10th Annual - 2024 YOUTH TURKEY HUNT CONTEST (enter by Mar 14)

[bearpaw]

Eva and her dad Alex are hunting with Zach this morning. Eva has a gun she really likes so we got her a bunch of hunting gear with donations from H-W members. She    received two boxes tss ammo for her .410, two boxes upland game loads, decoys, an easy to carry blind for easy setups, several types of calls, shock calls, earmuffs for practice shooting, a backpack for carrying everything, and a handy knife for cleaning future birds.

The shotgun, anmmo, and choke tube for MyLeigh and all the gear for Eva are compliments of several Hunt-WA members who generously donated to the hunt winners.

Photo of Eva and Alex:

[Dan-o]

 

[bearpaw]

The birds stayed out of range yesterday but first thing this morning Éva filled her tag with one shot from her trusty .410 loaded with TSS, great shooting Eva, I’ll let her tell the story.

[bearpaw]

I want to thank the H-W members again who donated to help get gear, it’s great to see the smiles on the kids faces each season!
bob33, wadu1, Karl Blanchard, cem3434, Wingin it (please message me if I missed anyone)


This year MyLeigh didn’t have a gun so we ordered a gun for her to use in the future. Eva had a gun she likes so we got her a bunch of turkey hunting gear. Here’s a summary of each package:

MyLeigh
1. Guided Turkey Hunt & Accomodations for her and dad Brian
2. (1) Savage Compact Camo 12 Gauge Shotgun & Turkey Choke Tube (valued at $300)
3. (1) Box of Winchester Supreme Turkey Loads and (4) Boxes 12 gauge field/target loads (valued at $60)

Eva
1. Guided Turkey Hunt & Accomodations for her and dad Alex
2. (2) Boxes of TSS .410 Cartridges and (2) boxes ,410 field/target loads (valued at $80)
3.  (1) Compact Hunting Blind, a bag full of numerous calls, ear muffs, folding knife, and a backpack (valued at $290)

[cem3434]

Those are some great smiles and memories for all.

[Rainier10]

Great smiles.

I am positive Iceman has a smile on his face in heaven seeing all the good that comes from this site.

Big thanks to everyone who helped with this years hunts.

[carpsniperg2]

Great stuff congrats to the kiddo!

[Dan-o]

Wonderful.     

[pendoreilleadventures]

Sorry for the late reply on my daughter's youth turkey hunt Dale.

My daughter Myleigh hasn't wanted to hunt turkeys the past few years as she has gotten older and has just focused on Deer hunting. After telling her that she was the winner of the Iceman Memorial turkey hunt from Bearpaw she changed her tune. We arrived on Thursday, April 4th night around 6 PM and were met by Zach our guide.

We hopped in his truck and off we went to pattern the shotgun. Myleigh's shotgun had a mechanical issue and needed fixed Dale was happy to loan one to her for the hunt. She did perfectly out to 30 yards and we headed back to the lodge for some great food and went to bed excited for the next morning.

We woke up at 4 am ate breakfast and were off to the turkey woods. We drove out to the farmer's field and set up the blind and waited for the birds to wake up. Just as the morning sky started to change color the mountains exploded with gobbles and clucks from all directions. There had to have been close to 150 birds in the flock we were hunting alone and several other flocks on adjacent properties were sounding off as well.

The birds started flying from their roost just before 6 am.  Zach had these birds patterned so we we did not even need to call or place out any decoys. We all were worried at first as most of the flock had flown down and started heading away from us. But just as Zach had said soon two hens headed down the fence line and crossed the fence 3 yards from the blind.

We could see at least 4 mature toms strutting about 200 yards away. But they just didn't want to follow the same path as the hens and were more interested in about a dozen hens that stayed in the roost about 20 minutes longer than the rest and landed where Zach thought the whole flock was going to land earlier. After feeding and strutting around for a few more minutes the hens all started heading right for use.

