Steph's 1st turkey

Steph's very 1st turkey

Below the pictures is part of my journal entry of it (it's long, so you don't have to read it)

George and Steph

It was the morning of the 18^th (our last day there). We were in the right place at the right time. We had set up above the road because we saw 2 toms.  George called to them and they were gobbling, but not getting any closer.  So we kept coming down towards the road to try to get closer. I spotted them walking down the road. George told me where to stand and was yelling in my ear to “shoot it! Shoot it now!” I kept calm considering I was being pressured hard to shoot.  I couldn’t see the turkeys when he could and I told him I couldn’t see them yet. But I took a moment when I could see them, and shot him. I just thought, just keep calm, take a moment so that you don’t miss. I was shooting George’s double barrel shot gun and pulled both triggers by accident. Haha I didn’t mean to, but I blasted that turkey.  My finger was weird on the triggers, so that’s why I think I pulled both at once. It surprised me and nearly knocked me over. Then George told me to go run down there and hold it down so it didn’t flop all the feathers off.  I was going as fast as I could, but wasn’t very fast, so Justin ran down past me and held it down for me. It was just a little jake, but I was so proud and glad I didn’t miss. My heart was racing for a while afterwards. What a great memory.  My very first official hunting experience; I loved it!

We were down there right at the opening of the turkey season, so the toms weren’t too excited about mating yet. We saw a lot of turkeys and got a lot of them to gobble. It was exiting to hear them answer the call. If they were with a hen, the hen would lead the toms away.  We got 1 other turkey to come it and get close enough for me to shoot. Unfortunately, we set up wrong and he came from the opposite side we thought he would. So there was a tree in my way and I couldn’t get a shot. It was fun watching him come in to our decoy and puff all up and show off.  Turkeys are very smart; I had no idea. George said they are able to see 350 degrees and have excellent vision and hearing. George had so much knowledge of turkeys and knew what they would do and where they would go; it was incredible.

The first part of the week was rough because the weather wasn’t really cooperating. The first day was too windy for the turkeys to hear us. Then it was rainy. But the last morning was perfect. We slept in a little because we were letting the trees drip off the water.  Turkeys don’t like the wind because then everything is moving and the water dripping off the trees makes it hard too. We were persistent and it paid off. It was beautiful country and we saw a lot of deer.