Soon, we left and dropped her off at home.
We then went to another friend's house who had a good 20 or so pound tom hanging around, but by that time it was about noon (in VT you can hunt to 5 PM on youth season), and the turkeys were all shut up. We then went after some birds across the road we heard, and managed to go down a terrible road with an extremely high crown that was barely passable. I have hunted on logging roads better than this road!
It was 4:20 PM, and we heard my friend got a nice tom, so we said we were just going to her house to see her tom. At their house, we heard a gobble out back. Her father said to just go after him. By that time it was 4:40 PM. We ran into the woods about 150 yards from him. We could hear him, but not see him. We climbed up a little knob to call, but they would not come up. We snuck down to a little logging road. Dad did not think we were going to get them, we thought we spooked them.
By that time, it was 4:55. Soon, they came up in. There was a jake in front and a tom in back. The tom would not move, and they were getting flighty and were going to go away soon. It was 4:59, and I took the shot. I could not get the tom, he was about 80-90 yards away. The jake was 70 yards away, the longest shot I have ever taken with a 12 gauge. I have a winchester sxp 12 gauge with the longest barrel you can get, so that is probably what did it. Whats funny is most of my turkeys were shot from 60-70 yards away.
While the turkey was small, the hunt is what matters. I could not have asked for a better last youth hunt with my Dad, but there will be other hunts he and I will enjoy together.
We then went to another friend's house who had a good 20 or so pound tom hanging around, but by that time it was about noon (in VT you can hunt to 5 PM on youth season), and the turkeys were all shut up. We then went after some birds across the road we heard, and managed to go down a terrible road with an extremely high crown that was barely passable. I have hunted on logging roads better than this road!
It was 4:20 PM, and we heard my friend got a nice tom, so we said we were just going to her house to see her tom. At their house, we heard a gobble out back. Her father said to just go after him. By that time it was 4:40 PM. We ran into the woods about 150 yards from him. We could hear him, but not see him. We climbed up a little knob to call, but they would not come up. We snuck down to a little logging road. Dad did not think we were going to get them, we thought we spooked them.
By that time, it was 4:55. Soon, they came up in. There was a jake in front and a tom in back. The tom would not move, and they were getting flighty and were going to go away soon. It was 4:59, and I took the shot. I could not get the tom, he was about 80-90 yards away. The jake was 70 yards away, the longest shot I have ever taken with a 12 gauge. I have a winchester sxp 12 gauge with the longest barrel you can get, so that is probably what did it. Whats funny is most of my turkeys were shot from 60-70 yards away.
While the turkey was small, the hunt is what matters. I could not have asked for a better last youth hunt with my Dad, but there will be other hunts he and I will enjoy together.
