I took my sons out turkey hunting this morning for the "youth" hunt. I roosted a flock last night and then set up for them very early before I got the boys up. It was very cold with a strong wind and frequent snow flurries. We were all settled in before shooting time and when the birds flew down, the older boy had a dozen toms on his side, but the other boy won the toss for first shot. I was able to call one inquisitive tom over, but the boy looked at his gun to release the safety. The tom was foolish, but not foolish enough to tolerate that much movement. By the time he sorted himself out the bird was gone and the others had already moved off after the hens.
We regrouped and lit after them. In 1/2 a mile we caught up with them, (stumbled on them). It is a miracle we didn't spook them, but the wind and snow must have covered us. We watched the birds feeding and they moved left just under a small ridge line. After they put some screening brush between us, we scooted for the other side of the ridge and ran up it a 1/4 mile. We re-crossed the ridge and tried to find a place to set up. I passed on two places and was very cautiously moving forward thinking the birds were right there. Sure enough, I saw a couple of toms closing on us. The boys commenced to shooting, and when the dust settled we had two birds down.
The older boy is shooting my Father's savage 330, and the younger one my 1909 LC Smith 2E. I try to get him to shoot something else, but he insists on the Elsie. FWIW I inherited two 20 gauge pre-13 LC Smiths with the promise that they were for my boys. I'm thinking that they can still enjoy them after I'm gone, but maybe my stance will soften with time. It gives me the chills to let my 9y/o pack the old gun, but he hasn't hurt it yet.
Here he is trying to look tough:
Rob.
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