Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
Just last week I was enjoying Swiffy's thread about his daughter getting her first bird...thought I'd title this thread similarly.
Went out this morning with my 12 year old...little cold and windy, but we heard a bird gobble on the roost up on a little ridge. He flew down and went silent for the most part. He surprised us at 20 yards and we were in a bad spot. I laid down prone and my son did the best he could to get set up. Watched him strut and gobble at 20 yards but my son did not have a great shot. The bird walked off eventually. We repositioned and got in a way better spot...set a decoy put and began to call. He was fired up at 100 yards away and immediately began to come in from our left. Then an old boss hen showed up to our right and began to call. She hung up on the decoy as the boss gobbler came into view at 40 yards. We watched him strut and gobble for about 10 minutes as he SLOWLY closed on the decoy. Eventually the hen began to walk back up the hill and as she did he crossed right in front of us at 18 yards or so. My son's .410 was facing the wrong direction (to the bird's left) so when the bird went behind a tree I THOUGHT Chaz was simply going to swivel his body around to his right to shoot...instead he went lefty. Brilliant decision. We've never practiced lefty before, but he went for it and made a great shot.
He was shooting his grampa's (my dad's) Stevens 59A .410 with a heavy game load. The tom weighed 19lbs, had a 9" beard, and 3/4" spurs.
Went out this morning with my 12 year old...little cold and windy, but we heard a bird gobble on the roost up on a little ridge. He flew down and went silent for the most part. He surprised us at 20 yards and we were in a bad spot. I laid down prone and my son did the best he could to get set up. Watched him strut and gobble at 20 yards but my son did not have a great shot. The bird walked off eventually. We repositioned and got in a way better spot...set a decoy put and began to call. He was fired up at 100 yards away and immediately began to come in from our left. Then an old boss hen showed up to our right and began to call. She hung up on the decoy as the boss gobbler came into view at 40 yards. We watched him strut and gobble for about 10 minutes as he SLOWLY closed on the decoy. Eventually the hen began to walk back up the hill and as she did he crossed right in front of us at 18 yards or so. My son's .410 was facing the wrong direction (to the bird's left) so when the bird went behind a tree I THOUGHT Chaz was simply going to swivel his body around to his right to shoot...instead he went lefty. Brilliant decision. We've never practiced lefty before, but he went for it and made a great shot.
He was shooting his grampa's (my dad's) Stevens 59A .410 with a heavy game load. The tom weighed 19lbs, had a 9" beard, and 3/4" spurs.
