Little Pathfinder's Epic 14 Day Turkey Quest

[Pathfinder101]

The 2020 Turkey Season was initially looking pretty good for Little Pathfinder.  He is a baseball player and I am a teacher and a high school coach, so usually our turkey hunting time in April and May is pretty limited, but due to the Corona closure, it looked like we were going to have more time than usual this year.  We had permission in a good spot that held a flock of over 70 birds. 
Then of course the Youth Season was cancelled.  Then the general season was postponed. 
When the news came that they were finally reopening the season, we started scouting again.  We found the property we had permission on devoid of birds and the big group had broken up and scattered for about 3 miles up and down the river on different mini-farms.  So LP started knocking on doors and begging.  A lot of farmers had just sprayed, so he got a few "no's", but he did get a couple of "yes's", and a few "don't bother asking the neighbors, they don't like hunting".  By opening day, we had a plan.
So we showed up at 4:30am, set up, and sat.  Several things became apparent right away.
1.  The bulk of the actual breeding appeared to be over.  Mostly we saw bachelor groups of toms, most of the hens must have been setting already.
2.  Fields that are normally freshly plowed in April, were now knee high with wheat, hay and alfalfa, so unless the turkeys are close, they can't see your decoys
3.   4:30 am wasn't going to be early enough, as we found ourselves setting up decoys at almost shooting light.
So we adjusted accordingly, started waking up at 3, got taller stakes for the decoys and settled in for the long haul

[Pathfinder101]

And a long haul it turned out to be.  The good news was that for the first time ever, we had time on our side as neither Little Pathfinder nor I had any online school duties that started before 8 am, so we were able to hunt every morning.
After 5 days of sitting and listening to turkeys that would not come any closer than 300 yards (2 properties away) or wouldn't cross the river, frustration was mounting. 
Then we received a windfall in the form of the farmer cutting his hay.  This allowed the birds to be able to see our decoys and made a new feeding area for them in the short cut grass.  The birds still weren't coming anywhere near us, but at least now there was a chance.
Every night, LP would remind me to set my alarm for 3 am.  Every morning I would shake him and ask him if he still wanted to go.  And every morning, whatever the weather, he would roll out of bed and start getting dressed. 
I'm not going to lie, when I was 13, I don't know if I would have had the tenacity to stick it out this long, including several mornings that it rained hard enough for us to get wet inside the blind.

[Pathfinder101]

On day #9, the turkeys finally decided to come.  The grass was short enough for them to see our decoys, they were roosted in the right spot and when they flew down, it didn’t take more than 15 minutes before we saw 3 toms working their way in our direction.  Looked like it was going to be clockwork. 
I have a strutting jake with a real tail that is rigged up with a piece of fishing line so I can pull on him and he spins around on his stake.  The toms held up at 100 yards and I gave a pull on the line and gobbled.  They gobbled back and resumed their path straight at us.  There is a dirt mound right at the edge of the property that is 40 yards from the blind.  I told LP to push the shotgun out the window as soon as they went behind the dirt mound and couldn’t see.  The toms passed behind the dirt and LP poked the shotgun towards them.
EIther his timing was off and they saw him, or something was wrong with our dekes, because when they came out from behind the dirt, they were on the neighbor’s property and headed at a trot straight away.  After 9 days in that blind, the disappointment was palatable. 
2 days later they came in again.  This time we had 5 toms and 3 hens that passed as close as 55 yards to us, but wouldn’t come closer.  The 5 toms were chasing each other around in the hay, fighting and gobbling like crazy, but had no interest in including our jake in their reindeer games.  The fishing line had come detached from my jake decoy, and I think they must have been wary from the lack of movement.

[Pathfinder101]

The next day it poured.  And I mean POURED.  Normally, this would be a day that you would end your hunt at 6:30 and go get a cup of hot chocolate for the boy, but a big tom and a hen came onto the neighboring property 200 yards away and camped out there until 8:30.  So we sat, and called.  And called.  And called.  From 4 am to almost 9 am in the driving rain.  The blind kept us from getting soaked, but everything was wet and cold.  Shotguns, boots and everything else needed a good oiling when we got home. 

