George's First Turkey - MDC/MOE Youth Turkey Hunt 2008

We got to Charles Green Conservation Area on Friday night. After we got there we shot our guns at a turkey head target to see if we could get the right amount of pellets in the turkey head. Brian from MDC showed us how to identify hens, gobblers and jakes and he showed us a video on turkey hunting. We had pulled pork and baked beans with sticky pig bbq sauce. After that we talked for a few hours and then went to sleep.

When we woke up we got dressed and then ate biscuits and gravy. It was good. Our guide Jared told us where we were going and it was about 5 minutes away. When we got to our hunting site it was a small hike there. On a hill overlooking our hunting spot we saw 2 deer run across the field. Once we got the blind set up, we had turkey all around us. We couldn’t get any of them to come to us so we moved a couple more times. Then we went back for lunch.

We had hot dogs, hamburgers and bratwurst for lunch. After lunch we made slate calls. It was really fun. It was also sort of messy. Then we saw Clay’s turkey that he shot get dressed and we got some feathers. It was a good sized turkey. We went out again after lunch. We still had a short hike. When we got there we set up the blind. We didn’t see anything, so we only stayed for 2 hours. When we got back we stayed outside and watched Tony and Justin fry hush puppies, sliced potatoes and spoonbill.

After supper, we traded stories for a couple of hours. After that some of the MOE guys went into the kitchen and Jared played guitar and they sang till late. The next day we got dressed and had pancakes, bacon and sausage for breakfast.

When we got to where we were hunting, we set up a ground blind. It was raining. We were sitting for a while before we heard a turkey. We thought it was a hen because it looked like the head was all blue. It started walking to our left then it started down and to our right. We were facing uphill and we were all uncomfortable when we had to move to get the shot. I had to wait for it to get in a position where I could shoot it. After I shot Jared jumped up and gave me a high five. When we got back to camp, everyone thought it was a big bird. It was 25 pounds. It had 1 inch spurs and a burned off 2 inch beard. I really didn’t want to leave. I had an amazing time.

George Johnson