Strut, Cutt and Run – A Grandpa & his Grandson

Details: Category: Turkey; Published: Saturday, 18 April 2026 19:52; Written by Greg

Strut, Cutt and Run - A Grandpa & his Grandson

If a person had been watching from afar, they would have seen two lascivious turkeys strutting near the edge of a wooded area. Next they would’ve heard the cutt call from a couple of hunters positioned on the opposite side of a large clearing from where the strutters paced. And finally they would have seen both turkeys break into a sprint that would end with both turkeys a short 10 yards in front of the hunters.

But there was no person watching from afar, the only witnesses to the morning event was me and my grandson. We were the hunters with the goal of luring those two turkeys 140 yards across a large expanse of short green-up spring grass.

Our plan all came together late Saturday afternoon just a couple of hours before sunset. Daxton and I had made it to Idaho and were scouting for the upcoming morning hunt when we spotted a couple turkeys strutting in a distant clearing. Figuring the turkeys would likely roost nearby their strutting zone, we decided that that was the area where we’d set up come morning.

Darkness was just fading to light when we finished setting up our blind and placing a single jake decoy 10 yards to our side. Hustling as fast as we could, we hunkered down behind our blind because we felt a little behind schedule; turkeys were already gobbling from the roost 200 yards across and uphill.

We yelped for a bit to make sure the toms heard our hen calls because we could hear the competing hens yelping up near the roost. At some point everything went silent for about 30 minutes. That is until Daxton leaned over and whispered of his discovery, a tom and his buddy had strutted into the clearing 140 yards away. Instantly I began to cutt aggressively! Daxton was so caught off guard by the unexpected blast of my calling that he visibly jumped in surprise. Apparently my calling had a similar affect on the turkeys because they instantly began to run, beelining straight for us!

The turkeys were approaching quickly; I looked over at Daxton who was shaking like a leaf. In no time both turkeys were on top of us. I don’t know how, but Daxton calmed himself -- slowly raised his 20 gauge and smoked the lead bird just as it broke into full strut! As quickly as that bird hit the ground the second tom, all in one motion, spun, jumped, flapped and was in flight. Daxton took careful aim and dropped bird number 2 right out of the air! It was not quite 7:00 a.m. and unbelievably the Idaho youth turkey hunt was complete.

Had a person been watching, they would have witnessed a couple of hunters that couldn’t have been more excited as high-fives, hugs and congratulations were shared, all part of the celebration between a grandpa and his grandson!