Last
weekend
was
the
Youth
Turkey
Hunt,
where
only
hunters
from
age
12-15
with
turkey
tags
were
allowed
to
carry
firearms
while
accompanied
by
an
adult
licensed
hunter.
This
special
weekend
started
in
2014,
the
year
after
I
took
Hunter
Education
as
a
13-year
old.
So,
I
participated
in
the
first
ever
Youth
Turkey
Weekend
as
a
youth
hunter.
Fast
forward
just
over
two
decades
and
I
have
been
participating
in
the
Youth
Turkey
Weekend
as
an
adult
mentor
for
the
past
7ish
years.
If
you
recall
from
numerous
previous
articles,
I
have
been
mentoring
a
youth
hunter
named
Timmy
for
the
last
few
years.
Last
year
Timmy
shot
his
first
turkey
on
the
Youth
Hunt
with
me
and
a
friend.
However,
in
the
fall
Timmy
turned
16,
making
him
too
old
for
any
of
the
special
youth
seasons.
The
good
news
for
me
though
was
that
his
younger
brother
Nathaniel
turned
12
in
January
and
wanted
to
start
hunting.
So,
Nathaniel
took
the
online
Hunter
Education
course
a
few
weeks
ago
and
got
his
certificate.
Then
one
Sunday,
I
took
him
to
a
shooting
range
where
we
covered
handling
firearms
safely
and
he
got
to
shoot
my
two
turkey
hunting
shotguns,
a
.410
and
a
20
gauge,
set
up
with
red
for
sights
for
easy
aiming.
After
shooting
both,
he
opted
to
use
the
.410
on
the
Youth
Hunt.
When
we
finished
at
the
range,
I
helped
create
a
list
of
what
he
needed
to
get
before
the
Youth
Hunt.
As
the
hunt
approached,
the
weather
forecast
was
calling
for
rain
on
Saturday.
So
I
decided
that
I
would
like
to
put
up
a
ground
blind
either
Thursday
or
Friday
after
work.
That
way
we
would
hopefully
stay
dry
if
it
did
rain
and
it
would
help
conceal
any
movement
from
Nathaniel
as
a
first
time
hunter.
I
ended
up
going
to
the
property
we
were
going
to
hunt
Friday
evening,
hoping
I
could
hear
a
bird
gobbling
as
he
went
to
roost
and
I
could
quickly
set
my
blind
up
somewhat
close
to
him.
While
that
did
not
happen,
I
did
spot
4
turkeys
flying
up
to
roost
at
the
bottom
of
a
big
green
field.
I
assumed
they
were
a
group
of
hens.
So
I
decided
to
put
the
blind
at
the
end
of
a
hedgerow
that
separated
that
hay
field
from
a
corn
field
where
the
farmer
had
been
spreading
manure.
As
I
walked
away
from
the
blind
to
go
back
to
my
truck,
a
turkey
gobbled
uphill
into
the
woods.
This
meant
we
were
between
that
bird
and
the
group
of
turkeys
I
saw
flew
up.
Saturday
morning
we
picked
Nathaniel
up
at
4:45
and
drove
to
our
spot.
We
waited
until
it
was
just
light
enough
to
see
where
we
were
walking
to
avoid
making
too
much
noise
with
those
turkey
roosted
somewhat
nearby.
We
got
in
the
blind
and
I
set
the
decoys
in
the
hay
field
directly
in
front
of
the
blind.
As
it
got
lighter
out,
we
heard
the
first
gobble
of
the
morning
from
quite
a
distance.
However,
more
turkeys
started
to
gobble
at
closer
locations
including
one
behind
the
barn
at
the
bottom
of
the
field.
As
time
went
on,
this
turkey
started
to
get
pretty
fired
up
and
eventually
you
could
tell
he
was
on
the
ground.
I
let
out
some
yelps
on
my
slate
pot
call
and
he
gobbled
back.
As
he
continued
to
gobble,
it
sounded
like
he
was
getting
closer.
Finally,
I
spotted
him
come
around
the
corner
of
the
field
below
us.
He
gobbled
and
started
to
strut
but
he
was
close
to
175
yards
away.
Then
he
started
to
fast
walk
our
direction
once
he
spotted
the
decoys,
but
then
he
stopped
at
close
to
100
yards.
We
noticed
3
hens
had
flown
down
and
landed
in
the
field
to
the
left
of
him
(where
I
saw
the
birds
take
off
from
on
Friday).
The
tom
stayed
out
of
range
and
was
trying
to
direct
the
hens
to
stay
away
from
our
decoys.
The
hens
cut
diagonally
across
the
field
and
got
into
the
corn
field
with
the
tom
getting
to
roughly
55
yards.
It
seemed
like
the
hens
would
continue
on
that
route
and
lead
the
tom
off
without
Nathaniel
getting
a
shot.
However,
once
they
were
in
the
cornfield,
they
turned
uphill
and
worked
their
way
on
the
edge
between
the
fields.
Luckily
I
had
thought
ahead
on
Friday
and
set
up
the
blind
so
Nathaniel
could
shoot
out
of
a
side
window
into
the
corn
field
so
the
window
was
already
open.
We
were
able
to
get
him
to
spin
in
his
seat.
As
the
hens
went
through
the
sight
of
that
window,
the
tom
was
just
behind
them.
He
seemed
like
he
was
under
30
yards
so
I
told
Nathaniel
to
shoot
if
he
was
comfortable.
POW!
The
tom
rolled
over
and
barely
even
twitched.
After
some
excited
high
fives,
we
unloaded
the
shotgun
and
got
out
of
the
blind.
I
paced
off
the
shot
distance
at
21
paces.
The
tom
was
a
two-year
old
with
a
9-inch
beard
and
3/4-inch
spurs.
To
top
it
off,
we
were
able
to
pick
everything
up
and
get
back
to
Nathaniel’s
house
before
it
started
raining.
Oh,
and
Saturday
was
my
36th
birthday!