tks guys, she's still quite proud!
It actually was a very exciting hunt, I wasn't sure we were going to get one till it was over.
I changed my mind this am and decided to hunt a different farm. With the rain incoming, I wanted to hunt a farm that we needed fairly dry ground to get to the back, and I knew we probably wouldn't be able to hunt this spot the rest of the week (at least with a kid). We set up in an overgrown fencerow with a large field in front of us, and a smaller field behind, with birds usually roosting on the hill in front. We hadn't heard anything on the roost until well after light, and I was actually worried the birds had moved off this small property. Finally one gobbled somewhere to our right, and another out front. A few minutes later, I made a few tree yelps, louder than I usually do because of the wind. I have no idea whether they heard us or not. After I figured they were on the ground, a few loud yelps, and a couple cutts... the bird roosted in front gobbled once... maybe 150 yards away- was so hard to tell with the wind.
After a few more minutes, I saw a hen behind us in the field. I told Sophia she'll make great bait for the bird in front. Another minute went by, and she said, "Dad, there's a gobbler!". I looked back, and she was right- a big tom in full strut following behind the hen. They were about 65 yards away, and I told her we needed to turn around before I tried to call her in. We repositioned against the big cedars we were sitting on, and I called softly. Boom, gobble behind us, in the direction the first bird had gobbled on the roost. She excitedly said, "Dad! Now there's another one!" we looked back, and the bird was coming hard right to us. Time to spin back around again to the direction we were originally facing to get ready. I got her set up with the barrel rested on a low branch of privet in front of the cedar without spooking the 2nd gobbler. He hung up at 50 yards and started gobbling- expecting the hen he heard to come to him. We had great cover despite open ground in front and behind, but he just refused to commit. He turned away and I soft called again. After a few minutes, he finally eased to 45 yards then hung up again. Sophia then whispered, "Dad, another gobbler coming!" I couldn't see it, asked her where it was, and she said to the left of the bird we were looking at. I picked it out, told her it was a hen, and that she might just lead the gobbler to us!
Sure enough, the hen came to the gobbler, past him up, and started heading right to us! When she got 10 yards away, the gobbler committed and came to 25 yards, then went on full alert with the hen. I asked Sophia if she could shoot, and she said no, the privet was blocking her view. I could see the tom perfectly, but her line of sight was 14" lower than mine, and the tom stopped right behind the thickest part of the trunk of the privet from her view. I knew he needed to move about 5 yards to the left for her to have a clear shot, but he wasn't moving, just frozen solid with his head up. Suddenly, a bird putted 2 or 3 yards behind us. Sounded like a male bird based on how deep it was, but there was no way to even blink at this point, much less turn a head. Sophia and I were both motionless, so I know he didn't see us behind the cedar. The bird we were on started easing slowly away, looking back at us, and I figured it was now or never. I told Sophia I would raise the gun to a higher branch, and at the same time I wanted her to get up on her knees, shoulder the gun, find him in the scope, and kill him quickly... we were pretty fluid in our transition, and as expected, our bird increased his walk away from us. I told her to shoot, she didn't. I told her to hurry up, he's going to be out of range soon, she didn't shoot. I tried to say, its now or never- but the shotgun going blast cut me off- boom, bird flopping on the ground! High fives, thanks to God, and a big daddy- daughter hug. Before we got up, Sophia said, "Dad, did you see the coyote?" Nope, I hadn't seen it. Apparantely, I was so focused on the tom, that a coyote had stalked us to 5 yards to our left. And that is what spooked the birds, not us.
And to top it all off, right as we were getting up, the bird flopped again, and a red-tailed hawk dive bombed him on the ground and brained him! That was a first for me. We got out from behind the privet, and holy crap, the bird was a LONG way off. I had lost my depth perception as he was moving away, and he had moved a LOT further than I realized when she shot. I lasered it a 55 yards. Whew, I guess it was meant to be
Oh, and I asked her what took her so long to shoot, and some of the privet leaves had obscured the view through the red dot. She shot when he hit an opening she could see through
After pics, I made her tote him halfway back to the truck, but I'm too wrapped around her little finger to have made her tote him all the way back, so I took over. Got some better pics back at the house with a better camera, dressed and checked him in, then I headed out to try to fill my tag.
I managed to hit 3 spots without getting a single gobble before the bottom dropped out on me. I walked back 3/4 mile to the truck in pouring rain, no rain gear on and was thoroughly soaked. I went back to the house, warmed up, ate breakfast, then headed back out in rain gear for a couple more hours. Couldn't get on a bird anywhere. We took a 2 hour nap, and she and I made the rounds looking one last time before fly up... found a couple hens, but no toms.
If the rain has stopped by the morning, they should be on fire after they have had time to fluff back out.
arty: She did bust a big one!!! Way to go!!!
