Let me begin by saying the turkeys are READY in KY! It was unseasonably cold this past week. It actually snowed here yesterday, the day before the KY Youth Hunt weekend. But, a little cold weather doesn't stop real turkey hunters.
My friend had been seeing and hearing a ton of turkeys on a farm we hunt. So, we decided to take his nephew hunting during this youth hunt weekend to give him a nice head start filling his tag. I came along to film the hunt.
The snow had came and gone and the sky was clear at 6:30 this morning. Stars everywhere: a blue bird sky morning was on the way. Daylight was starting to break and we starting hearing distant gobbles. Then we heard a gobble about 300 yards away coming from a wooded drain opening up to a field. After a few more gobbles, we knew we had better be git'n it. So, we closed the gap to about 100 yards and pitched the blind. We heard one more gobble, this time, the bird was on the ground. So, we stuck the dekes in the cold, frosty ground and ran for the blind. No sooner than I got my video camera on my tripod, we spotted him in the field about 80 yards out. Then, another one stepped out of the woods. We had two toms running directly to our setup. They never stopped, never strutted, never gobbled on the way. They just ran an 80 yards dash in 1.5 seconds. They brushed up against ole Pretty Boy and gave him a nice wack wack and mule kick. They strutted around the decoys and put on a show. I had the toms in perfect frame on my video camera so I gave the little guy the green light to shoot. He squeezes the trigger and lets one of the toms fall to his modified choked 1100 at 7:00am. This guy is one great outdoorsman. He kept his nerves unexposed and made sure his cheek was down on the stock. We stepped off 12 yards to the scene of the crime. Amazing. These birds were extremely close and had no idea we were in the world. The aid of the blind and the full strut decoy made everything work for the young hunter. This made three for three for him and needless to say...he is becomming a great turkey hunter.
Note: these birds came in without any type of calling. We never locator called them or hen called them. We were fixing to start calling right after they gobbled on the ground but they saw the full strut decoy first and strarted running in...not walking or fast paced skipping...I mean absolute running. To all those who are skeptical of the Carry-Lite Pretty Boy or Primos B-Mobile full strut decoys.......try them, just plain try them before you question them. Or borrow one if you have to. We have had so many gobblers come in to taxidermy full strutted toms anf full strut decoys that we never leave home without one.
Video:
http://www.huntingfootage.com/data/516/ky-youthhunt.wmv
10.5 inch beard
1 inch spurs
21 pounds
