Abby hasn't fall hunted as much as she has in the spring, but when she got word that Dale had roosted some turkeys, she was game for a Saturday morning lady's hunt for turkeys!
With the impending nasty weather I told Abby I would make it a little easier on her and get the blind setup, heater turned on, and everything setup and ready while she waited in the warm truck close by. I got everything setup and Abby and I made the short walk to the blind to let the morning wake up. The turkeys the evening before had been feeding heavy in a small clover field and I figured with the sleet/snow/rain they would head back to the field. Only problem was, there wasn't any precipitation. The radar showed the nasty weather was close, but not there yet. It would be a game of patience.
When Abby first started going hunting with me when she was about 3 we were lucky to get an hour sit. As she's grown older and started doing the shooting that time has increased. Last spring and this fall we had a couple 3 or 4 hour sits. She's learning about patience. It's always a blessed time for me to spend time in the blind with her. She's growing up way too fast!
About an hour after daylight I looked up on the ridge and spotted a turkey... a big gobbler... and another! The pair worked their way down to field as expected and started fedding our way. They were about 50 yards out when someone shot on the neighboring property. Not really close, but it echoed right up to us. The gobblers were on high alert, but I felt like they would settle down... until they shot again. At that, the 2 gobblers left the field and headed back over the ridge. Unbelievable! Abby sensed my disappointed and said that it was okay and we should just sit tight.
The plan was to leave at 9:00 because of basketball practice, church cantata singing, and a piano recital that afternoon. At 9:00 the sleet and snow started and I was hoping we could sit a little longer. Abby was fine and we just sat and talked, played some games on the phone, and ate and drank some hot chocolate. At 9:30 I looked into the far left corner of the field and spotted a feeding turkeys back. Game on!
Over the next half hour I could just see parts and pieces of turkeys just over the ridge in the field. I realized it was a group of hens, jennys, and jakes. I mentioned to Abby we had to be very careful and make sure she only shot one turkey since it was a pretty decent sized flock. I also mentioned I had seen a couple hens with beards and we should be on the lookout for one of them. Abby was really wanting to shoot a bearded hen.
Finally at 10:00, as turkeys will often do, they just decided to all start walking our way. In just a minute we had the whole flock right in front of the blind and I had noticed a big jake in the bunch, as had Abby. There were just too many turkeys to shoot him, when all of a sudden I spotted a hen with a beard... and then another one. We would try for one of those, but it was going to be really hard to pick out one bird and let it separate.
One of the bearded hens walks by where Abby is setup with the shooting sticks, but there were a couple other turkeys with her and she presented no shot. The other hen started along the same route, but she had other turkeys around her as well. Abby's patience was to be tested again.
Every turkey Abby has killed, she's always been sitting in my lap. This time, she was in her own chair and she was responsible for taking off her safety, her shot, etc. I had to help her move her shooting sticks one time, but that would be all the involvement I would have in the actual shot.
Finally, as if it was the Red Sea parting, all the other turkeys went left or right of the bearded hen and Abby says to me "Now!" I had told her to let me know when she was ready and I would call for it to raise it's head. I threw out a few sharps clucks/putts and all the heads went straight up. I heard the safety go off and then the shot. The bearded lady went down! Well done Baby Girl!!
Abby runs out to her turkey and picks it up just as the sleet and snow starting coming down harder. We get a few pictures taken and I tell Abby we can go get the truck and pickup everything. She makes sure to carry her turkey out and we drive up to get all the gear. She says she's going to stay in the truck with her turkey while I get all the stuf loaded. She's spoiled rotten!
I'm very proud of Abby... her growth as a hunter continues to amaze me.
The hen was right at 10 lbs and had a 7" beard. She said she liked shooting hens as they were lighter and didn't have any spurs to dig in to hands/shoulders while she was carrying her out.
Here are a few pics...
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