Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 38

On the eve of the youth gobbler hunt,
I was excited, anxious, nervous, hopeful
and sleepless. Setups and scenarios raced
through my head. Would we see anything?
Would we hear anything? Would she pull
the trigger?
At 4:30 a.m., the alarm blared. Leah,
dressed, slipped into her colorful striped
boots and put on her camo jacket. I grabbed
my camo rain jacket to lay over her legs
and those boots. I also made her a shooting stick out of scrap lumber and charred
it slightly with a torch for camouflage. We
were ready to go.
On the way to our first setup, she told
me she was nervous and didn't sleep well.
We talked about nervousness, sleep, shot
placement, where I thought our first setup
would be, and how success doesn't always
end with game in hand. She said she would
still have a good time, even if she didn't
get a turkey.
Shooting light was at 5:36 a.m. We
stood in the overcast morning coolness and
listened at the woods edge for 10 minutes
or so, only hearing a distant bird three
properties away. Disappointed, I decided
to check a second spot just down the road.
But it was quiet.
Returning to our first destination, we
went to the highest spot on the property,
where we could listen, call, and set up if
a gobbler answered. We sat for about 30
minutes, only hearing that same bird multiple properties away. It gobbled a handful
of times.
Eventually, we packed up and walked
to where we could see the neighbor's field
to check if anything was out in the grass.
No luck.
At 7 o'clock, we went back to the car. I
decided to take Leah for breakfast.
Stopping for breakfast is not something
that I would normally do, but I wanted to

38

make the hunting experience pleasurable
for her, and having fun is an important part.
On the way to the diner, talking about
what we wanted to eat, I decided to swing
by the second location one more time. We
pulled off the road, rolled the windows
down, and turned off the car. I grabbed my
box call, half-stepped out of the car, and
made a call.
Across the road, up the hill, in the
neighbor's field, a bird answered with a
profound GOBBLE! Probably with some
hens, but at least he answered, I thought.
Just as Leah got out of the car to hear for
herself, the turkey gobbled again. I didn't
even have to call; he was gobbling on his
own! We decided to set up.
We grabbed our gear and dove into the
woods. Since the bird was on a neighbor's
property, we had to set up farther away from
where he was. But that was OK, I knew the
area. My brother and I had success there
just last year.
We found a great spot, using a blowdown as backdrop cover, and sat down. I
made a few calls. Nothing.
I told Leah we'd sit and listen for 10 to
20 minutes, just to see what happens. Three
minutes later, I heard a hen to our distant
right. The gobbler we had heard earlier
answered; he was slightly behind us, to the
left of our setup.
I slid a shell into the gun. And minutes
later, without me sending out another call, a
gobble rang out! He had cut the distance in
half and was now coming at our 9 o'clock
position. I was caught off-guard, and I
asked Leah to get her facemask on, while
I set up her shooting sticks. Then I handed
her the gun.
Another gobble exploded, from about
10 o'clock! He was still on the move, getting closer. Luckily, there was a slight ridge
to our left and the bird had to move around
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021

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