11 y.o. son got his first turkey today

Took him to some public land near our house in TN for the youth opener. First time either of us hunted turkey at this spot. Scouted there yesterday and saw some fresh tracks and scratching on logging roads so we felt like we had a decent chance of at least hearing some gobbles.

Ran into another father/son when we arrived at 6:00 am, and they planned to hunt near where we saw the fresh tracks, so we called an audible and headed towards a spot we saw a hen yesterday. 10 mins after getting to that spot, we see another headlamp coming towards us about 100 yards out. Audible again. Shift to another spot I’d hunted for deer in the fall and had seen some turkey feathers. At this point I was feeling discouraged and I had little confidence we’d have any luck in this particular area but it was only 7:00 am and I didn’t want to give up just because we were getting crowded out of our top choices.

5 minutes after we got settled into our third spot, we hear a gobble from the roost, maybe 150 yards off, in the direction we just came from. I initially wondered if it was a hunter trying to do a locater call since we had just seen the headlamp not far from there, but it sounded real. I gave a couple soft clucks on my diaphragm and the next gobble convinced me it was too real sounding to be a hunter. I got my boy set up against a big oak and I quickly set up a Jake and hen decoy on the logging road about 15 yards away and sat beside him so I could coach him if the bird came in.

I gave a couple yelps, but no response. 5 minutes pass and I tried again. Now the bird responds, but he’s flown down off the roost to our right and has gotten much closer. I make sure the boy has the hammer cocked on his .410 and remind him how to work the safety so he doesn’t fumble with it in a panic if the bird comes in.

I start doing some more soft clucks and scratching in the leaves. Another gobble, only 50-60 yards out now, but we can’t see him yet, but it seems like he’s working his way down the logging road we just came in from, right towards our decoys. We finally see him at about 30 yards, in all his spring-time glory, full strut, and missing 1/4 of his tail feathers on one side.

At this point, my son is shaking like a dog shittin’ a peach pit. Luckily, the bird is so focused on the Jake decoy that he doesn’t notice. He circles behind the decoy and is getting ready to open up a can of whoop-arse. I tell the boy to shoot as soon as the bird is facing us or sticks his head up a bit. BAM. Knocks the bird flat. I jump up with the speed of an Olympic track star and grab hold of the bird to seal the deal.

We were both so damn excited, you couldn’t slap the smile off our faces. There isn’t a better feeling in this world than helping your kid bag their first gobbler. We were absolutely buzzing with joy.

9 inch beard, 1 inch spurs. Forgot to weigh it, but he was healthy. A hell of a nice Tom for a first timer! I just hope this hasn’t spoiled him for next year. I warned him, it’s almost never this easy! We got lucky today.

It was also a reminder that sometimes what seems like bad luck (getting crowded out of your spots multiple times on public land) can actually be good. We almost certainly would not have killed this bird had we not been forced to move to a spot I had little confidence in. You’ve just got to play the hand you’re dealt and see what happens. Like my grandpa taught me about fishing: just because your cast doesn’t go where you hoped doesn’t mean it won’t get a bite. Work it with the same confidence you would if it was exactly what you planned to do. I reckon there’s a life lesson in there too.