First two, then four, then a dozen! all crossing within feet of the blind but the Toms were hanging tight. Then like clockwork, they turned and started walking right at us FAST. Zach had to quickly help my daughter reposition her shotgun to a different window in the blind. Both Toms stopped about 30 yards and were trying to cross the fence the bigger of the two crossed right before Myleigh could drop the hammer but she made quick work of the second bird.

Bird down 6:35 am 9.25-inch beard and could have had a more perfect hunt. To top things off when we got back to the lodge Dale presented Myleigh a new 12 ga shotgun and some shells as part of the prize package. I can't thank Dale and his crew enough for your hospitality and getting the job done. Dale your turkey hunts should be renamed to Turkey kills becusae as long as the hunter can shoot the birds are there for the taking.

Thanks again

PendOreilleAdvnetures aka Brian Benham

[Machias]

Awesome!!!!

[bearpaw]

Thanks again Brian and MyLeigh! 

[CamoDup]

How awesome! Great job to everyone involved 

[BigVinn]

 I wanted to do a write up of the turkey hunt contest that my daughter Eva won on WA Hunt Forum provided by Bearpaw outfitters.  I originally was not going to have Eva enter the contest because she would be playing fast pitch softball for her high school.  Unfortunately there were some politics that got in the way of her making the team which was devastating for her but it opened up a chance to turkey hunt.  I entered her in for the hunt and didn’t even tell her since I figured another disappointment may not be so great for her.  Then I got the email from Dale stating that she won the hunt!  I could not believe it and when I told her she had a huge smile and was beyond excited.  We made arrangements to head over Friday and hunt Saturday and Sunday if needed.  We had about a 7 hour drive and it was great spending time with my daughter.
We arrived and were greeted by the whole team and were told the other winner got her bird that morning.  This made Eva even more excited to get hunting.  We went with our guide Zach to sight in her gun and then he asked if we wanted to go with him to watch the turkey’s go up to their roost.  We were glad to do that and when Zach pulled in and pointed to the turkeys heading to the roost we could hardly believe how many turkeys we saw.  We went back and when we arrived Dale presented Eva with all kinds of turkey gear for future hunts.  We were both floored at the generosity of Bearpaw outfitters and the members of WA Hunt forum that donated.
Neither of us slept that night due to the excitement and when we got set up we couldn’t believe the amount of birds that were gobbling from the roost.  Excitement levels were high.  Eva patiently waited for them to get close enough but the birds decided they didn’t want to cooperate with our plan and walked all around but never within range that morning.  We tried again during the evening hunt with no luck as well.
We went back and had dinner and shared some hunting stories with the other hunters and headed to bed so we could try again the next morning.  We got up before light had some breakfast and our guide Zach felt confident she would get a bird.  We set up in the blind before light and waited.  We heard the birds come down from the roost and shortly after that we saw a tom strutting his stuff about 200 yards away.  We kept watching him and pretty soon he was heading our way and closing in fast.  Our guide instructed Eva to get ready.  She did exactly as he said and slowly started getting her gun into the ready position.  The tom was coming in real fast and I wasn’t sure Eva would have time to get her gun ready and get a shot off.  He was on the move after two hens.  Then all of a sudden at 21 yards he stops and goes into full strut which was enough time for Eva to put her red dot on his head and pull the trigger.  He folded up and was dead right there.  We waited for the hens to clear out and then celebrated the great morning hunt that ended in success!  She bagged a nice mature tom with a nine inch beard.  After some photos we got back and our guide cleaned up her turkey and shortly after that we were headed home since work and school were waiting for us the next day.
I asked Eva what her favorite part of the hunt was and she first said getting her turkey, but after some thought she said that was the icing on the cake and she really enjoyed the whole experience from the drive over, visiting with the other hunters, the country, seeing wildlife, laughing, hearing stories, the drive home and of course the bird.
Both of us would like to thank Bearpaw Outfitters for gifting us this hunt.  They are a class act operation that made my daughter even more excited about hunting.  We would like to thank everyone that donated to the hunt as well.  You all helped get another young woman excited about hunting and enjoying the great outdoors.

[Dan-o]

Right on!

[bearpaw]

Thanks again Alex and Eva