Killminister
Well-Known Member
I had an incredible Tennessee season this year , 4 longbeards on 4 great hunts in less than two weeks... but nothing compared to this morning. This is the first time I had ever called in a bird for someone who never killed a turkey before. Took a 16 year old from my church, who's only been a couple of times, but never pulled the trigger. He wanted to kill a bird so bad. His family had been talking up the fact that I had limited out so early, and with it being this late and the birds not that aggressive, I was feeling the pressure. We didn't see or hear much this morning, but after about an hour in we saw some birds finally. We watched a dozen jakes in a bachelor group for about an hour. They put on an incredible show for us... When the storm came up, they all begin to strut, turn, and gobble with the thunder like they were in some choreographed dance. They all were about 100 yards, but once the rain broke... I was able to get them in range with a combination of a mouth call and turkey fan (which happened to be the dried out fan of my first bird from 5 years ago)All my hunts this year (except for 1) were birds I had called in as I enjoy the hunt way more, but I just happened to bring that fan for the first time this year as I thought I was going to pull out whatever necessary to get this boy a bird. The birds came into about 25 yards, I told him to pick out one and take its head off. He shot. Nothing. No feathers, no birds falling, flying, or running. I told him to chamber another and shoot..gun jammed. Birds getting spooked at this point moved out to 40 yards and moving quickly. He finally got another shell. I yelped on my mouth call and three birds stopped. He shot again and it dropped. For those of you who have called in for new hunters, I am sure you understand what I mean when I say I would have traded in all four of my longbeards this year for him to kill that Jake. You would have thought it was Christmas time. He was so excited. So thankful that God daily gives me the opportunity to hunt and enjoy something so remarkable, and I can tell you after today, that I will forever use what HE's blessed me with to continue to give young people the same opportunity. Now my dream season is complete.
