Hello all,
First, I would like to encourage my readers to pay a visit to "The Southern Literary Messenger"...
http://www.southernliterarymessenger.com/0101/0101.htm
This is a website that is technically considered an online magazine. "The Southern Literary Messenger" was a magazine that had a long history of entertaining people of all walks of life. This online magazine is a resurgence of this tradition. I have written one of the simpler articles for the magazine this month. The article is about deer tracking and is quite informative. The editor of the magazine is John Wright.
Turkey Season Has Begun
Turkey season began in Tennessee last Saturday, March 29th. My son Quinlan (age 5) and I decided to begin our season together and headed for the woods at around 9 am. As we arrived at the Cheatham WMA we stopped by the ranger station to check in. There we saw about 10 people lined up waiting to check in their gobblers. This gave us a huge boost of excitement, as if we needed more.
We went to our chosen spot to set up for our hunt. I placed a hen decoy facing my direction and about 5 yards from my blind but a little to the left. I then placed a Primos B-mobile, strutting Tom and a Jake decoy atop of hill opposite the direction I expected the turkeys to come. These decoys were about 15 yards in front of my blind. The hunting area that I chose was a field of some immature green plants, the make of which I am not sure. It is the same field that I saw about 20 turkeys hanging out in last Spring while squirrel hunting. I set my blind back in some brush to disguise it a bit and felt confident that any approaching Tom would not notice the intrusion.
As the morning turned to afternoon my son and I began to question our choice in locations. We decided to pack things up and try someplace different. I began to put my Ameristep Doghouse Blind (in Realtree Hardwoods) into it's bag as my son Quinn gathered up the decoys and neatly placed them in a pile. As soon as I had the ground blind in the bag I heard the unmistakable sound of a Tom gobbling. I quickly motioned to my son to get back to the trees and sit down. He didn't get my gestures or my whispering and forced me to walk over to him and tell him what I needed him to do. I quickly placed the decoys in a similar fashion as before and found my place back in the trees.
I began to call the turkey with a Primos slate call to which the turkey gobbled his head off... over and over and over again for about half and hour. Now, what I should have done in this situation was to give a quick call and then go silent. However, I couldn't resist the conversation I was having with this Tom. Despite his being an interrupter of sorts I felt that we talked quite extensively. I spoke with cluck purrs, yelps and so on. While he dug our chat he expected the hen to come to him... I, in case it isn't apparent to you, am no hen and consequently couldn't go over to him. The turkey came in to about 50-60 yards and held up.
At the end of the encounter my son decided that his mask was too big and took it off. And since he no longer had the mask on he felt confident that he needed a little snack of animal crackers. I noticed the bag crunching and immediately directed my attention to him. I said very quietly, "Quinn put your mask on so the turkey doesn't see you." To which he responded, "But it is too big". I said, "Son put the mask on quickly." He said, "It's too big." So the father in me forgot about the turkey and said, a little louder this time, "PUT THE MASK ON NOW!"
I guess the turkey didn't appreciate being interrupted because I didn't hear from him again until I was walking back to the truck. A few crows were flying around harassing what sounded like two Tom's who were responding in kind with their gobbles. For a minute I thought that the turkeys were laughing at me. Maybe they were.
God Bless,
Sean
Turkey season began in Tennessee last Saturday, March 29th. My son Quinlan (age 5) and I decided to begin our season together and headed for the woods at around 9 am. As we arrived at the Cheatham WMA we stopped by the ranger station to check in. There we saw about 10 people lined up waiting to check in their gobblers. This gave us a huge boost of excitement, as if we needed more.
We went to our chosen spot to set up for our hunt. I placed a hen decoy facing my direction and about 5 yards from my blind but a little to the left. I then placed a Primos B-mobile, strutting Tom and a Jake decoy atop of hill opposite the direction I expected the turkeys to come. These decoys were about 15 yards in front of my blind. The hunting area that I chose was a field of some immature green plants, the make of which I am not sure. It is the same field that I saw about 20 turkeys hanging out in last Spring while squirrel hunting. I set my blind back in some brush to disguise it a bit and felt confident that any approaching Tom would not notice the intrusion.
As the morning turned to afternoon my son and I began to question our choice in locations. We decided to pack things up and try someplace different. I began to put my Ameristep Doghouse Blind (in Realtree Hardwoods) into it's bag as my son Quinn gathered up the decoys and neatly placed them in a pile. As soon as I had the ground blind in the bag I heard the unmistakable sound of a Tom gobbling. I quickly motioned to my son to get back to the trees and sit down. He didn't get my gestures or my whispering and forced me to walk over to him and tell him what I needed him to do. I quickly placed the decoys in a similar fashion as before and found my place back in the trees.
I began to call the turkey with a Primos slate call to which the turkey gobbled his head off... over and over and over again for about half and hour. Now, what I should have done in this situation was to give a quick call and then go silent. However, I couldn't resist the conversation I was having with this Tom. Despite his being an interrupter of sorts I felt that we talked quite extensively. I spoke with cluck purrs, yelps and so on. While he dug our chat he expected the hen to come to him... I, in case it isn't apparent to you, am no hen and consequently couldn't go over to him. The turkey came in to about 50-60 yards and held up.
At the end of the encounter my son decided that his mask was too big and took it off. And since he no longer had the mask on he felt confident that he needed a little snack of animal crackers. I noticed the bag crunching and immediately directed my attention to him. I said very quietly, "Quinn put your mask on so the turkey doesn't see you." To which he responded, "But it is too big". I said, "Son put the mask on quickly." He said, "It's too big." So the father in me forgot about the turkey and said, a little louder this time, "PUT THE MASK ON NOW!"
I guess the turkey didn't appreciate being interrupted because I didn't hear from him again until I was walking back to the truck. A few crows were flying around harassing what sounded like two Tom's who were responding in kind with their gobbles. For a minute I thought that the turkeys were laughing at me. Maybe they were.
God Bless,
Sean
2 comments:
Great story, kids are tough on a hunting trip, but its good to teach them about hunting.
i think that this post sucked dick.
you should delete it.
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