Daniel's first bird..and his second

Well, what else can I say. The moon and stars aligned for once. Tried my butt off this past season to get him a kill on something. Every time he sat with me, the deer and hogs did not cooperate. He even missed every squirrel in Lafayette county!

Saturday...up at 5, makeshift breakfast, dressed out the door and drove to the lease just in time to walk in. We got all settled, and at gray light we were greeted by a gobble that blew our doors off from about 60 yards or so. He gobbled a total of three times. I softly called to him once to let him know where I was. I heard him pitch out and I see a dark body wide open running to us. I snatch jr out of his chair, get the ear muffs on him, get the gun on the sticks and our hearts were about to jump out of our chests. I see the bird closing the last few yards.. I get the gun up for him and cock the hammer and make sure he's aiming straight. Turkey steps out in open....HEN.. A friggin hen. I had no idea where the gob went. I had him relax a little and let out a call, and he gobbled one time on the ground about 100 yards off.

This hen stayed around us for over an hour. Every time she would wander off I would call her back. Nothin like having a live decoy!.
Finally she lost interest and left. Not 10 min later here comes a whole flock down the hammock. All hens. 6 of them...We watched them for a few minutes and they would come back to us every time I purred on the yella hammer. Finally it dawned on me one of them was a jake! I told jr that one of them was a boy turkey and we could shoot it, but it was small. He wanted to shoot it. I told him no, lets wait for something bigger
Here's where he got me..

"it's ok daddy, I just like spending time with you"
Birds wandered off and I called them back again. This time the jake was cutting a bit. I got jr up set up again, and I made him pass it again. This time I felt like an ass for making this kid pass a legal bird, albeit a small one, two times. By this time the birds had wondered off just about of sight. I grabbed my new box call and cutt on it pretty loud. They did an about face and walked right back to me. that seemed to be the magic call to get them fired up a bit. The jake was cutting every breath and the hens were cutting as well. I got jr set for a third time and said we are killing him this time. He stopped at about 20 or so yards and I think he was seeing us moving in the blind. I cocked the gun and made sure he had his face down on the stock( I was also helping him hold the gun up and made sure he was aiming straight).I told him to shoot,...and I realized he was trying to pull the front of the trigger guard. Lmao. I slid his finger back...POW...flop flop
I honestly thought he would be a little more excited.
'Is he dead daddy?''
Yes son, you see him flopping"?
"Good, can we go get food now? I am starving?"
Lmao
Snapped a couple pics and some hi-fives!
A little jake, but nice for his first
Just nubs for spurs and a small beard that looks like he had some beard rot at some point. I estimated him about 13 pounds

Sunday....oh boy
Same routine, same spot.Neither one of us are feeling that well. Both woke up with screaming sore throats
This morning did not greet us with a roof rattling gobble. Nothing. Not a peep. First series of calls put 2 hens in our laps that I was not prepared for. Daniel was taking a leak out the back window when they walked in. How we didn't get busted is beyond me. They didn't hand around long and left. The next couple hours was pretty boring, and i could tell jr was restless. He says..."One turkey is plenty. We don't really need two you know"....lmao smart ellic kid
I said ok, we will stay till 9 (10 new time) and pack it in. I was more curious if the gobbler would fire up later in the morning...prepping for next weekend

It appeared I wasn't going to make my 10Am time as jr was really restless. So out came the box call and I gave it a heavy series of aggressive cutting. I put the box down and grabbed my phone, surfing the net. I looked up and was greeted by 5 blueheads staring at us. Couldn't believe I was an idiot like that and let my guard down. At this time the sun was also beating down on the front of the blind and I think the turkeys could see in a bit better now than at any other time, as one hen was a bit jumpy. She went behing a myrtle bush which I was happy about. I looked out the right window and I saw a bright red softball sized head attached to a shiny body haulin azz towards the hens. I got jr set on my lap, gun on the sticks, walkers game ears on, gun on his shoulder, this bird stepped into the clearing and I thumb cocked it...chests beating like drums. I said get ready and shoot when I tell you. I didn't have a mouth call in so I just made a little mouth noise and he stretched his neck out what looked like about 6 feet long. SHOO...POW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess he didn't have the stock up tight because it bout kicked us both out of the chairs. I told him to go go get the bird, as I was shaking so bad I couldn't hardly get up and get my fat ass out of the blind. By the time I got out he had the turkey by the back legs and was dragging it to me like one would a deer!
This time we had some emotions flowing..High fives, hugs kisses, and I will admit I shed a few tears. This was one of the greatest walks out of the woods ever, and I don't think my boots ever touched the ground!
Not quite as big as I thought he was, but we could not have been more excited had it been a 150" buck
. 18.75lbs, 7/8" on the hooks, and 8 3/4" on the beard

And a couple jelly-neck pictures. I will be carrying this gun from now on (except public land as it has a rifle on it) after seeing what these 20 ga shells do to a birds head and neck. No need taking the abuse form the super mag
Bird #1

Bird #2
neck pulled apart when skinning it