Mentor Turkey hunts

[Russ McDonald]

My mentor/TFO hunt.   First turkey.   About to retire Army 1st Sargent.  10.5" beard 3/4 spurs 24lbs. 



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[aaronwyle]

I just finally found this thread.  The spring season mentoring is full and I have gotten almost all of the people signed up connected with a mentor.  I will be posting the fall mentored hunts about a month before season opens.

Russ, if we make another thread for that, I will make sure I subscribe to it so if anyone has questions I can answer them!

[daballachris]

Do they just do the mentor hunts for turkey and for kids? I'm new to hunting, and a common theme I've been hearing in the podcasts I listen to and the reading I've done is that hunter numbers are declining rapidly. It would make sense to offer mentor hunts to people of all ages to try to get new people into hunting. As someone who is trying to figure this all out on my own, I know that would be very beneficial as it is super intimidating/overwhelming to try to figure out on your own.

[aaronwyle]

No, the mentored hunts are for any first time turkey hunters, with the exception of the hunts during the youth only season.  There is no fall youth season so that entire time will be open to all ages.

[Russ McDonald]

The department is also offering up clinics in other hunting areas to.   I believe that turkey hunting is one of the most addicting and enjoyable hunts to start our with.  The soldier I just took out said he never knew about turkey hunting and how fun it was.

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[jennabug]

My mentor/TFO hunt.   First turkey.   About to retire Army 1st Sargent.  10.5" beard 3/4 spurs 24lbs. 

Awesome job Russ. It's so great that you are able to do this for folks. Thank you!

[aaronwyle]

Fall 2018 Mentored turkey hunt registration is now up on the WDFW website - WDFW.wa.gov/hunting/huntered/clinics/

Youth pheasant season mentored hunts in region 3 are there also.

[Russ McDonald]

Will promote this at our Jakes event next month.

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[aaronwyle]

Spring 2019 Mentor hunt sign up is on the clinic website.  The youth season mentoring was difficult last spring, so I am not going to do a youth season mentoring specifically this year.  I do have some mentors available for youth season, so if you have youth that are interested please message me and I will try to connect you.

Clinic Website - https://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/huntered/clinics/

[ljsommer]

Would anyone want to show me the ropes/help me find some birds? I posted my hunt report over here: https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,238721.0.html

I was hunting bow and had an amazing time chasing birds, but I am pretty sure I was doing it wrong. (who cares, it was a blast!)

I'd love to find success and harvest my first animal.

[Russ McDonald]

Here is another hunt.  I took out this 13 year old, Braedan, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.  He and his family came in from Ohio. Life expectancy is only 25 and it is non curable. This was a NWTF Wheel'in Outdoors hunt.  We do hunts for the disabled.  So we went out very early Saturday.  The family sat in a blind while I sat outside up against a tree.  Had birds on the roost talking once the pitched down all silence.  Was doing calls every 15-30 minutes.  Had a single hen walk into our setup walking to with in 20' of me then 10' from the blind.  She started putting but we also had 4 deer right about in our decoys to.  She hung around for a good hour before wondering off.  so around 7:30 or so.  Did a series of calls and bang about 100 plus yards in front on us a gobbler.  Got him into visual range 82 yards ranged by dad.  They stopped and just skirted us.  They couldn't see me because I positioned myself behind the blind and a big tree.  The reason for this was that both dad and Braedan are experienced hunters and had calls to.  He went total stealth to no gobbles after that until he got over and behind us and only once with an initial call from me.  What I am pretty sure happened is that I had a feeder and alert hen with a strutting tom.  He saw the tom decoy and probable had been getting his butt kicked.  I snuck out around 10 and pulled the alert hen and tom for the rest of the day.  No gobbles the rest of the day.  We were in the blind from just before 5 am to 6:30 when this tom came in 5 minutes after I made a series of calls.  No gobbles he got within 60 yards and started putting.  I froze because it was coming in from the right and they had to re position inside the blind.  They have a gun rest for Braedan they had to move.  Tom stuck around I was still froze because if I moved I was busted.  They re positioned but he was moving in between trees.  I could hear his dad whisper kill him and then bang.  I looked over and there was a flopping tom.  So here is the fun thing.  Braedan shoots a .410 with Apex TSS loads.  He dropped that bird at 38 yards.  His longest so far is 40 yards on a Ohio bird.


So remember I said he is a experience hunter.  He has multiple slams.  He is going for a double slam this year.  He shot 2 Osceola's in FL with one shot.  He has 3 easterns to.  Add the one merriam just needs one more of those.  He has a place for Rio's to.  He has hunted with Mike Waddell, Ted Nugent and many others.  Here is a link to his website. [size=78%]http://braedansbridge.squarespace.com/[/size]

[Bob33]

He has hunted with Mike Waddell, Ted Nugent and EVEN RUSS MCDONALD.  Here is a link to his website. [size=78%]http://braedansbridge.squarespace.com/[/size]

[Russ McDonald]

He has hunted with Mike Waddell, Ted Nugent and EVEN RUSS MCDONALD.  Here is a link to his website. [size=78%]http://braedansbridge.squarespace.com/[/size]

  Thanks

[ljsommer]

Russ, you're inspiring. Thank you for what you do!

[Birdgetter]