Aidan and Dad | 2023 Ohio Youth Spring Turkey Season | Turkey Camp - Aidans fills his Spring Turkey Tag by landing a nice gobbler.
We (my son Aidan and I) set up Turkey Camp in the middle of Wayne NAtional Forest. Literally camping in the back of my truck with a cap on it. Old army style cots, inverter generator humming in the background, the night before drifting off to sleep under the soft glows of the battery powered led lanterns. Camping right out of the bed of my ol’ chevy,… when I woke to gobbling in the woods. I woke and opened my eyes to the unexpected light of the newly rising sun and the gobbling of nearby eastern wild turkeys.
For a split second, i felt the peace of waking up outside to the newly arising sun, the fresh forest air, and the sound of gobbles and birds in the background,…… only for the sheer panic after getting punched in the nose by the realization I had overslept,… AGAIN. Lol. (As i frequently do any time I want to get in the woods early)
I woke Aidan up and told him “I over slept and theyre (the turkeys) are close.” Barking panicked orders to “throw yer boots on, grab the shotgun, and get to the blind. I’ll be there in a second.” And he did just that. And i soon followed. The gobbling was non stop. I could tell multiple were close by. And i mean these guys were FIRED UP! So i chose to be aggressive in my calling. They’d gobble. Id fire right back at them with a few loud old box call hen yelps (used as an assembly call amongst wild turkeys). We went back and forth for about 8 minutes while i replied to their gobbles that were closer each time as i fumbled around trying to get cameras set up and video rolling to capture the memory to recall and share with everyone.
Finally, i felt they were too close to keep firing back and we sat back and waited. I told Aidan to get the shotgun in his shoulder and cock the hammer back. It wasn’t 10 minutes from jumping out of the truck the turkeys blue heads could be seen bobbing as they claimed the wooded hillside to the ridges cleared grass top we were set up on. The dominant gobbler walked by our decoy and threw his fan out and Aidan took the shot. Securing his 2023 harvest of an Eastern Spring Gobbler.
What a memory to be had. -Shawn Anon
24 апр 2023
