Youth Turkey Season 2004

It was youth season of 2004. I was turkey hunting with my Uncle Jeff on his farm in Maries County. We roosted some turkeys the night before and figured we had a good idea where they would strut the next morning. So the next morning we got in the woods before sunrise and set out decoys and got in our blind. Everything was quiet and nothing was going on so we decided to make something happen. We then went on top of a ridge and called with a box call and then finally got one to gobble. We then took off after it, walking a mile and half. They were down off in a field so we setup on a ridge above them. We called again and two answered. They were getting hot and heavy. Soon a chickenhawk was flying over them screeching at them and that made them gobble too. We called two or three times and then stopped making sure that we did not over call them. They then became quiet and my uncle told me that they were moving toward us. The woods became silent and few minutes past. Finally we heard some noise. The turkey's were 40 yards away. There were 3 hens 2 jakes and 2 gobblers. We hit the jackpot!!! My heart was a pumping! Then my uncle told me to shoot the one on the right. I put my beaded sight on it's white snowball head. BANG!! Turkey down. The woods then exploded with noise as the other turkeys ran away. My uncle jumped up to go get the turkey, as he jumped up his foot got caught on a woven wire fence that was covered with leaves and tripped. When he finally managed to get off the ground, he went and picked up the turkey and handed me my trophy. We checked the turkey in at Meta Mini Mart and weighed it. To our astonishment the turkey weighed 24 3/4 lbs. It had 10 1/8 inch beard and 1 1/4 inch spurs. My uncle said he was probably more excited than I was. It was a great youth hunt.

Dustin Ewers
straightshooter