[Pathfinder101]

Saturday was day #14.  Again, the alarm went off at 3am.  I rolled out of bed and said to myself, “If it’s raining or windy, we are taking today off”.  I opened the door and stepped onto the back porch.  Cool, clear, calm.
I went to LP’s bedroom and shook him.  He sat up in bed, bleary eyed.  “Do you want to go this morning, or take the day off?”  I asked.  “No”, he said.  “I wanna go.”  So, we got dressed, threw a couple of breakfast bars in our pockets and loaded the truck.  At the blind 30 minutes later we set up the decoys and settled in.  Soon, the roost gobbling started.  It sounded closer than normal. 
Usually the roost tree is about 500 yards downriver from our spot, around the corner from us.  We don’t have the ideal place to set up, because sometimes they come down and we get to see them, but most of the time they come down and head the opposite direction and never see our decoys.  Often they just fly down on the opposite side of the river and 2 hours later we see them strut by on what might as well be the far side of the moon.
As morning dawned though, we could hear one bird that sounded really close.  As it got light, we spotted him.  A good gobbler, up in his roost, hollering away at his buddies.  At 5:15 we saw the first hens fly down.  Then the gobbler and 2 of his buddies followed.  The hens, with the 3 toms in tow headed onto the neighbor’s field, ignoring our calls as usual.  Soon we saw two more toms cross the field and join them.  We now had 5 toms and 3 hens 200 yards away, feeding in the neighbor’s yard.  Except for an occasional gobble, we couldn’t get a reaction out of them. 
This went on for an hour, with the 8 birds refusing to move and us trying every trick in our bag to get them to come make friends. 
LP decided that our decoys should be wearing surgical masks, since the birds had apparently decided to social-distance from us yet again.
Fearful of being seen moving around in the blind, I had all of the windows zipped up except for small openings to see and shoot through.  I was watching the flock ignore us when suddenly and silently, from behind our blind, a gobbler’s head passed in front of me, no more than 10 feet away.

I have no earthly idea where that bird came from.  We had never seen him before.  He was a young tom with a 6 inch beard, a 2 year old bird.  No longer a jake, but clearly not a long beard.  No matter.  After 14 days, there was no reason to pass this gift up.  I turned to Little Pathfinder with bugged out eyes and pointed at the wall of the blind.  Just then the tom walked in front of LP’s small unzipped opening, intent on our jake decoy. 
No time for stealth.  LP quickly thrust the shotgun out of the window at the bird 10 feet away.  Seeing the movement, the tom turned and tried to escape in the direction of the dirt pile.  Too late for him, as Little Pathfinder’s 3 ½ inch load jellied his head and neck at nearly point blank range, somersaulting him into the dirt.

[Pathfinder101]

He isn’t the biggest tom we have ever killed.  And it wasn’t the picture-perfect hunt where our skill and cunning fooled mother nature into a fool-proof scenario that harvested a bird.  But this turkey was hard earned, and we finally made it happen.
  I like to think of this as an anchor point in life.  One of those times that my son will remember as he grows up and encounters adversity.  Remember the time we turkey hunted for 14 days straight, getting up at 3 am every day until you finally got one?  If he would have quit on day number 10 or 12, I wouldn’t have blamed him.  But the fact that he stuck it out until he was successful is the kind of thing that I believe grows boys into men.  The COVID Closure has taken a lot of things from all of us, but without it, my son and I could not have had this experience.   

[idaho guy]

That’s awesome 👍 your posts with your kid’s are the best. I agree with you 100 percent on the perseverance aspect of the hunt and building character. Many amazing hunts with my own son but in hindsight I think I made a lot of them too “easy “ doing a ton of leg work before hunting with him on my own. We still created and continue to create a lot of great memories!thanks for posting and congratulations to jr for sticking it out!

[Pathfinder101]

Thanks Idahoguy.  I think all of us dad's have a tendency to reduce adversity for our kids.  I know I have been guilty of it lots of times, for both of my boys.  Mother nature has a way of helping correct our mistakes though...

[fishngamereaper]

  I would of called it a good college try after day 10..

Persistence pays off. Well done.

[Pathfinder101]

Buffalo Turkey Nuggets for dinner last night.   

[Platensek-po]

Way to go Dad! and even more props to the little guy who stuck it out!

[lokidog]

Congratulations and a great write up.

[jstone]

Very cool

[Alex4200]

Thanks for sharing

[Timberstalker]

Awesome. Always enjoy your contributions to this site. Way to raise that kid right.