Good 'Family-Fun' Friday

hershy's dirty face brigade

…my spring turkey hunting has now officially begun – sure I have been out once or twice in half-hearted attempts at luring a gobbler into bow range, but they didn’t really count…by some amount of luck both my kids had today (Friday) off - amazingly it didn’t get lost in an attempt to make-up a snow day…to get the holiday weekend rolling my wife and I took today off and all 4 of us went turkey hunting! – in the same blind…

…turkey hunting has become one of my & my wife’s favorite hunting activities because the entire family can be involved…my kids are 6 & 4 years-old, and like most children their age – have very little use for staying still and quiet for very long…however, with the use of a pop-up ground blind their movements and even their voices seem to have much less effect on turkeys…

…our day started early – we were on our way by around 5:00 a.m…after a quiet walk (for an elephant stampede) to the hunting area we were all safely in the blind by 5:45 a.m…by six we were as organized as four people can be in the darkness of a 2-person blind…organized for me meant bow in a safe (somewhat) ready position…my arrow laying next to me away from everyone else – with the limited space I was quite glad to be using the expandle I was – pretty sure a ‘noggin-lopper’ would have made things very interesting in the tight quarters…organized for the kids meant turkey calls nearby and granola bars in hand…

Hen @ 8 yards

…thanks, in part to the wind the morning was pretty quiet…we did manage to call in three hens, with one staying with the decoys for quite some time…after her departure the count down for the end of the hunt was on…we gave the toms until 9:30 a.m. to show themselves – to no avail…I knew my time was limited when my son’s minute-by-minute updates of “no turkeys!” started coming in 30 second intervals…a quick pick up and we headed home…not the longest of hunts and no birds were harmed in the process – however, it was very successful…we have arrived at the Grandparent’s house and already the stories of this morning have been told and retold – pictures of the visiting hens being added as well…

…welcome to turkey season!…

hershy