- Details
- Category: Turkey
- Published: Wednesday, 29 June 2016 18:06
- Written by Greg
Determination or Greed
"I'm only going to shoot a long beard" Carson said, as he opened the envelope containing his turkey tag. While I loved his ambitious line of thinking, I also knew that shooting a mature tom wouldn't be a walk in the park and hoped his response was rooted in determination and not greed. Carson had been watching the mail like a hawk for several weeks in anticipation of receiving his first limited entry turkey tag, so I knew how bad he wanted to bag a mature gobbler. However, I also knew that he'd be quite disappointed if he got too greedy and passed on a jake, only to end up skunked.
But right now there was excitement in the air, Carson's elation was contagious! Before having kids of my own, I never thought it could be possible to get so excited for a hunt where I wasn't the one attempting to fill my tag. Apparently that's one of the benefits of growing older since I now have more opportunity to hunt with family and friends and look forward to these hunts as much or more than hunting for myself. But don't get me wrong, my desire to draw a tag is still as strong as ever.
Found these jakes while scouting
Our first scouting trip was encouraging as we found a few different places that held turkeys. As Carson's excitement grew, so did mine. I'm not sure which of us wanted him to succeed more, him or me. Then our luck seemed to change, we spent an entire weekend scouting without seeing a single turkey. Soon the hunting season was upon us, opening weekend came and went without Carson getting a single shot. The second weekend passed, still no turkey. At this point I was ready for Carson to shoot the first legal bird possible, but he was determined to hold out for a long beard.
Area we hunted over and over, pulled the turkey all way across this huge meadow
On the third weekend our luck slightly changed again as we found a new place to hunt. We called in a couple of toms to within 100 yards, but only to have them veer off and head into the thick timber toward the call of a hen which had sneaked in behind and to the left of us. Motivated we kept after these birds for days. We tried the new tactic of hunting during the week before school, but still no luck. Even though we woke up early, hiked through the dark of night, encountered pouring rain that turned to snow, hunted while wet and cold without seeing any sign of a turkey, Carson was not deterred. His parting words on Friday when I dropped him off at school were that he couldn't wait until the weekend so that we could hunt longer. At that point there was no doubt in my mind that his quest to connect on a long beard was based on sheer determination.
Two gobblers that we called close, but ultimately veered off to a calling hen
Just about to shoot a long beard
Two days later determination paid off as several gobblers answered our box call from 300 yards away on the other side of the huge meadow. It took some coaxing to pull one of the toms from the company of his hen, but we did it. Slowly the amorous old turkey made his way across the long expanse of ground that separated us, stopping periodically to gobble in response to our soft purrs. Finally the coveted long beard was within shotgun range, my heart was pounding so I can only imagine how Carson felt. Boom...the blast from the 12 gauge rocked Carson but slammed the gobbler! Hoots and hollers of excitement echoed through the hills as Carson fulfilled his quest for a long beard!
Struggling to carry out turkey, about as big as Carson
