What a great hunt Drake and I had in Kentucky! I decided, kind of at the last moment, to take a trip to Kentucky for its opening weekend of youth turkey hunting. We decided to hunt some public land that I had luck in a few years ago. We got there just before dark and was able to get one to shock gobble to an owl hoot. But he was probably to close to our truck and where we would be sleeping for the night. The next morning we waited for his gobbles and he never talked. So we headed deep into the woods. It was a perfect spring morning for turkey hunting, no wind, clear sky, and just a little cool. It wasn't to long before we heard a gobble way off in the distance. We finally got set up pretty good on this bird when some other guys walked in on us and the bird shut up. Welcome to public land hunting. Later around 10:30 we had one come in fast and we had to set up quick in a thick area. By the time we could see this tom he was 10 yards from us. Well Drake shot a little quick and smooth missed him! He was just too close. No chance for the pattern to open up.We heard a one more gobble that didn't want to cooperate and had other hunters mess us up one more time on another one. It was 1:00 in the afternoon when we decided to head back to the truck, which was about a two mile hike, and try to locate along the way. Well, we climbed the first ridge, which was a small mountain and was resting there from the climb and I thought I would give one last call before leaving the valley behind. And wouldn't you know it, a lonesome gobbler answered, right where we had just left about 15 minutes earlier! I looked at Drake and said "what do you think?". He replied with a big sigh. We waited a little while to see if this bird was one worth going after, and after he gobbled on his own a couple more times we headed down the mountain after him. We got set up and within ten minutes we could hear him spittin n drummin as he strutted closer to the lone decoy. He strutted out from behind a cedar tree and at 20 yards Drake redeemed his earlier miss and filled his head with # 5's!! This gobbler never flopped...he just dropped like a sack of potatoes! Drake was fired up! He had earned this one. He stuck with me up and down hills and hollows where most men wouldn't have been able to. I'm very proud of him. He learned a lot of good stuff on this trip. I was running the small camera and got it on film but the view I had wasnt very good so the video is not the best. Still though, one of the best hunts Ive ever been on. I appreciate these kind of days even more as I get older. Thanks to God for answering our prayers. Kentucky's regular season comes in the 14th. I plan on heading back down there this weekend to see if Drake can get his 2nd bird for the year or maybe I might try to get me one. Tryin to talk little brother in to going with me. I bet I can make him shed a few pounds!
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