Yesterday I was able to take Keller for his second day of turkey hunting. I woke Keller at 3:30 am and made home some eggs and toast. He ate them fairly quickly and we headed out the door. We arrived at our parking spot and I threw on my pack with all our gear while Keller grabbed his gun. We both grabbed our lights and started off in the dark. We were headed across a creek and up a hill to a beautiful area. It was a clearing at the top of a bluff. The area had been cleared last year when a power company had put up a new power line. The power lines don't look that nice but the clearing created overlooks an entire valley that gives way to the Mississippi river valley. It makes for some great scenery. It is also a favored area for big toms to strut and gobble and we planned to be there before any strutters.
We finished our mile and a half hike as the sky was starting to brighten. We found and area to set up and I began to build a blind from many of the logs laying around the area left over from clearing the area. As I was doing that, Keller whispered to me, "I just heard a turkey!" I quickly finished the blind and we settled in with our backs against the same tree with a pile of logs in front of us. I adjusted the log in front of Keller so they were the right height for Keller's gun to rest on. We put our headsets on and Keller loaded his gun. We were ready.
Across we were set up on a point and we heard the turkey Keller had heard gobbling. I was a little concerned that the gobbling was coming from across a large drainage. This placed the Tom across a deep valley from us, however it was not very far "as the crow flies". As the sky brightened, the Tom was gobbling his fool head off. Very time. Crow would caw, a pheasant would cackle, or a stick would break, that tom was gobbling. At legal shooting time, I made a couple of quiet pulls on my box call and the Tom cut me off with a gobble. I wanted him to know where we were. This gobbling continued for the next 30 minutes until the sun was just coming up. I would make a few calls on my box call from time to time and it was clear this Tom liked what he heard. Just after the sun was up, we both heard something hit the leaves below us. The gobbling had also stopped. I leaned to Keller to tell him that often, when the gobbling stops it means that the Tom is moving. I said hopefully it means he is coming to us. Right after I said that, a thundering gobble startled both of us. This turkey was close!
Keller put his gun to his shoulder and clicked his safety off as we both stared in the direction of the gobble. All of a sudden a periscope like head pooped up from where the clearing dropped off. The Tom was a mere 35 yards from us as he saw our decoys. Then the Tom fanned out and began to stru but we could only see the tips of his tail feathers when he strutted. The Tom then zig zagged his way while strutting and more and more of him came I to view until we could see all of him. I whispered to Keller that he was close enough to shoot whenever he got a shot. I had talked to Keller ahead of time to try and not shoot the Tom when he is strutting because the neck is not visible then. I had told him that if we had a Tom strutting I would make a couple of calls to try and get him to raise his head. I tried that with this Tom but he just kept on strutting, zig zagging back and forth. I watched Keller follow him with his gun. I was ready to fll apart but Keller just kept the gun on the bird. Finally the bird stopped and was facing us but still I full strut. At that moment, Keller's gun went off. The bird just piled up and began to flop. I jumped up and told Keller I would go get him as I was concerned the bird might flop over the edge. My worry was unfounded as the bird was dead when I got to it. I waved to Keller to. On my way! and he leaped over the logs in the blind rather than going around the back of them as I had done. Me was prett pumped up. He ran to me with the biggest smile I had ever seen. It was quite a moment.
We then celebrated and took some time to look the bird over. He was a wonderful Tom with a 10 1/2 inch beard and 1 1/8 inch Spurs. We the had a photo session and celebrated with hot chocolate for Keller and coffee for me before we started the long hike back to the vehicle. Keller called his grandpa before we did that and shared the story with him. After getting back to our vehicle we went and registered the turkey at a local bait shop. Keller had never been successful hunting before so this was all new to him. I walked him through the process and then we got the turkey to weigh it. The man at the bait shop praised Keller for such a nice bird as we found it weighed 23 1/2 pounds. It was the biggest bird weighed at this spot so far this year. Keller's chest puffed out a little. We then headed home. There was still one person to tell, his mom. Keller went in the house and he found his mom right away. She asked why he was home already. He had a huge smile and said, "I got a turkey!" It was a great hunt that I will always cherish.
